Reinventing Nature?: Responses to Postmodern Deconstruction

By Michael E. Soulé

Book Overview

How much of science is culturally constructed? How much depends on language and metaphor? How do our ideas about nature connect with reality? Can nature be "reinvented" through theme parks and malls, or through restoration?

Reinventing Nature? is an interdisciplinary investigation of how perceptions and conceptions of nature affect both the individual experience and society's management of nature. Leading thinkers from a variety of fields -- philosophy, psychology, sociology, public policy, forestry, and others -- address the conflict between perception and reality of nature, each from a different perspective. The editors of the volume provide an insightful introductory chapter that places the book in the context of contemporary debates and a concluding chapter that brings together themes and draws conclusions from the dialogue.

In addition to the editors, contributors include Albert Borgmann, David Graber, N. Katherine Hayles, Stephen R. Kellert, Gary P. Nabhan, Paul Shepard, and Donald Worster.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1559633115
• ISBN13: 9781559633116
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Island Press
• Length: 203 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Response to Cronon, Uncommon Ground

This book was created as a response to William Cronon's edited volume, Uncommon Ground (1995). Cronon's book ultimately has stood the test of time better than this collection, but the two should always be read together. As a unit, they provide both a thoughtful collection of views on the changing definition of "nature" in American life and also a fine historical view of 1990s environmental thinking.

Examines the philosophical roots of our views on nature.

Essays by various authors from a symposia in California, Reinventing Nature looks at where our concepts of nature originate and how very different they can be. Several of the chapters explore some of the naive myths we hold about native peoples, their values, and attitudes toward the land and its resources. An excellent eye-opener for the general reader.