A TREE, A FOREST: THE CRADLE OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE
Abstract
This paper argues that each tree as well as each forest is a collective being and it narrates a story that is never particular or singular. Understanding each single tree or forest entails a most complex attitude in which logics and tropology converge. Trees are situated in the interface between nature and culture, most probably very much like the Roman god Janus. Meaningfully, trees embody and represent at the same time the plainest form of any moral or ethics, namely ethics of care. In other words, each tree and each forest bring to the fore the fact that in nature nothing goes without saying. Trees are, most fundamentally, a point of encounter between science, philosophy and the arts. In other words, it is much more than sheer environmentalism.
Downloads
References
Arnold, C., Atchinson, J., & McKnight, A. (2021). Reciprocal relationships with trees: rekindling Indigenous wellbeing and identity through the Yuin ontology of oneness. Australian Geographer, 52(2), 131–147. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049182.2021.1910111
Baluska, F., Mancuso, S., & Volkmann, D. (Eds.). (2006). Communication in plants: Neuronal aspects of plant life. Springer Verlag.
Ball, P. (2023). How life works. A user's guide to the new biology. Picador.
Bouchardon, P. (2021). Las energías sanadoras de los árboles. Blume.
Carroll, S. (2017). The big picture. On the origins of life, meaning and the universe itself. Dutton.
Carson, R. (2000). Silent spring. Penguin Books.
Cassirer, E. (1994). Philosophie der symbolischen formen. Erster teil: Die sprache. Zweiter teil: Das mytische denken. Drittel teil: Phänemenologie der erkenntnis. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
Cinco proyectos de reforestación exitosa. (s.f.). https://arbolinvertido.com/ecologia/cinco-proyectos-de-reforestacion-exitosos-cambiaron-el-paisaje
De Waal, F. (1996). Good natured. The origins of right and wrong in humans and other animals. Harvard University Press.
Fernández-Armesto, F. (2002). Civilizations. Culture, ambition, and the transformation of nature. A Touchstone Book.
Gilligan, C. (2013). La ética del cuidado. Cuadernos de la Fundació Victor Grifols i Lucas, 30, 10-39. https://www.revistaseden.org/boletin/files/6964_etica_del_cuidado_2013.pdf
Godfrey-Smith, P. (2020). Metazoa. Animal life and the birth of the mind. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Goethe, J. W. von (2013). Teoría de la naturaleza. Tecnos.
Gombrich, E. H. (2008). La historia del arte. Phaidon.
Halle, F. (2020). La vida de los árboles. GG.
Heidegger, M. (1978). Vom wesen des Grundes. En Wegmarken. Vittorio Klostermann.
Heidegger, M. (1984). Was heisst denken? Max Niemeyer Verlag.
Hölldobler, B., & Wilson, E. O. (1996). Viaje a las hormigas. Una historia de exploración científica. Crítica-Grijalbo Mondadori.
Krause, B. (2013). The great animal orchestra. Finding the origins of music in the world's wild places. Back Bay Books.
Maldonado, C. E. (2022). Decir lo inefable. Acerca de las relaciones entre ciencia y arte. Ed. Suratómica.
Mancuso, S. (2019). El increíble viaje de las plantas. Galaxia Gutenberg.
Mancuso, S., & Viola, A. (2015). Brilliant green. The surprising history and science of plant intelligence. Island Press.
Maturana, H., & Varela, F. (1990). El árbol del conocimiento. Las raíces biológicas del conocimiento humano. Editorial Debate.
Odum, E. P. (1997). Ecology. A bridge between science and society. Sinauer Associates, Inc. Publishers.
Prigogine, I., & Stengers, I. (2002). La nueva alianza. Metamorfosis de la ciencia. Alianza.
Scott, M. (2022). El libro del árbol. Relato, ciencia e historia de los árboles. Blume.
Shakespeare, W. (1967). Obras completas. Aguilar.
Sheldrake, M. (2020). Entangled life. How fungi make our worlds, change our minds & shape our futures. Random House.
Vallejo, C. (1980). Obra poética completa. Ed. La Oveja Negra.
Wangari, M. (2020). Plantar árboles, sembrar ideas. Aikara Books.
Wilson, E. O. (2012). The social conquest of earth. Liveright Publishing Corporation.
Wohlleben, P. (2016). The hidden life of trees. What they feel, how they communicate. Greystone Books.
Wulf, A. (2020). La invención de la naturaleza. El nuevo mundo de Alexander von Humboldt. Taurus.
25 poemas sobre árboles. (s.f.). https://nelda.org.in/25-poems-about-trees-to-inspire-you-tree-poems/
Copyright (c) 2026 Iberoamerican Journal of Complexity and Economics Sciences
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The authors transfer exclusively the right to publish their article to the Iberoamerican Journal of Complexity and Economics Sciences, which may formally edit or modify the approved text to comply with its own editorial regulations and with universal grammatical standards, before its publication; Likewise, our journal may translate the approved manuscripts into as many languages as it deems necessary and disseminate them in various countries, always giving public recognition to the author or authors of the research.
