Books by Bryan Bannon
What do we mean when we speak about and advocate for ‘nature’? Do inanimate beings possess agency... more What do we mean when we speak about and advocate for ‘nature’? Do inanimate beings possess agency, and if so what is its structure? What role does metaphor play in our understanding of and relation to the environment? How does nature contribute to human well-being? By bringing the concerns and methods of phenomenology to bear on questions such as these, this book seeks to redefine how environmental issues are perceived and discussed and demonstrates the relevance of phenomenological inquiry to a broader audience in environmental studies. The collection examines what phenomenology must be like to address the practical and philosophical issues that emerge within environmental philosophy, what practical contributions phenomenology might make to environmental studies and policy making more generally, and the nature of our human relationship with the environment and the best way for us to engage with it.
"From Mastery to Mystery is an original and provocative contribution to the burgeoning field of e... more "From Mastery to Mystery is an original and provocative contribution to the burgeoning field of ecophenomenology. Informed by current debates in environmental philosophy, Bannon critiques the conception of nature as “substance” that he finds tacitly assumed by the major environmental theorists. Instead, this book reconsiders the basic goals of an environmental ethic by questioning the most basic presupposition that most environmentalists accept: that nature is in need of preservation.
Beginning with Bruno Latour’s idea that continuing to speak of nature in the way we popularly conceive of it is ethically and politically disastrous, this book describes a way in which the concept of nature can retain its importance in our discussion of the contemporary state of the environment. Based upon insights from the phenomenological tradition, specifically the work of Martin Heidegger and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the concept of nature developed in the book preserves the best antihumanistic intuitions of environmentalists without relying on either a reductionistic understanding of nature and the sciences or dualistic metaphysical constructions."
Papers by Bryan Bannon
Review of Metaphysics, 2013
MARRATTO, Scott. The Intercorporeal Self: Merleau-Ponty on Subjectivity. Albany: SUNY Press, 2012... more MARRATTO, Scott. The Intercorporeal Self: Merleau-Ponty on Subjectivity. Albany: SUNY Press, 2012. xii + 242pp. Cloth, $75.00; paper, $24.95--Scott Marratto's excellent book is part of a new wave of scholarship that aims to demonstrate the importance of European philosophy with respect to questions within the analytic tradition, in this case the philosophy of mind. Here Marratto addresses the relationship between conscious experience and the body by taking up the work of the phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty. There are two main audiences for this book--scholars working in the philosophy of mind and those who are interested in Merleau-Ponty's thought--since the text traces a fine line between contribution to contemporary conversations concerning the nature of subjectivity and commentary on MerleauPonty's Phenomenology of Perception. This review will focus upon what it has to offer each readership. For one audience, Marratto's book is a detailed meditation upon the...
This paper argues that environmental virtue ethics requires the
adoption of an ethical ideal in o... more This paper argues that environmental virtue ethics requires the
adoption of an ethical ideal in order to guide the identification and
practice of virtues. I recommend friendship as one such ideal due to
emphasis such an ideal places upon the quality of the relationship
with nature rather than the evaluation of individual actions. After
describing the value of friendship as an ethical ideal, I respond to
some of the objections that have been raised against it in the context
of environmental virtue.
In this paper I attempt to develop several ways Merleau-Ponty’s ontology might contribute to an e... more In this paper I attempt to develop several ways Merleau-Ponty’s ontology might contribute to an environmental ethic through a redefinition of his concept of flesh in terms of a general theory of affectivity. Currently accepted interpretations of the concept such as those in Abram, Toadvine, Barbaras, and Dastur rely upon conceiving flesh as a perceptual experience. I contest this interpretation and argue that a more productive conception of flesh emerges when understood in terms of Heidegger’s philosophy. The paper concludes with a consideration of the normative significance of flesh by examining the role of “wildness” within a place-based ethic.
The discussion of environmental aesthetics as it relates to ethics has primarily been concerned w... more The discussion of environmental aesthetics as it relates to ethics has primarily been concerned with how to harmonize aesthetic judgments of nature’s beauty with ecological judgments of nature’s health. This discussion brings to our attention the need for new perceptual norms for the experience of nature. Hence, focusing exclusively on the question of whether a work of “environmental art” is good or bad for the ecological health of a system occludes the important role such works can play in formulating new perceptual norms and metaphors for nature. To illustrate this point, the work of sculptor Andy Goldsworthy presents us with a different perception of time that is ethically useful.
