Nature - autonomous learning

18 strange naturesTable 1.2 Types of knowledgeCognitive Moral AestheticDescriptive ✓ ✓ ✓Normative ✓ ✓Finally, before I consider what all this has to do with geography specifically,let me say something about what is sometimes called the ‘materialityof knowledge’. One common view of knowledge is that it’s less ‘solid’and less influential than the ‘hard stuff’ of the world, like bricks and mortar.Knowledge is often seen as being ‘immaterial’ when compared to a physicalworld usually seen as more ‘real’ and tangible. Against this, I would arguethat knowledge is as material as the things to which it refers. This isnot to say it is the same as the those things; if it were it would lose its relativelyautonomy. A particular body of knowledge can have tangible effectsto the extent that people believe it to be legitimate, truthful and valid.One only has to look at the history of ideas to know that this is so. Forinstance, until the publication of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species it wascommonly thought that God created life on earth. Almost 150 years later,the theory of evolution has more or less replaced this theological perspective.I say ‘more or less’ because even today some people hold fast tothe ‘creationist’ line. In the USA, for instance, the past decade has seen aheated debate between evolutionists and several religious groups whoproclaim the divine provenance of all living things.This debate has evenmade it into the courts, where both sides have sought their legal right tostop the others’ views being taught on school syllabi. A legal conflict likethis illustrates just how much is at stake when certain knowledges seek legitimacyin the public realm. Knowledges of nature are multiple in theirorigins, their meanings, their referents and their audiences.Together, theymaterially shape understandings of, attitudes towards, and practices uponthose numerous things we describe as natural things. In short, the contestwhereby certain knowledges of nature gain purchase in any society (orsome part thereof), while others are marginalised, is a high-stakes one.According to some, it’s a contest over which knowledges become hegemonic(Box 1.4).