GLOSSARY - Making Sense of Nature - page 287

Civil society groups can be very informal (e.g. a parent-run children's sports
team), but also very institutionalised (e.g. the National Audubon Society).
Cognition The ordering of sense-data in the mind so as to describe
and explain the world in which we live. Cognition involves the mental
representation of what we take to be 'reality' (social and natural). It also
involves the use of logical reasoning. Cognitive knowledge and informa-
tion is communicated daily to us, especially through 'realistic' genres of
communication, such as broadsheet journalism or science publications.
Cognition is considered one of the three human 'faculties', the others
being aesthetics and morality (or ethics). Although this makes cognition
sound like a universal similar process common to all humans, there is
good evidence to suggest that cognition is varied according to a person's
milieu.
Collateral concept Any widely used word whose meaning is shared with
another keyword. Collateral concepts need not always be synonyms of other
keywords, but much of the time they are. For instance, at least one of the
meanings of the concept 'nature' may be intended when the word 'race'
is used by some people. Likewise, the word 'wilderness' is often used as a
synonym for one or more of the meanings of nature.
Connotative reference Any written, verbal, visual or other act of refer-
ring to the world that connotes something not referred to explicitly. Most
references are denotative (or literal). For instance, if I say 'Contemporary
polar bears have a smaller habitat than their forebears', I'm obviously denot-
ing polar bears and their Arctic environment; however, intentionally or not,
I'm also making a connotative reference. I am connoting the melting of
Arctic ice because of global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions.
For some listeners I'm also connoting a criticism of the destructive aspects
of economic growth. Product advertising frequently utilises connotative
reference, though it's hardly alone.
Cultures of nature Sets of ideas about what nature is and how it should
be valued that are shared among members of a particular society. Anthro-
pologists have shown not only that such cultures vary, but also that the very
idea of 'nature' is itself not a cultural universal.
Denaturalisation The process whereby an analyst shows that something
normally said to be natural can plausibly be shown to be the opposite,
i.e. a product of society, economy or culture. See also naturalisation and
re-naturalisation.
Discourse The process of communicating via words or other media that
signify the meanings and referents of words. 'To discourse' is an act, while
the results of that act may be 'a discourse' (e.g. a set of terms used by plant
biologists). The act is itself structured by the terms made available by prior
discourse, meaning that there is a recursive link between discourse in the