Interpreting Nature: The Emerging Field of Environmental Hermeneutics

400 Pages·2013·1.63 MB·English

by  Forrest Clingerman, Brian Treanor, Martin Drenthen, David Utsler

Interpreting Nature
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ROUNDWORKS
ECOLOGICAL ISSUES IN PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY
Forrest Clingerman and Brian Treanor,Series Editors
Series Board:
Harvey Jacobs Catherine Keller Norman Wirzba
Richard Kearney Mark Wallace David Wood
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Interpreting Nature
The Emerging Field of
Environmental Hermeneutics
EDITED BY
Forrest Clingerman, Brian Treanor,
Martin Drenthen, and David Utsler
Fordham University Press New York 2014
Copyright © 2014 Fordham University Press
All rig hts reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic,
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Fordham University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of
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Fordham University Press also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Interpreting nature : the emerging fi eld of environmental hermeneutics / edited by
Forrest Clingerman, Brian Treanor, Martin Drenthen, and David Utsler. — First
edition.
pages cm. — (Groundworks: ecological issues in philosophy and theology)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8232-5425-5 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8232-5426-2 (pbk. : alk.
paper) 1. Human ecology—Philosophy. 2. Hermeneutics. I. Clingerman, Forrest,
editor of compilation.
GF21.I58 2014
304.201—dc23
2013004643
Printed in the United States of America
16 15 14 5 4 3 2 1
First e dition
Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduc tion: Environmental Hermeneutics 1
David Ut sler, Forrest Clingerman,
Martin Drenthen, and Brian Treanor
Part I: I nterpretation and the Task of
Thinking Environmentally
1 Enviro nmental Hermeneutics Deep in the Forest 17
John vanBuren
2 Morrow’s Ants: E. O. Wilson and Gadamer’s Critique
of (Natural) Historicism 36
Mick Smith
3 Layering: Body, Building, Biography 65
Robert Mugera uer
4 Might Nature Be Interpreted as a “Saturated
Phenomenon”? 82
Christina M. Gsc hwandtner
5 Must Environmen tal Philosophy Relinquish the
Concept of Nature? A Hermeneutic Reply to
Steven Vogel 102
W. S. K. Cameron
vii
viii Contents
Part II: Situatin g the Self
6 Environmental H ermeneutics and Environmental/
Eco-Psychology: Explorations in Environmental
Identity 123
David Utsler
7 Environmental He rmeneutics with and for Others:
Ricoeur’s Ethics and the Ecological Self 141
Nathan M. Bell
8 Bodily Moods and Un homely Environments: The
Hermeneutics of Agoraphobia and the Spirit of Place 160
Dylan Trigg
Part III: Narrativity and Image
9 Narrative and Nature : Appreciating and
Understanding the Nonhuman World 181
Brian Treanor
10 The Question Concern ing Nature 201
Sean McGrath
11 Ne w Nature Narrative s: Landscape Hermeneutics
and Environmental Ethics 225
Martin Drenthen
Par t IV: Environments, P lace, and the
Experience of Time
12 Memory, Imagination, a nd the Hermeneutics of Place 245
Forrest Clingerman
13 The Betweenness of Monu ments 264
Janet Donohoe
14 My Pl ace in the Sun 281
David Wood
15 How Herme neutics Might S ave the Life of
(Environmental) Ethics 297
Paul van Tongeren and Paulien Snellen
Contents ix
Notes 313
A Bibliographic Ov erview of Re search in
Environmental Hermeneutics 365
List of Contributors 373
Index 377