Environmental Philosophy 11 (2014): 333-358
This essay uses Foucault’s views on time and ethics in order to reconceptualize the domination of... more This essay uses Foucault’s views on time and ethics in order to reconceptualize the domination of nature in terms of the imposition of an inflexible order upon a place rather than in the more conventional sense in environmental studies of reducing nature to a use object for humanity. I then propose a means of resisting that domination by examining how friendship might be employed as an ethical ideal in our relationship to nature.
Environmental Ethics 35 (2013): 259-278
If the value of intrinsic value accounts lies in the establishment of an impetus to accept duties... more If the value of intrinsic value accounts lies in the establishment of an impetus to accept duties with respect to nature and to make sense of specific feelings of attachment and affection
toward nature, then these goals can be met equally well through the virtue of compassion. Compassion is an other-directed emotion, and is thus not anthropocentric when directed
toward nature. It requires us to be capable of relating to and identifying suffering in another. However, basing an ethic on compassion requires a hermeneutic shift in how we think
about nature and particular places such that we consider more closely how time is related to suffering. Since suffering is inevitable, there are several ways that compassion might be
embodied in our actions, all of which share the feature of promoting the wildness of a place.
This essay attempts to develop the foundations of what Val Plumwood calls a “dialogical ethical o... more This essay attempts to develop the foundations of what Val Plumwood calls a “dialogical ethical ontology.” I defend Plumwood’s analysis situating the conceptual roots of the environmental crisis in dualistic thinking, but disagree that a solution is arrived at in an intentional, teleological conception of nature. Rather than arguing for a substantial union of mind and nature, I argue that a relational ontology ought to be adopted. This analysis is carried out by examining three aspects of Plumwood’s philosophy: the ascription of “mind-like properties” to nature, her taking nature to be autonomous on the basis of that ascription, and the claim that sensitivity to place is necessary to the development of ethical dispositions toward nature. I conclude by presenting how her ethical views might be adjusted to accommodate the transition from a substantial ontology to a relational one.
This paper seeks to propose a direction of research based upon the transformation of Merleau-Pont... more This paper seeks to propose a direction of research based upon the transformation of Merleau-Ponty's thinking with respect to animal life over the course of his writings. In his earlier works, Merleau-Ponty takes up the position that “life” does not mean the same thing when applied to an animal and a human being because of the manner in which the “human dialectic” alters the human being's relation to life. In his later works, particularly in his lectures on nature, this position softens so that the relationship between animals and humans becomes non-hierarchical, but remains essentially the same: there may be no “rupture” between humans and animals, but they are still essentially distinct insofar as all non-humans can be grouped into a single class of “animality.” I attempt to show that Merleau-Ponty fails to follow through with his most radical insights with respect to the relationships between living beings by preserving this distinction and suggest some ways in which we might today confront this problem through the works of Merleau-Ponty in a way that he did not. The proposal, then, is to take seriously “dialectical” biology and develop a Merleau-Pontian conception of species based upon the interrelations of living beings and their environments rather than focusing solely on organisms as discrete units. The conclusion then considers what the consequences of this understanding might be for our understanding of Merleau-Ponty's ontology in general.
This essay elaborates the meaning of Merleau-Ponty's conception of life a "a power to invent the ... more This essay elaborates the meaning of Merleau-Ponty's conception of life a "a power to invent the visible" by differentiating it from Heidegger's claim in The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics that the essence of humanity is to be world forming. By considering how history and language influence conceptions of life, the essay argues that the various forms of animal life are structurally similar to human life, while at the same time are different insofar as distinct species exhibit distinct ways of living their bodies. Thus, one can maintain a metaphysical continuity between different bodies while ensuring their difference and specificity.
