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The Social Construction of Nature: Relativist Accusations, Pragmatist and Critical Realist Responses

Identification

Public canonical key
doi:10.1111/0004-5608.00105
Authors
James D. Proctor
Reported year
1998
Reported language
en
Source type
article
First detected
2026-11-09T19:08:22.446693+00:00
Last metadata observation
2026-11-09T19:08:22.446693+00:00
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Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

University of California, Santa Barbara

Documentary abstract — original language

Social constructivists argue that what we call “nature” isfar less universal and extrahuman than generally assumed. Yet this argument has been vigorously attacked by some natural scientists and other scholars due to what they perceive as its dangerous flirtation with relativism. I introduce this debate by reference to a recent controversy over the concept of wilderness, an important icon of nature in North America. I then define several forms of relativism, and compare two contemporary bodies of thought that are in broad agreement with social constructivism, yet do not promote strong forms of relativism: critical realism and pragmatism. For its part, critical realism is marked by a qualified, though vigorous, rejection of strong forms of relativism in understanding nature, whereas pragmatism involves more of an agnostic response, a sense that the so-called problem of relativism is not as serious as critics of the social-construction-of-nature argument would believe. Taken together, the two approaches offer more than either one alone, as they both suggest important truths about nature, albeit generally at different scales. Ultimately, pragmatists and critical realists alike admit that allknowledges are partial and a certain degree of relativism is thus unavoidable; yet they both, in a sort of tense complementarity, point to ways that geographers and others whose business and concern it is to represent nature can indeed have something to say.

Identifiers

OPENALEX
W2057716127
DOI
10.1111/0004-5608.00105

Documentary context

Documentary family
Scholarship
Source-reported types
article

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OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

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  • openalex:w1792331941 · CITES
  • openalex:w1961898237 · CITES

1 incoming references within the detected corpus

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Cite this reference

James D. Proctor. The Social Construction of Nature: Relativist Accusations, Pragmatist and Critical Realist Responses. 1998. https://doi.org/10.1111/0004-5608.00105

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APA
James D. Proctor. (1998). The Social Construction of Nature: Relativist Accusations, Pragmatist and Critical Realist Responses. https://doi.org/10.1111/0004-5608.00105
Chicago
James D. Proctor. The Social Construction of Nature: Relativist Accusations, Pragmatist and Critical Realist Responses. 1998. https://doi.org/10.1111/0004-5608.00105
ISO 690
James D. Proctor. The Social Construction of Nature: Relativist Accusations, Pragmatist and Critical Realist Responses. 1998. https://doi.org/10.1111/0004-5608.00105

UDTR Global Rights of Nature Legal Library. The Social Construction of Nature: Relativist Accusations, Pragmatist and Critical Realist Responses. Documentary record: https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-0ab9218e2e32ae8ab087aef65d342803/ · Last HTTP verification: not performed

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Field provenance and record version

Version 107c816ded050ae9 · udtr-reference-1.1.2

Title
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:08:22.446693+00:00
Authors
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:08:22.446693+00:00
Year
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:08:22.446693+00:00
Identifiers
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:08:22.446693+00:00
Source URL
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:08:22.446693+00:00
Source-reported author ORCID
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:08:22.446693+00:00

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d584412d82488c9d · 2026-11-09T19:08:22.446693+00:00

2dbd87d8f2bd98c1 · 2026-11-09T19:08:22.446693+00:00

f4066c816fdf2e87 · 2026-11-09T19:08:22.446693+00:00

107c816ded050ae9 · 2026-11-09T19:08:22.446693+00:00

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Research dossiers and documentary relations

University of California, Santa Barbara

James D. Proctor

Source roles

Discovery source · https://doi.org/10.1111/0004-5608.00105

Discovery source · https://openalex.org/W2057716127

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