The first thing Adam did: How do changes in naming and ordering nature reflect and affect biodiversity?

Description

This project investigates how the ways we name and categorize nature – what some refer to as "bio- or ecolinguistics" – affect and reflect our relationship with the more-than-human world, with particular attention to implications for biodiversity conservation and restoration. While previous studies have suggested that naming species is a reflection of our connection to them, this project questions that assumption and examines how language may not only reveal, but also shape and constrain our ecological awareness and actions.

The research builds upon existing studies that link rich ecological vocabulary with time spent in nature and emotional attachment to it. Indigenous communities, for instance, often develop intricate naming systems as part of their daily relational entanglements with nature and living beings. In contrast, the reduced nature exposure among younger generations in many parts of the world is correlated with a decline in species recognition and naming ability. This shift has been associated with a weakening of ecological concern, i.e. diminishing moral sentiments to protect and care for nature.

Yet, the assumption that symbolic familiarity necessarily leads to ecological responsibility deserves closer scrutiny. Can naming truly substitute for embodied connection? Might language also obscure or even replace genuine relationships with nature, especially when filtered through technocratic or colonial lenses? This project seeks to deepen this inquiry by mapping how naming practices across scientific, social, and cultural contexts relate to broader patterns of ecological change and biodiversity loss.

Rather than conducting a comprehensive literature review, this research will engage in a deep, problematizing reading of selected interdisciplinary texts across the life sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The focus will be on exploring the epistemological, cultural, and political dimensions of how humans name and order the living world as well as what these practices enable or foreclose in terms of ethical, ecological action.

By integrating these fragmented perspectives, the project aims to contribute to a richer interdisciplinary understanding of biodiversity in a changing world. It highlights the need not only to recognize biodiversity loss as a biological crisis, but also as a relational and linguistic one.

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