On soil and soul : the philosophical question of the garden

In what follows I want to suggest that, although the garden is generally quite absent from philosophical discussions, the idea of the garden is nonetheless philosophically significant. There are three sets of reasons for this significance and that argue for a closer look at the nature of the garden. First, the garden is a quite distinctive site; it cannot be thought simply as a place of nature – the presence of human intention defeats that attempt – but neither can it be thought simply as the product of human intention – the vitality and unruliness of nature defeats that attempt. In other words, the notion of the garden escapes the categories – of nature and of art – that have long structured the discussion of the human relation to the natural world. Second, as such a distinctive site where the human and natural worlds intersect in a manner not able to be defined by either the human or nature alone, the garden opens up a space that helps us think the relation of the human being to the natural world in a rather novel manner. Third, the garden is a place of cultivation, not just of the earth but of the self as well. One does well to recognize that the ancient sense of the garden as a place of education – a rather unique kind of education in light of the unique relation between nature and the human in the garden–needs our attention today. In other words, the absence of the garden from philosophical reflection is an oversight that needs to be addressed. The question of the garden is a far-reaching one that touches upon basic questions of how we are in the world