Towards Ecoepistemology: foundations for the study of knowledge in relation to the environment

Abstract

This paper argues that the ecological crisis is also a crisis of interaction and diplomacy between the multiple forms of knowledge (scientific, traditional, technical, artistic, etc.) within ecosystems. Given the inadequacy of existing paradigms for navigating this plurality, we propose the field of Ecoepistemology: the study of knowledge in relation to its means of existence. Articulating a tripartite theoretical framework—systemic-processual (the "life" of knowledge), material-technical (its "bodies"), and political-ethical (its tensions)—the field offers a grammar for analyzing how different forms of knowledge coexist, compete, and co-evolve. The contribution is the development of a transdisciplinary heuristic, which includes everything from tool concepts inspired by natural ecology to qualitative, participatory, and formal methodologies for mapping and modeling these dynamics. The goal is not to find a universal language that nullifies differences, but to cultivate the conditions for a more just and resilient composition of ecosystems, transforming the incommensurability of a paralyzing problem into a source of possible worlds.