This special issue of EAP celebrates 25 years of publication and includes 19 invited essays organ... more This special issue of EAP celebrates 25 years of publication and includes 19 invited essays organized in terms of four themes:
1. Place—lived emplacement, place attachment, and environmental design as place making;
2. Nature—the lived constitution of the natural environment and natural world;
3. Real-world applications of phenomenological principles (transit design; virtual reality; environmental education);
4. Broader conceptual issues (the subjectivity-objectivity duality; phenomenology vs. analytic science; phenomenology as practiced by non-phenomenologists; phenomenological understanding vs. practical applications; parallels between real-world and phenomenological pathways).
Contributors and essay titles are as follows:
David Seamon, “Human-Immersion-in-World: Twenty-Five Years of EAP”;
Robert Mugerauer, “It’s about People”;
Jeff Malpas, “Human Being as Placed Being”;
Eva-Maria Simms, “Going Deep into Place”;
Sue Michaels, “Viewing Two Sides”;
Dennis Skocz, “Giving Space to Thoughts on Place”;
Bruce Janz, “Place, Philosophy, and Non-Philosophy”;
Janet Donohoe, “Can there be a Phenomenology of Nature”;
Tim Ingold, A Phenomenology with the Natural World”;
Mark Riegner, “A Phenomenology of Betweenness”;
Bryan E. Bannon, “Evolving Conceptions of Environmental Phenomenology”;
John Cameron, “Place Making, Phenomenology, and Lived Sustainability”;
Lena Hopsch, Social Space and Daily Commuting: Phenomenological Implications”;
Matthew S. Bower, “Topologies of Illumination”;
Paul Krafel, “Navigating by the Light”;
Yi-Fu Tuan, “Points of View and Objectivity: The Phenomenologist’s Challenge”;
Julio Bermudez, “Considering the Relationship between Phenomenology and Science”;
Edward Relph, “Varieties of Phenomenological Description”;
Ingrid Leman Stefanovic, “Phenomenology, Philosophy, and Praxis”;
Elizabeth A. Behnke, “In Celebration of a Conversation of Pathways.”
Book Reviews by Bryan Bannon
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Books by Bryan Bannon
Beginning with Bruno Latour’s idea that continuing to speak of nature in the way we popularly conceive of it is ethically and politically disastrous, this book describes a way in which the concept of nature can retain its importance in our discussion of the contemporary state of the environment. Based upon insights from the phenomenological tradition, specifically the work of Martin Heidegger and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the concept of nature developed in the book preserves the best antihumanistic intuitions of environmentalists without relying on either a reductionistic understanding of nature and the sciences or dualistic metaphysical constructions."
Papers by Bryan Bannon
adoption of an ethical ideal in order to guide the identification and
practice of virtues. I recommend friendship as one such ideal due to
emphasis such an ideal places upon the quality of the relationship
with nature rather than the evaluation of individual actions. After
describing the value of friendship as an ethical ideal, I respond to
some of the objections that have been raised against it in the context
of environmental virtue.
toward nature, then these goals can be met equally well through the virtue of compassion. Compassion is an other-directed emotion, and is thus not anthropocentric when directed
toward nature. It requires us to be capable of relating to and identifying suffering in another. However, basing an ethic on compassion requires a hermeneutic shift in how we think
about nature and particular places such that we consider more closely how time is related to suffering. Since suffering is inevitable, there are several ways that compassion might be
embodied in our actions, all of which share the feature of promoting the wildness of a place.
1. Place—lived emplacement, place attachment, and environmental design as place making;
2. Nature—the lived constitution of the natural environment and natural world;
3. Real-world applications of phenomenological principles (transit design; virtual reality; environmental education);
4. Broader conceptual issues (the subjectivity-objectivity duality; phenomenology vs. analytic science; phenomenology as practiced by non-phenomenologists; phenomenological understanding vs. practical applications; parallels between real-world and phenomenological pathways).
