공공문화콘텐츠로서의 산림교육과 자연해설에 대한 해석적 연구: 프리먼 틸든의 ‘해설’ 개념을 중심으로

Abstract

This study is an interpretive research on the philosophical orientation of forest education, a public cultural content utilizing forest resources. Forest education professionals such as ‘forest interpreters’, ‘early childhood forest guides’, and ‘forest trail and mountain guides’ are trained to provide public cultural content services that mediate between citizens and nature. This practice originated in the historical context of nature preservation and management through state-led national parks, which began in the West, particularly in the United States. Forest education in Korea, such as forest interpretation, is equivalent to ‘nature interpretation’ in the West. The various literatures produced on nature interpretation have had a significant impact on Korean forest education policy, and this study aims to identify the ideological roots of nature interpretation, which have been largely unexplored. The study first approached nature interpretation activities by collecting examples from Europe, Northern Europe, and Canada, confirming that nature preservation is a common goal and purpose. Through a historical approach, the researchers examined the preservationism that influenced the introduction of nature interpretation in the West and realized that the philosophical origin of nature interpretation is the idea of combining nature preservation and spirituality. To understand nature interpretation, we examine Freeman Tilden's concept of interpretation, which continued this early preservationist spirit but constructively transformed it and shaped nature interpretation today. The study explored the core concept of ‘the Thing Itself’ in the context of Romantic texts such as those by Novalis and Carl von Linné, centering on Kant's influence on Romanticism. Most importantly, the researchers interpreted Tilden's concept of ‘interpretation’ as a theory of the sublime to explore the philosophical roots of nature interpretation. Through this study, it is argued that the essential meaning of the field of nature interpretation is the unity of nature and human beings and the love of nature through personal experience and recognition of the sublime in nature.