Developing an Understanding-Oriented Epistemology for the Environment

Wheatley, Alice Rose (2025) Developing an Understanding-Oriented Epistemology for the Environment. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

An understanding of the natural environment and present environmental challenges involves a vast amount of complex information. This produces significant epistemic difficulties that epistemology should have something to say about. This thesis makes three important points about an adequate epistemology for the environment. First, a focus on propositional knowledge is not sufficient to make progress on the epistemological questions that arise from our relationship to the environment, so we should shift our attention to the epistemic state of understanding. Second, we should take interest in what character traits make a person a virtuous environmental thinker. I argue for understanding-oriented accounts of some environmental-epistemic virtues: ‘big picture thinking’ virtues, like outward-lookingness, and the virtue of honesty. Third, I contend that epistemologists should refer to empirical research and engage in interdisciplinary approaches to explore how epistemic difficulties are experienced in relation to actual environmental interventions. I carry out a case study on the Nearshore Trawling Byelaw (conservation management in Sussex that bans harmful fishing practice) to illustrate the point. I review relevant documents and use semi-structured interviews to understand how epistemic successes and difficulties were experienced in practice.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy and Area Studies
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	18 Feb 2026 11:01
Last Modified:	18 Feb 2026 11:01
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/101974
DOI:

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