Environmental Hermeneutics in the Anthropocene

David Utsler teaches philosophy at North Central Texas College (USA). Utsler received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of North Texas, specializing in philosophical hermeneutics and environmental philosophy. He is a co-editor of Interpreting Nature: The Emerging Field of Environmental Hermeneutics (Fordham 2014) and is the author of Paul Ricoeur and Environmental Philosophy (Lexington 2024). He has peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Philosophy Today, Environmental Philosophy, Quaestiones Disputatae, and Analecta Hermeneutica. Utsler currently serves as the co-director of The International Association for Environmental Philosophy and treasurer for The North Texas Philosophical Association.Forrest Clingerman was Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Ohio Northern University, USA. He researches on a variety of topics related to environmental thought, including place, climate, aesthetics, and the Anthropocene. He is co-editor of Arts, Religion, and the Environment: Exploring Nature’s Texture (Brill 2018) and Interpreting Nature: The Emerging Field of Environmental Hermeneutics (Fordham 2014).Brian Treanor is professor of philosophy at Loyola Marymount University, where he teaches courses in environmental philosophy, philosophy and literature, and philosophy of religion, among other subjects. In 2011, he was awarded the President’s Fritz B. Burns Distinguished Teaching Award. He is the author or co-editor of ten books, including: Melancholic Joy (Bloomsbury 2021), Philosophy in the American West (Routledge 2020), Carnal Hermeneutics (Fordham 2015), Being-in-Creation (Fordham 2015), Emplotting Virtue (SUNY 2014), and Interpreting Nature (Fordham 2014). He is currently working on two monographs, one exploring the meaning of “nature” and “wilderness,” and the other arguing for the selfhood of non-human nature.

• AcknowledgementsContributorsPrefaceDavid Utsler & Brian TreanorIntroductionDavid Utsler & Brian Treanor1 Earthy Hermeneutics: Beyond the Metaphor of the TextBrian Treanor2 Translating Nature: Hermeneutics, Otherness, and the Limits of Environmental UnderstandingNathan M. Bell3 Hermeneutics in the WildernessCassandra Falke4 Interpretation and the AnthropoceneAlexander Federau5 The Hermeneutical Challenge of the Anthropocene: Rethinking Environmental HermeneuticsPatryk Szaj6 Sacrifice Zones and Interpreting the AnthropoceneForrest Clingerman7 The Beautiful and the Good in Practice: Gadamer and Environmental HermeneuticsWilliam Konchak8 Is There a Measure on Earth? Heidegger and the Hermeneutical Problems of De-growthMagdalena Hoły-Łuczaj9 Situating Hermeneutics in Environmental Humanities: place, meaning, and interpretationMartinho Soares10 Interpreting Environmental Sustainability: Envisioning a Sustainable Future with Paul RicoeurMaria Cristina Clorinda Vendra11 Fragility and Finitude in the Face of the Climate Crisis: On Worldview and ActionChristina M. Gschwandtner12 Re-Placing DisplacementDavid Utsler13 Sketching Gadamer’s Contribution to Landscape Aesthetics: Play, Space, and HistoricityElena RomagnoliAfterword: Environmental Justice and the Moral Terrains of Environmental Hermeneutics in the AnthropoceneRobert Melchior Figueroa