Hermeneutics in an Age of Alternative Facts, Fake News, and Climate Change Denial

Patrick Howard

doi:10.29173/pandpr29504

Abstract

A Review of Clingerman, F., Treanor, B., Drenthen, M., and Utsler, D. (Eds.) Interpreting Nature: The emerging field of environmental hermeneutics.

Highlights

The first sentence in this edited collection is an attention grabber
Each social reality or construct is a creation of the human mind represented by language and reinforced, solidified, and set down as fact or conventional wisdom. This is especially important for hermeneutics that is inclusive of a living environment, the social-cultural environment, built environments and is concerned with the whole of experience in the world
Van Buren celebrates the big tent cast by hermeneutics in which the perspectives, expertise, and experiences of those belonging to the natural and social sciences, the humanities, the professions, communities, and First Nations can determine, through dialogue, “the biophysical truth of interpretations of forests and other environments” (p.30)

Summary

Introduction

The first sentence in this edited collection is an attention grabber. It is difficult to say whether the editors knew of the line’s relevance to current political and cultural discourse when the book was being written. It is difficult to know if the editors and the contributors to this book were prescient and understood how crucial hermeneutics, in this case the environmental hermeneutics they are proposing, may become in providing a space to reflect on the human mediation of the meaning of environment, and assisting us "in understanding the practical implications of our encounters with the world." Each social reality or construct is a creation of the human mind represented by language and reinforced, solidified, and set down as fact or conventional wisdom This is especially important for hermeneutics that is inclusive of a living environment, the social-cultural environment, built environments and is concerned with the whole of experience in the world. I would add tools to discredit magical thinking, deniers, and purveyors of alternative facts to nudge society toward a transition to a more sustainable way of being in the world, while we still have the time to do so

Part 1: Interpretation and the Task of Thinking Environmentally

Part 2: Situating the Self

Part 3: Narrative and Image

Conclusion