Conversing with nature in a postmodern epistemological framework

In a recent contribution to this journal, Jim Cheney argues for a postmoder n epistemological framework that supports a conception of inquiry as a kind of "conversation" with nature. I examine how Cheney arrives at this metaph or and consider why it might be an appealing one for environmental philosop hers. I note how, in the absence of an animistic account of nature, this me taphor turn; our to be problematic. A closer examination of the postmodern insights that Cheney employs reveals that it is possible to stress the agen cy of nature in epistemology without having to draw on the metaphor of conv ersation. I conclude that this alternative account is not only more plausib le, but can probably do the same ethical work as the problematic metaphor o f inquiry as conversation.