Ethics & the Environment

Abstract:

Environmental epistemology is at present a rather marginal branch of environmental philosophy. The aim of the present article is to propose a major new approach to environmental epistemology, which I propose to call “biomimetic epistemology,” the guiding principle of which is “nature as mentor,” and which, in keeping with this principle, takes as its subject matter both the idea and the phenomenon of learning from nature. Beginning with a brief sketch of biomimetic epistemology covering both its basic traits and its open questions, I then compare and contrast it with what are probably the two main existing approaches to environmental epistemology: Christopher Preston’s “placed-based epistemology,” which focusses on the role of places in the production of knowledge; and Jim Cheney’s “postmodern epistemology,” which goes beyond standard postmodern views of nature as an “agent” in the production of knowledge to consider nature rather as a “conversation partner.” The key conclusions drawn from this exercise of compare and contrast are first, that much may be gained from articulating biomimetic with place-based and postmodern environmental epistemology, and second, that integrating biomimetic epistemology is likely to prove necessary if environmental epistemology is to establish itself as a significant branch of both epistemology and environmental philosophy.