Environmental hermeneutics is a term for a wide range of scholarship that applies the techniques and resources of the

philosophical Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

field of

hermeneutics Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretative principles or methods used when immediate c ...

to environmental issues. That is to say it addresses issues of interpretation as they relate to

nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

and environmental issues broadly conceived to include

wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

ecosystems An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the p ...

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

, the built environment (

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

, embodiment, and more. Work in

environmental philosophy Environmental philosophy is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with the natural environment and humans' place within it. It asks crucial questions about human environmental relations such as "What do we mean when we talk about nature?" "What ...

ecocriticism Ecocriticism is the study of literature and ecology from an interdisciplinary point of view, where literature scholars analyze texts that illustrate environmental concerns and examine the various ways literature treats the subject of nature. It wa ...

environmental theology Environmental theology pertains to "the God-environment relationship and divine expectations of human behavior in relation to the environment". History The history of Environmental Theology is often regarded as a new age idea developed in the l ...

ecotheology Ecotheology is a form of constructive theology that focuses on the interrelationships of religion and nature, particularly in the light of environmental concerns. Ecotheology generally starts from the premise that a relationship exists between ...

, and similar disciplines may overlap the field of environmental hermeneutics.

In the public sphere, much of the focus on “the environment” is concerned with discovering scientific facts and then reporting how policy can act on these facts. On its face, philosophical hermeneutics might appear to be an unrelated enterprise. But... even the facts of the sciences are given meaning by how humans interpret them. Of course this does not mean that there are no facts, or that all facts must come from scientific discourse. Rather... t callsfor mediation—the ''mediation that grounds the interpretive task of connecting fact and meaning'' through a number of different structures and forms. (Clingerman, et al. 2013, emphasis added)

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Bibliography

* Abram, D. (1996). ''The Spell of the Sensuous'', New York: Vintage. * Brown, C. S. and T. Toadvine (2003). ''Eco-Phenomenology: Back to the Earth Itself'', New York: SUNY Press. * Clingerman, F. and B. Treanor, M. Drenthen, D. Utsler (2013). ''Interpreting Nature: The Emerging Field of Environmental Hermeneutics'', New York: Fordham University Press. * Clingerman, F. and M. Dixon (2011). ''Placing Nature on the Borders of Religion, Philosophy and Ethics'', London: Ashgate. * Cronon, William (1992). “A Place for Stories: Nature, History, and Narrative.” ''Journal of American History'' 78 (1992): 1347-76. * Drenthen, M. and J. Keulartz (2014). ''Environmental Aesthetics: Crossing Divides and Breaking Ground'', New York: Fordham University Press * Gare, Arran (1998). “MacIntyre, Narratives, and Environmental Ethics.” ''Environmental Ethics'' 20 (1998): 3-21. * Keller, K. (2003). ''The Face of the Deep'', London: Routledge * Kohák, E. (1984). ''The Embers and the Stars: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Moral Sense of Nature'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press. * Mugerauer, R. (1995). ''Interpreting Environments'', Austin, TX: University of Texas Press * Plumwood, Val (1993). ''Feminism and the Mastery of Nature'', London: Routledge * Treanor, Brian (2014). ''Emplotting Virtue: A Narrative Approach to Environmental Virtue Ethics''. New York: SUNY Press. * Van Buren, John (1995). “Critical Environmental Hermeneutics.” ''Environmental Ethics'' 17 (1995): 259-275. * Wood, D. (2006). “On the Way to Econstruction” in ''Environmental Philosophy'', vol. 3, issue 1 (Spring 2006) {{Philosophy topics Environmental ethics Environmental philosophy Hermeneutics

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