The Moral Epistemology of First Nations Stories

Abstract

One way to view the importance of storytelling in First Nations cultures is to look at the epistemology that informs storytelling and, more generally, practice in those cultures. Listening to the First Nations voices of Carol Geddes on respect, Louise Profeit-Leblanc on responsible truth, Vine Deloria on principles of epistemological method, and Deloria and Lee Hester on the centrality of belief in the West in contrast to the centrality of practice, experience, and story in indigenous worlds suggests that storytelling should be central to environmental education, ethics, and practice.One way to view the importance of storytelling in First Nations cultures is to look at the epistemology that informs storytelling and, more generally, practice in those cultures. Listening to the First Nations voices of Carol Geddes on respect, Louise Profeit-Leblanc on responsible truth, Vine Deloria on principles of epistemological method, and Deloria and Lee Hester on the centrality of belief in the West in contrast to the centrality of practice, experience, and story in indigenous worlds suggests that storytelling should be central to environmental education, ethics, and practice.