Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Theory and Criticism

Supervisor

Fielding, Helen

Abstract

This dissertation explores the premise that perception and imagination are intertwined with the Earth System, its many ecosystems, and the dynamic and material elements of the cosmos. This involvement of perception and imagination in an integrated and living planet is considered through the theme of listening. The approach to listening is phenomenological and oriented by an “acoustemological triangle,” which posits a threefold link between sound, ecology and cosmology. Acoustemology understands knowledge to always be in relation to sound, and explains why listening has a forceful power to unsettle habits of knowing.

In taking seriously the notion that the Earth System is a primary condition of human experience, I investigate two trajectories of ecological philosophy that claim perception and imagination to be enveloped and enfolded into ecosystems. The first is traced to Abram’s working out of the perceptual implications of the Gaia hypothesis. The second is that of living Indigenous philosophers and scholars inhabiting Turtle Island. These writers have communicated diverse place-based cosmologies wherein land participates in human perception. The work of Kimmerer and Atleo orients the examination of how an ecological understanding of embodiment disrupts the sedimented habits of the settler mind.

This dissertation therefore argues that Western phenomenology must recognize its place within Indigenous legal and political traditions in order to continue the dialogue between phenomenology and Indigenous philosophies. I further argue that Merleau-Ponty and Bachelard hold to an ecological cosmology that posits imagination as a vibratory material force governed by the four ancient elements (Fire, Air, Water, Earth). The ethical dimensions of this cosmology are examined in relation to attention, and I argue that through deep and relational ways of listening ecological sensibility is enlarged and expanded. Sonic awareness of place is broadened through attention to the meaning of non-human animal communication. Following Leopold and Morizot, I demonstrate that in listening one can weave together deep time scales of evolutionary change with immediate and affective dimensions of encounters with non-human animals. If the ecological crisis is understood to be a crisis of sensibility, than listening has a special role to play in rejuvenating an environmental ethics of attention.

Summary for Lay Audience

This dissertation argues sense perception and imagination are deeply interconnected to ecosystems and to place. By investigating “acoustemology,” the way we are always coming to know through listening and sound, we can more deeply understand how the senses are involved in an integrated planetary system, or what is known as the Gaia hypothesis. The study traces the development of these ideas among two paths of environmental philosophy, one that comes from Western phenomenology (the study of experience), and the other that comes from the Indigenous writers and thinkers of Turtle Island (North America). These perspectives each argue in different ways that the land itself plays a role in how we perceive the world, and shapes our imagination. Each perspective challenges a dominant view that the mind is separate and isolated from the body and the natural world.

The dissertation suggests that in order to continue the dialogue between Western philosophy and Indigenous philosophy, Western scholars must recognize their situation within Indigenous legal and political traditions. In listening to the voices of Indigenous scholars, settlers in Turtle Island can understand something important and significant about the way the senses are connected to the environment. Imagination itself is influenced by ancient elements like fire, air, water and earth; recognizing this entails an entirely different form of cosmology or worldview. This worldview centers the importance of paying close attention to the surrounding world, especially to the animals, plants and elements that human beings share their habitat with. By listening deeply to the soundscape, or acoustic environment, including especially the sounds of animal communication, human beings can learn to develop a stronger relationship to their homeplace. This form of listening can help us to address the ecological crisis by fostering a greater sense of responsibility and care for the Earth and its many ecosystems.

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