3: The Construction of Nature

Question 1

Semiology

Answer 1

Slippages between the signifier (the word), the signified (what it means) and the referent (the objects/processes)
Meanings aren’t fixed, they’re relational

Question 2

Representations of nature

Answer 2

do not reflect nature but actually constitute its meaning
always partial and situated
cannot be carried out objectively
science is one means of representing nature
they have real material effects

Question 3

What is the ‘social construction of nature’? [?;?]

Answer 3

Demeritt 2002
Used in so many ways it’s not clear what is meant by the term
E.g. some use it to denaturalise ‘nature’ as always conceptually/discursively mediated; others to suggest that natural phenomena are literally built by people
^different understandings based on differences between conceptual construction and material construction

Question 4

Biodiversity data (?;?)

Answer 4

Bowker 2000
Large number of disciplines collect biodiversity data
The database is performative -shapes the world in its image
e.g. only save what we count; counts can be skewed
Need to historicise our datasets - they are ontologically diverse
STS can help