Extending co-operative inquiry beyond the human: Ontopoetic inquiry with rivers

Abstract

Co-operative inquiry was conceived as an authentic science of humans as self-determining persons. But what if we extend our definition of persons to include beings in the more-than-human world – and indeed the cosmos itself – as sentient and responsive? This paper gives some account of a series of co-operative inquiries with human and river persons worldwide, drawing on living cosmos panpsychism to address questions of the kind, What would it be like to live in a world of sentient beings rather than inert objects? The paper includes some narratives of encounters with animals who appear at our river encounters, and reflects on the veracity claims we are making.