Thursday, May 15, 2014

quote of the day

"One may resort to the distinction between 'nature natured' (natura naturata) and 'nature naturing' (natura naturans)....Yet between the rigorous naturalists of nature naturing and the staunch culturalists of nature natured, one might attempt to follow the path that conjoins the two sides [and articulate a mere concept of 'nature']."

"[However], left to itself, 'nature' is always mute, even unknowable in itself; it comes into existence as a relevant reality only when translated into the signs and symbols that culture attaches to it."

- Philippe Descola, The Ecology of Others