Silence, Solitude and Nature

This edited collection explores profound philosophical questions around silence, solitude and nature through a primarily autoenthnographic and, at times deeply personal, lens, with contributions from scholars across the disciplines.Is true silence even possible? Is solitude always negative, or can it be deeply fulfilling? Have we silenced nature, or have we simply forgotten how to listen? While we may believe we understand these words—silence as the absence of sound, solitude as being alone, and nature as non-human life—a closer examination reveals that their meanings are far more nuanced and culturally contingent.The essays collected here all begin with phenomenological accounts of sensing—silence, solitude, and the natural world—using sustained attention to matters of perception as a means to interrogate how these are commonly valued and conceptualized. Starting their enquiries with individual experiences of silence, solitude and nature, the authors mark the difference between situated, personal encounters and the way in which these emotional and environmental states and situations are habitually represented and discussed, opening up new avenues for understanding these terms. Authors grapple with the isolation imposed by the Covid epidemic; the death of loved ones; the sensory pleasures of engagement with nature; their sense of self in isolation from the noise and distractions of the modern world; the practical connections between the natural world and their work as educators.The writing here prompts personal reflection, philosophical re-evaluation of the human and the more-than-human other, as well as suggesting new ways for understanding education, learning and writing practices.