Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Extending discussions about "Ecology without Nature" in class

wanhong's picture

In class we discussed "Ecology without Nature"(12-13+a paragraph on top of P14), and these are some answers from Barbara and I. Barbara and I shared opinions with each other in class and came up with these ideas:

1. What is truely theoretical approach?

According to the reading material we think it means thinking slowly, carefully in a aesthetic, appreciative way and question the original idea instead of putting it into action immediately.

It actually reminds me of an old Chinese saying: "thinking thrice before proceding".  

2. What is "deconstruction" in ecological thinking?

To be honest, at first I thought it was "destruction"...then I looked at it again and realized that it meant something different! From the context, Morton's idea was "thoroughly examines how nature is set up as a transcendental, unified, independent category". I think this means the opposite of thinking the ecosystem as interconnected. In fact, "deconstruction" was also a type of medical teaching, meaning to learn human body system by parts, rather than viewing as a whole.

 

Groups: