Ecological Thinking: The Politics of Epistemic Location

by Lorraine Code

How could ecological thinking animate an epistemology capable of addressing feminist, multicultural, and other post-colonial concerns? Starting from an epistemological approach implicit in Rachel Carson's scientific practice, Lorraine Code elaborates the creative, restructuring resources of
ecology for a theory of knowledge. She critiques the instrumental rationality, abstract individualism, and exploitation of people and places that western epistemologies of mastery have legitimated, to propose a politics of epistemic location, sensitive to the interplay of particularity and
diversity, and focused on responsible epistemic practice.
Drawing on ecological theory and practice, on naturalized epistemology, and on feminist and post-colonial theories, Code analyzes extended examples from developmental psychology, and from two "natural" institutions of knowledge production--medicine and law. These institutions lend themselves well
to a reconfigured naturalism. They are, in practice, empirically-scientifically informed, specifically situated, and locally interpretive. With human subjects as their "objects" of knowledge, they invoke the responsibility requirements central to Code's larger project.
This book discusses a wide range of literature in philosophy, social science, and ethico-political thought. Highly innovative, it will generate productive conversations in feminist theory, and in the ethics and politics of knowledge more broadly conceived.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

344 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff, but I think she could have edited herself a bit more and said most of this in half the number of words...

[Tatiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is good, if you like feminist epistemology. Code is one of the leaders in the field and one of the first to try to bridge environmentalism and epistemology, which means a lot to me. I have always wanted to see more connections between these two fields. Ultimately, though, her discussion of ecological thinking is not very grounded in the the concept of "ecology as environment," but more like a version of systems thinking that tries to account for the role of privilege (still interesting, but a bit of a let down). I especially enjoyed her chapter on Rachel Carson.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, but not quite as good as her previous book What Can She Know?. Much like Code's ecological thinking recommends, her own work is better when she focuses on specifics rather than the more vague theoretical concepts she explores in the early chapters of the book.