The latest issue of the journal Zygon, which publishes research on the religion and science dialogue, includes the second selection of essays of a two part series on biosemiotics and the religion and science debate. A number of essays in both parts discuss interpretation from a semiotic perspective, with a particular emphasis on C.S. Peirce.
From Zygon 45, no. 2 (June 2010)
INTRODUCTION: TOWARD A METAPHYSIC OF MEANING
Andrew Robinson, Christopher Southgate
INTERPRETATION AND THE ORIGIN OF LIFE
Christopher Southgate, Andrew Robinson
SELECTION, INTERPRETATION, AND THE EMERGENCE OF LIVING SYSTEMS
Bruce H. Weber
A BIOSEMIOTIC APPROACH TO THE QUESTION OF MEANING
Jesper Hoffmeyer
PROCESS ECOLOGY: STEPPING STONES TO BIOSEMIOSIS
Robert E. Ulanowicz
DISCUSSION OF THE CONCEPTUAL BASIS OF BIOSEMIOTICS
Andrew Robinson, Christopher Southgate, Terrence Deacon
From Zygon 45, no. 3 (September 2010)
GOD AND THE WORLD OF SIGNS: INTRODUCTION TO PART 2
Andrew Robinson, Christopher Southgate
SEMIOTICS AS A METAPHYSICAL FRAMEWORK FOR CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
Andrew Robinson, Christopher Southgate
TRANSFORMING THEOLOGICAL SYMBOLS
F. LeRon Shults
BROKEN SYMBOLS? RESPONSE TO F. LERON SHULTS
Andrew Robinson, Christopher Southgate
TOWARD A THEOLOGY OF BOUNDARY
Jeremy T. Law
CRITICAL AFTERWORD
Philip Clayton
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Hermeneutics, Eco-Justice, and Indigenous Knowledge
An article just published advocates the use of eco-hermeneutics as a way of bringing place back into the development of curriculum. The authors argue that eco-hermeneutics finds deeper ways of understanding places beyond the walls of academia. The citation of the article is: Andrejs Kulnieks, Dan Roronhiakewen Longboat, and Kelly Young, "Re-Indigenizing Curriculum: An Eco-Hermeneutic Approach to Learning," AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Scholarship 6, no. 1 (2010): pp. 15-24. (go to journal website).
The way that the authors define "eco-hermeneutics" is spelled out in the first part of the essay. For them, one quality of eco-hermeneutics is that it acts as a corrective to the over-emphasis on written texts. Certainly, the aim of interpretation is to seek meaning, and the desire to seek meaning is found in language. But, the authors argue, meaning is also temporal--and this temporality moves us to recognize the importance of place in our quest for meaning. The academic tradition has neglected place and other forms of physically instantiated meaning by concentrating their hermeneutical investigations on written, disembodied language. In other words, unlike traditional hermeneutics, eco-hermeneutics places a priority on oral tradition, opening the door to see how indigenous knowledge can inform our understanding of place.
This critique of the written text is provocative, but also perhaps mistakes what can constitute "text" for philosophical hermeneutics. On the one hand, the authors make an important point in seeking to include local knowledge in the reading of place. This knowledge is not exclusively from contemporary science and technology. In that sense, the description that the authors provide of indigenous knowledge shows how we might approach place in more tentative, open ways--that is, in ways that allow for other perspectives and more environmentally friendly relationships.
On the other hand, the oral narratives (and indigenous knowledge more generally) that the authors point to are also "texts." Therefore it is perhaps extreme to assume that hermeneutics approaches written and oral texts differently. At the root of the authors' argument, then, is the recognition that we form a number of competing narratives of place and nature. Each of these is text, broadly construed. Even if it isn't "discourse fixed in writing" (Ricoeur), oral narratives do exhibit other forms of textuality. Hermeneutics is about more than printed texts: it is about the inevitable interpretion of life. The authors state, "Rather than depending solely upon its reconstruction through print-centred learning, eco-hermeneutics seeks to include interpretive experiential learning in this process of inquiry [into place]. These investigations include properly learning to tell and interpret stories that are indigenous to the places they live" (p. 17). I think we can say that philosophical hermeneutics itself must always be an "eco-hermeneutics" under this definition.
For the authors,eco-hermeneutics (based on indigenous traditions, the use of storytelling and environmental autobiography, and a new hermeneutic that asks the reader 'to develop an understanding of the physical, ecological, and bio-cultural aspects of the story..." {p. 18]) is needed to reform academic curriculum. They write, "Our concern here is for the importance of truth-telling and the revival of practices that seek to establish a relationship between language and place. As academics, educators and teachers, our responsibility is to revitalize the notion that stories and the understandings that they represent are for the benefit of everybody and everything that is of place" (p. 19). I would be interested to see how this informs not only environmental studies classes, but other endeavors in the academy.
Finally, for the authors this goal toward a better understanding of place is tied to the language of eco-justice. Eco-justice language offers the linguistic framework for this new hermeneutical account. I don't know of other attempts to explicitly tie the eco-justice movement to philosophical hermeneutics, but this seems to be a worthwhile conversation to begin.
The way that the authors define "eco-hermeneutics" is spelled out in the first part of the essay. For them, one quality of eco-hermeneutics is that it acts as a corrective to the over-emphasis on written texts. Certainly, the aim of interpretation is to seek meaning, and the desire to seek meaning is found in language. But, the authors argue, meaning is also temporal--and this temporality moves us to recognize the importance of place in our quest for meaning. The academic tradition has neglected place and other forms of physically instantiated meaning by concentrating their hermeneutical investigations on written, disembodied language. In other words, unlike traditional hermeneutics, eco-hermeneutics places a priority on oral tradition, opening the door to see how indigenous knowledge can inform our understanding of place.
This critique of the written text is provocative, but also perhaps mistakes what can constitute "text" for philosophical hermeneutics. On the one hand, the authors make an important point in seeking to include local knowledge in the reading of place. This knowledge is not exclusively from contemporary science and technology. In that sense, the description that the authors provide of indigenous knowledge shows how we might approach place in more tentative, open ways--that is, in ways that allow for other perspectives and more environmentally friendly relationships.
On the other hand, the oral narratives (and indigenous knowledge more generally) that the authors point to are also "texts." Therefore it is perhaps extreme to assume that hermeneutics approaches written and oral texts differently. At the root of the authors' argument, then, is the recognition that we form a number of competing narratives of place and nature. Each of these is text, broadly construed. Even if it isn't "discourse fixed in writing" (Ricoeur), oral narratives do exhibit other forms of textuality. Hermeneutics is about more than printed texts: it is about the inevitable interpretion of life. The authors state, "Rather than depending solely upon its reconstruction through print-centred learning, eco-hermeneutics seeks to include interpretive experiential learning in this process of inquiry [into place]. These investigations include properly learning to tell and interpret stories that are indigenous to the places they live" (p. 17). I think we can say that philosophical hermeneutics itself must always be an "eco-hermeneutics" under this definition.
For the authors,eco-hermeneutics (based on indigenous traditions, the use of storytelling and environmental autobiography, and a new hermeneutic that asks the reader 'to develop an understanding of the physical, ecological, and bio-cultural aspects of the story..." {p. 18]) is needed to reform academic curriculum. They write, "Our concern here is for the importance of truth-telling and the revival of practices that seek to establish a relationship between language and place. As academics, educators and teachers, our responsibility is to revitalize the notion that stories and the understandings that they represent are for the benefit of everybody and everything that is of place" (p. 19). I would be interested to see how this informs not only environmental studies classes, but other endeavors in the academy.
Finally, for the authors this goal toward a better understanding of place is tied to the language of eco-justice. Eco-justice language offers the linguistic framework for this new hermeneutical account. I don't know of other attempts to explicitly tie the eco-justice movement to philosophical hermeneutics, but this seems to be a worthwhile conversation to begin.
Friday, July 2, 2010
New Article on Ideology and Utopia
In the new issue of Environmental Philosophy (the journal of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy), an excellent article by Brian Treanor appears. Entitled "Turn Around and Step Forward: Ideology and Utopia in the Environmental Movement," (Environmental Philosophy 7 [2010]): 27-46) Treanor's argument explicates how Paul Ricoeur's work on the social imaginary--including the dialectic between ideology and utopia--can be fruitfully applied to environmental thought. These terms allow us to make a much stronger case for the need to move away from simply seeking technical fixes, and toward a shift in understanding.
Through his argument, Treanor shows the need for re-envisioning our social thinking about environments, rather than always relying on pragmatic compromise. Imagination is key here. In fact, I think imagination has been not been sufficiently dealt with in environmental philosophy, especially as a social--not simply individual--phenomenon. As a result, this essay is an important addition to environmental hermeneutics (and environmental philosophy more generally). It is also an excellent summation of this aspect of Ricoeur's thought; the portions related to Ricoeur would be profitable for philosophers, even if uninterested in the ecological dimensions Treanor is focused on.
