On Judgement
The experience of nature is primarily sensory: as Descartes once theorised, our epistemological knowledge stems first from our faith in our senses. To experience nature is to be in its presence so that we can ‘connect with it’ – to make an a posteriori judgement on its quality and use. However, it is difficult to define what comprises this judgement if it comes from the senses. If we removed an individual’s senses of smell, hearing, taste, and touch, and placed them within a forest, would they still be experiencing nature, or would the lack of multi-sensory interface remove the so-called ‘connection’? Likewise, the sensory engagement of nature through a computer screen should generate the same result.
This kind of technical thought is addressed here with the discussion of New Materialism and ‘Natureculture’, whereby the technical boundaries of nature and non-nature are dissolved. It is essential to recognise that the transitional idea of ‘Natureculture’ should not preclude the existence of either nature or culture; simply that there are no borders between them. From this emerges a new type of ecological thought, where the ‘marginal world’ comes into view. As the dissolution of the bounds of nature and culture occur, the blending of the two establishes a new kind of world, wherein the divisions are examined as the tension between ideas are found. This is where a ‘connection’ to nature finds a path: beyond physical location, this new style of marginal world emerges based not on observation, but upon an a priori judgement of how the world interconnects.