Contributors and essay titles are as follows:
David Seamon, “Human-Immersion-in-World: Twenty-Five Years of EAP”;
Robert Mugerauer, “It’s about People”;
Jeff Malpas, “Human Being as Placed Being”;
Eva-Maria Simms, “Going Deep into Place”;
Sue Michaels, “Viewing Two Sides”;
Dennis Skocz, “Giving Space to Thoughts on Place”;
Bruce Janz, “Place, Philosophy, and Non-Philosophy”;
Janet Donohoe, “Can there be a Phenomenology of Nature”;
Tim Ingold, A Phenomenology with the Natural World”;
Mark Riegner, “A Phenomenology of Betweenness”;
Bryan E. Bannon, “Evolving Conceptions of Environmental Phenomenology”;
John Cameron, “Place Making, Phenomenology, and Lived Sustainability”;
Lena Hopsch, Social Space and Daily Commuting: Phenomenological Implications”;
Matthew S. Bower, “Topologies of Illumination”;
Paul Krafel, “Navigating by the Light”;
Yi-Fu Tuan, “Points of View and Objectivity: The Phenomenologist’s Challenge”;
Julio Bermudez, “Considering the Relationship between Phenomenology and Science”;
Edward Relph, “Varieties of Phenomenological Description”;
Ingrid Leman Stefanovic, “Phenomenology, Philosophy, and Praxis”;
Elizabeth A. Behnke, “In Celebration of a Conversation of Pathways.”
Book Reviews by Bryan Bannon
Beginning with Bruno Latour’s idea that continuing to speak of nature in the way we popularly conceive of it is ethically and politically disastrous, this book describes a way in which the concept of nature can retain its importance in our discussion of the contemporary state of the environment. Based upon insights from the phenomenological tradition, specifically the work of Martin Heidegger and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the concept of nature developed in the book preserves the best antihumanistic intuitions of environmentalists without relying on either a reductionistic understanding of nature and the sciences or dualistic metaphysical constructions."
adoption of an ethical ideal in order to guide the identification and
practice of virtues. I recommend friendship as one such ideal due to
emphasis such an ideal places upon the quality of the relationship
with nature rather than the evaluation of individual actions. After
describing the value of friendship as an ethical ideal, I respond to
some of the objections that have been raised against it in the context
of environmental virtue.
toward nature, then these goals can be met equally well through the virtue of compassion. Compassion is an other-directed emotion, and is thus not anthropocentric when directed
toward nature. It requires us to be capable of relating to and identifying suffering in another. However, basing an ethic on compassion requires a hermeneutic shift in how we think
about nature and particular places such that we consider more closely how time is related to suffering. Since suffering is inevitable, there are several ways that compassion might be
embodied in our actions, all of which share the feature of promoting the wildness of a place.
1. Place—lived emplacement, place attachment, and environmental design as place making;
2. Nature—the lived constitution of the natural environment and natural world;
3. Real-world applications of phenomenological principles (transit design; virtual reality; environmental education);
4. Broader conceptual issues (the subjectivity-objectivity duality; phenomenology vs. analytic science; phenomenology as practiced by non-phenomenologists; phenomenological understanding vs. practical applications; parallels between real-world and phenomenological pathways).
Contributors and essay titles are as follows:
David Seamon, “Human-Immersion-in-World: Twenty-Five Years of EAP”;
Robert Mugerauer, “It’s about People”;
Jeff Malpas, “Human Being as Placed Being”;
Eva-Maria Simms, “Going Deep into Place”;
Sue Michaels, “Viewing Two Sides”;
Dennis Skocz, “Giving Space to Thoughts on Place”;
Bruce Janz, “Place, Philosophy, and Non-Philosophy”;
Janet Donohoe, “Can there be a Phenomenology of Nature”;
Tim Ingold, A Phenomenology with the Natural World”;
Mark Riegner, “A Phenomenology of Betweenness”;
Bryan E. Bannon, “Evolving Conceptions of Environmental Phenomenology”;
John Cameron, “Place Making, Phenomenology, and Lived Sustainability”;
Lena Hopsch, Social Space and Daily Commuting: Phenomenological Implications”;
Matthew S. Bower, “Topologies of Illumination”;
Paul Krafel, “Navigating by the Light”;
Yi-Fu Tuan, “Points of View and Objectivity: The Phenomenologist’s Challenge”;
Julio Bermudez, “Considering the Relationship between Phenomenology and Science”;
Edward Relph, “Varieties of Phenomenological Description”;
Ingrid Leman Stefanovic, “Phenomenology, Philosophy, and Praxis”;
Elizabeth A. Behnke, “In Celebration of a Conversation of Pathways.”