Another reason this is a particularly useful and informative article is that Treanor applies his argument to two case studies. One case study is Shellenberger and Nordhoaus' thesis on "the death of environmentalism." The other is the work of David Brower.
Treanor is seeking to better analyze environmental thought, and thus push it forward. Here and elsewhere, he advocates a narrative approach. He tells us that a one sentence guideline would be: "Environmentalists should hold fast to a utopian vision of a sustainable future, articulated in compelling narratives, while remaining on alert for unconventional allies and unexpected opportunities for forwarding our agenda" (p. 40). I would recommend reading this article, to see exactly what he means.
Through his argument, Treanor shows the need for re-envisioning our social thinking about environments, rather than always relying on pragmatic compromise. Imagination is key here. In fact, I think imagination has been not been sufficiently dealt with in environmental philosophy, especially as a social--not simply individual--phenomenon. As a result, this essay is an important addition to environmental hermeneutics (and environmental philosophy more generally). It is also an excellent summation of this aspect of Ricoeur's thought; the portions related to Ricoeur would be profitable for philosophers, even if uninterested in the ecological dimensions Treanor is focused on.
Another reason this is a particularly useful and informative article is that Treanor applies his argument to two case studies. One case study is Shellenberger and Nordhoaus' thesis on "the death of environmentalism." The other is the work of David Brower.
Treanor is seeking to better analyze environmental thought, and thus push it forward. Here and elsewhere, he advocates a narrative approach. He tells us that a one sentence guideline would be: "Environmentalists should hold fast to a utopian vision of a sustainable future, articulated in compelling narratives, while remaining on alert for unconventional allies and unexpected opportunities for forwarding our agenda" (p. 40). I would recommend reading this article, to see exactly what he means.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
AESS in Portland
The Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) conference in Portland, Oregon has gone exceptionally well. The conference brought together scholars representing a number of different disciplines. I was fortunate to present papers on two panels yesterday (Saturday, June 20) that were quite diverse. The theme of the first panel was concerned with "new directions" in environmental studies and sciences. My paper served to introduce the idea of environmental hermeneutics and was well received.
In the afternoon I was on a panel that, once again, was concerned with "new directions," only this time the theme was specific to environmental justice. I spoke to the question of the narrative environmental identities of communities on the receiving end of environmental injustices and how narrative is a crucial tool for environmental justice activists who advocate on the behalf of these communities. The paper was the only philosophy paper on the panel and appeared to go by without much fanfare. In the Q&A, however, all the questions and discussion, regardless of which panelist these were directed to, kept coming back to the issue of narrative. In the end, communal narrative identities seemed to be one cohering element to the presentations. The session chair humorously concluded the panel with the words. "Paul Ricoeur wins."
In the afternoon I was on a panel that, once again, was concerned with "new directions," only this time the theme was specific to environmental justice. I spoke to the question of the narrative environmental identities of communities on the receiving end of environmental injustices and how narrative is a crucial tool for environmental justice activists who advocate on the behalf of these communities. The paper was the only philosophy paper on the panel and appeared to go by without much fanfare. In the Q&A, however, all the questions and discussion, regardless of which panelist these were directed to, kept coming back to the issue of narrative. In the end, communal narrative identities seemed to be one cohering element to the presentations. The session chair humorously concluded the panel with the words. "Paul Ricoeur wins."
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Aesthetics and Hermeneutics: Complementary?
I recently gave a paper on how aesthetics might be a useful dialogue partner for environmental hermeneutics. My point was this: the philosophical discipline of aesthetics--broadly conceived as related to perception and sensibility, not simply a philosophy of art or of beauty--offers tools for understanding interpretation of place as text. To explain: environments are unique objects of interpretation, for at least a few reasons. Foremost, we are within environments in a way that we are not within a novel or painting. To interpret environments means to interpret something that includes us on several levels: physical, emotional, intellectual. Yet environments are somehow also different than us. Second, there is an explicitly sensual, embodied side of environments that is missing from our interpretation of a book or work of art. We might read any copy of Crime and Punishment and come to the same interpretation, but we cannot gather the same interpretation from each and every landscape or place as if they all represented the same thing called "environment."
