The Idea of Ecophenomenology

Abstract

This chapter examines eco-phenomenology. It is tempting to understand eco-phenomenology as a “descriptive science,” as Edmund Husserl characterized phenomenology. However, eco-phenomenology could be thought of as a hybrid: a joint venture between phenomenological ecology and ecological phenomenology. In principle, an ecologically oriented phenomenology would experientially counteract the toxic effects of hubristic conceptualization through which people often connect with the natural world. The chapter then argues for a phenomenology that does not seek refuge in being simply descriptive, as Husserl sought, but takes seriously its capacity for edification, for renewal. Later, in Martin Heidegger's hands, phenomenology more strongly opens up alternative ways of thinking about people's earthly dwelling, ones that point to a reinhabiting of the earth.