Environmental thinkers often suppose that the natural world (or some parts of it, at least) exists in its own right, independent of human concerns. The arguments developed in this paper suggest that it is possible to do justice to this thought without endorsing some form of metaphysical realism. Thus the early sections look to Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception to develop an anti-realist account of the independent reality of the natural world, one, it is argued, that has certain advantages over the (...) accounts proffered by 'environmental realists'. The concluding sections draw upon certain of Merleau-Ponty's later works to defend a rather bolder claim: that the conceptions of realism endorsed by environmental thinkers are not just ill equipped but, in fact, unable to acknowledge what may be provisionally referred to as the more-than-human dimension of reality. (shrink)

La ingente obra mediática de Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente en relación con las ciencias naturales nos permite explorar detenidamente los procesos de generación, circulación y gestión de conocimiento científico-tecnológico en un contexto particularmente convulso de la historia reciente de España, el final de la dictadura de Franco. Con un enfoque centrado en las relaciones entre los seres humanos y su entorno, el trabajo multidimensional de Rodríguez de la Fuente, como cetrero, naturalista, activista y comunicador, aportó un excepcional componente científico-técnico (...) a los procesos de transformación social, política y cultural de España en esos años. El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar cómo este componente científico-técnico estaba frecuentemente ligado, y entre otros aspectos, a la definición y contextualización de España y su patrimonio natural tanto dentro de sus fronteras como en el escenario internacional. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Semiotica Jahrgang: 2015 Heft: 207 Seiten: 369-393.

Here it is shown that 'vacant nature' is deployed as sign in Anglo-American landscape representation of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries to support a Cartesian imaginary of spatial extension. The referent of this imaginary is variously denoted as 'America' (John Locke), the 'north west' (Jefferson), the 'wilderness' (Ralph Waldo Emerson), and the 'frontier' (Frederick Jackson Turner) but throughout it is essentially the same 'vacant' landscape; its function is to produce a site and space of appearance for an imperial self, an (...) isolate pursuing self-extension through commodity production and consumption. This spatial representation—the predecessor of the abstract space of shopping malls, interstates, commercial advertising, global markets, office buildings, and suburbs—is contrasted with 'place,' a space shaped by topography, collective memory, and ecological constraint. (shrink)

This paper explores the ethical aspects of an investigation into a forester's perception of his landscape. Three different ethical issues are addressed. The first issue concerns the ethics associated with the methodology of ethnology. The second concerns a forester's ethics. An example is provided which indicates how he applies values and aesthetics to the landscape in which he lives and works. Finally, the ethics of wilderness is discussed, concentrating on the different ways in which people perceive wilderness and wilderness issues, (...) depending on their relationship with the forest landscape. The article concludes by questioning whether the ways in which wilderness is culturally constructed can lead to misconceptions about human-forest interaction, and by asking whether emphasis on wilderness as a positive value has been exaggerated. (shrink)

Over the last 30 years, the computer and videogame has emerged as a popular recreational pastime. While often associated with the artificial and alien, it is my contention that the modern videogame informs on the subject of “nature” and what we consider to be natural. This article delineates some of the “natures” posited in computer game design. It provides a valuable overview of gaming culture and might serve as an introduction to further research on specific game genres. It argues that (...) virtual worlds are currently serving a dual purpose, of reinforcing traditional stereotypes of the natural world, while gradually moving towards radical, new forms of “virtual” nature to contend with. It suggests that the mimicking of biological systems in computer games expresses both our lingering cultural interest in the “great outdoors” and a need to give familiarity and substance to an electronic medium marked by its failure to fit within traditional notions of space and geography. (shrink)

. Books Received. Ethics, Place & Environment: Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 125-128.

Allen Carlson and Sheila Lintott (eds): Nature, Aesthetics, and Environmentalism: From Beauty to Duty Content Type Journal Article DOI 10.1007/s10806-010-9258-2 Authors Nathaniel Barrett, Institute for the Biocultural Study of Religion 1711 Massachusetts Ave NW #308 Washington DC 20036 USA Journal Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics Online ISSN 1573-322X Print ISSN 1187-7863.