Given these--and other--unique features of environments, it seems that aesthetics might give a needed complement to the work of hermeneutics. Aesthetics presents ways of understanding how we sense and perceive. It identifies values and qualities unique to such aesthetic experience. And finally it begins to reflect on how perception and interpretation are interrelated using a different vantage point than the hermeneutical approach to this question. In other words, I would argue that an area of inquiry that will significantly advance environmental hermeneutics is the interrelationship between hermeneutics and aesthetics as environmentally-focused disciplines.
Is this kind of interconnection between environmental aesthetics and environmental hermeneutics needed? Or does philosophical hermeneutics already offer a persuasive way to engage in our perceptual encounter with built and natural environments?
Given these--and other--unique features of environments, it seems that aesthetics might give a needed complement to the work of hermeneutics. Aesthetics presents ways of understanding how we sense and perceive. It identifies values and qualities unique to such aesthetic experience. And finally it begins to reflect on how perception and interpretation are interrelated using a different vantage point than the hermeneutical approach to this question. In other words, I would argue that an area of inquiry that will significantly advance environmental hermeneutics is the interrelationship between hermeneutics and aesthetics as environmentally-focused disciplines.
Is this kind of interconnection between environmental aesthetics and environmental hermeneutics needed? Or does philosophical hermeneutics already offer a persuasive way to engage in our perceptual encounter with built and natural environments?
Friday, June 11, 2010
Environmental Hermeneutics at the NTPA and the AESS
Just this past April the University of North Texas hosted the 43rd annual meeting of the North Texas Philosophical Association. I was pleased along with Nathan Bell to present on a panel devoted to environmental hermeneutics. I presented my paper, "Environmental Hermeneutics: New Horizons for Interpretation" followed by Nathan's, "All Such Understanding of Nature: Gadamer and Environmental Hermeneutics." Both papers were well received as evidenced by an enthusiastic Q&A following. to view the conference program, go to http://ntpa.net/.
Environemental hermeneutics will also make a showing at the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences conference, Many Shades of Green, to be held June 17-20 in Portland, Oregon on the campus of Lewis and Clark College. I will be presenting on two panels. The first will be my EH paper I presented at the NTPA. The second is a paper using the narrative theory of Paul Ricoeur and bringing it into dialogue with environmental justice studies. Nathan Bell will also be presenting two papers in the area of environmental hermeneutics. The papers are posted on the conference website, http://www.aess.info/. and can be viewed by clicking on the conference link to the left, then going to "conference schedule" and clicking on the link for the full program. Nathan Bell's papers are on Friday and mine can be found on Saturday.
Environemental hermeneutics will also make a showing at the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences conference, Many Shades of Green, to be held June 17-20 in Portland, Oregon on the campus of Lewis and Clark College. I will be presenting on two panels. The first will be my EH paper I presented at the NTPA. The second is a paper using the narrative theory of Paul Ricoeur and bringing it into dialogue with environmental justice studies. Nathan Bell will also be presenting two papers in the area of environmental hermeneutics. The papers are posted on the conference website, http://www.aess.info/. and can be viewed by clicking on the conference link to the left, then going to "conference schedule" and clicking on the link for the full program. Nathan Bell's papers are on Friday and mine can be found on Saturday.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Environmental Hermeneutics Panel at the IAEP
At the Annual Meeting of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy in Montreal (6-8 November 2010), there will be a number of presentations related to environmental hermeneutics. In fact, the following panel will be devoted to the topic:
Environmental Hermeneutics Panel
Moderator: Brian Treanor, Loyola Marymount University
“Memory, Imagination, and the Hermeneutics of Place,” Forrest Clingerman, Ohio Northern University
“The Other-than-human as a Self: Ricoeur’s Solicitude in Environmental Hermeneutics,” Nathan Bell,
University of North Texas
“Landscape Hermeneutics and Gadamer’s Notion of Wirkungsgeschichte,” Martin A. Drenthen, Radboud
University Nijmegen
For more information, see www.environmentalphilosophy.org.
Environmental Hermeneutics Panel
Moderator: Brian Treanor, Loyola Marymount University
“Memory, Imagination, and the Hermeneutics of Place,” Forrest Clingerman, Ohio Northern University
“The Other-than-human as a Self: Ricoeur’s Solicitude in Environmental Hermeneutics,” Nathan Bell,
University of North Texas
“Landscape Hermeneutics and Gadamer’s Notion of Wirkungsgeschichte,” Martin A. Drenthen, Radboud
University Nijmegen
For more information, see www.environmentalphilosophy.org.
Zoosemiotics
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