Framing

I don't know about you, but I can't read.

Let me make this more explicit: I can't just read. When I'm doing research, I have to have some research questions in mind or at least a frame of mind when approaching the material. At the beginning of research (and I am most certainly at the beginning stages right now) it is not always easy to have precise questions in mind.

However, typically one has some sort of presuppositions about the topic of interest or some sort of "frame of mind" about (i) the current literature and (ii) how to approach it. For me, my current frame of mind or hunch about my topic of interest is that a philosophical (and methodological) history of why conservation practitioners attempt to overcome problems of uncertainty in the manner in which they do, would be an important "gap-filler" in the current literature. It seems to me that there are many histories on the practice of conservation that focus on the sociological and legislative contexts of why conservationists attempt to conserve biodiversity in the face of uncertainty in the way that they do. Although, I think these "histories" are important, they do not reveal a complete picture of the trajectory of conservation practice.

So, I want to start with a more philosophical (and methodological) frame of mind. Now, I can start reading.