1st Edition

Interpreting Nature Cultural Constructions of the Environment

By I. G. Simmons Copyright 1993
    230 Pages
    by Routledge

    230 Pages
    by Routledge

    Human society has constructed many varied notions of the environment. Scientific information about the environment is often seen as the only worthwhile knowledge. This ignores the complexities created by interaction between people and the environment. Idealist thinking argues that everything we know is based on a construct of our minds and that all is possible. Can both be correct and true?
    Interpreting Nature explores the position of humanity in the environment from the principle that the models we construct are imperfect and can only be provisional. Having examined the way in which the natural sciences have interrogated nature, the types of data produced and what they mean to us, this looks at the environment within philosophy and ethics, the social sciences and the arts, and analyses their role in the formation of environmental cognition.

    Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION; Chapter 2 THE NATURAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY; Chapter 3 SOCIETY AND ENVIRONMENT: MATERIALIST INTERPRETATIONS; Chapter 4 THE LIFEWORLD; Chapter 5 NORMATIVE BEHAVIOUR; Chapter 6 ONLY THE ROAD…;

    Biography

    Simmons, I. G.

    'A remarkable book. In an academic world given to increasing degrees of specialization, it is a very refreshing read.' - Journal of Environmental Planning and Management