Forest Philosophy

Two origin stories diverge in the word “forest”.

The first is that it comes to us from the Medieval Latin forestem silvam, “the outside woods”, a phrase enforced by Emperor Charlemagne to denote the “royal forest” at the edges of his manicured parkland. The word itself goes back further to foris, “outside”, from which we also get the concept of “the foreign”…foreign bodies, foreigners, foreign to me. The sense then, as Charlemagne wished to emphasise, is of the forest as the outside, “beyond the park”, beyond the pale, and beyond the main(stream) or central fenced parkland.

The second story connects forest to forum, in a legal sense: “land subject to a ban”.

From 2024, I will be opening a set of virtual Forest Philosophy courses: containers that embrace and peer into the so-called foreign, the outside woods and words and worlds that exist, and have existed, banned and beyond the manicured, fenced structures and systems of oppression. See below for course descriptions, and get in touch if you would like more information or to be kept in the loop for launch dates!

Get excited...

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