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58Environmentalism and PosthumanismEssays in the Philosophy of Humanism 21 (2): 63-73. 2013.The term ‘posthumanism’ has not been promoted by many environmental philosophers, and it is not clear how the figures I discuss would react to be being characterized as posthumanist. It is more typical for advocates of the perspectives I discuss to characterize them with labels such as ‘non-anthropocentric,’ ‘ecocentric’, or ‘deep ecology.’ Yet, as I will argue, the ideas that have emerged in these lines of thought reflect philosophical commitments that could aptly be characterized as posthumani…Read more
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56The Interaction of Theories and the semantic Conception of Evolutionary TheoryPhilosophica 37 (n/a). 1986.
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54Synthetic Biology Needs A Synthetic BioethicsEthics, Policy and Environment 15 (1). 2012.Recent developments in synthetic biology are described and characterized as moving the era of biotechnology into platform technologies. Platform technologies enable rapid and diffuse innovations and simultaneous product development in diffuse markets, often targeting sectors of the economy that have traditionally been thought to have little relationship to one another. In the case of synthetic biology, pharmaceutical and biofuel product development are occurring interactively. But the regulatory…Read more
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52“There’s an App for That”: Technical Standards and Commodification by Technological MeansPhilosophy and Technology 25 (1): 87-103. 2012.Though the term “commodification” is used broadly, a theory of the processes by which goods become exchangeable and in fact objects of monetized exchange reveals a key site for technological politics. Commodities are goods that are alienable, somewhat rival, generally with low exclusion costs, and that are often consumed in use. Technological advances can affect all of these traits for certain goods, effectively bringing about a process of commodification by technological means. However, in orde…Read more
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52The Evolutionary Biology of EvilThe Monist 85 (2): 239-259. 2002.This paper is intended to be exploratory, polemical, and, I hope, provocative. It attempts to provide an evolutionary and naturalistic account of a central ethical concept: evil. I attempt this with full knowledge of the widespread and longstanding aversion, by philosophers, to naturalism in ethics.
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52From Field to Fork: Food Ethics for EveryoneOxford University Press USA. 2015.After centuries of neglect, the ethics of food are back with a vengeance. Justice for food workers and small farmers has joined the rising tide of concern over the impact of industrial agriculture on food animals and the broader environment, all while a global epidemic of obesity-related diseases threatens to overwhelm modern health systems. An emerging worldwide social movement has turned to local and organic foods, and struggles to exploit widespread concern over the next wave of genetic engin…Read more
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47From world hunger to food sovereignty: food ethics and human developmentJournal of Global Ethics 11 (3): 336-350. 2015.The role of Amartya Sen's early work on famine notwithstanding, food security is generally seen as but one capability among many for scholars writing in development ethics. The early literature on the ethics of hunger is summarized to show how Sen's Poverty and Famines was written in response to debates of past decades, and a brief discussion of food security as a capability follows. However, Sen's characterization of smallholder food security also supports the development of agency in both a po…Read more
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46Handbook of Rural Studies (Book review) (review)Agriculture and Human Values 25 (1): 137-138. 2008.
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46Bolzano's deducibility and tarski's logical consequenceHistory and Philosophy of Logic 2 (1-2): 11-20. 1981.In this paper I argue that Bolzano's concept of deducibility and Tarski's concept of logical consequence differ with respect to their philosophical intent. I distinguish between epistemic and ontic approaches to logic, and argue that Bolzano's deducibility presupposes an epistemic approach, while Tarski's logical consequence presupposes an ontic approach
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43The Agrarian Vision: Sustainability and Environmental EthicsUniversity Press of Kentucky. 2010.Agrarian political philosophies since ancient Greece stress the role of agriculture in forming political solidarity and civic virtue. More recent transformations suggest a way to conjoin these elements of what makes a polity politically sustainable with environmental sensitivity and literacy.
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42The agricultural ethics of biofuels: climate ethics and mitigation argumentsPoiesis and Praxis 8 (4): 169-189. 2012.An environmental, climate mitigation rationale for research and development on liquid transportation fuels derived from plants emerged among many scientists and engineers during the last decade. However, between 2006 and 2010, this climate ethic for pursuing biofuel became politically entangled and conceptually confused with rationales for encouraging greater use of plant-based ethanol that were both unconnected to climate ethics and potentially in conflict with the value-commitments providing a…Read more
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42The varieties of sustainabilityAgriculture and Human Values 9 (3): 11-19. 1992.Each of four sections in this paper sketches the philosophical problems associated with a different dimension of sustainability. The untitled introductory section surveys the oft-noted discrepancies between different notions of sustainability, and notes that one element of the ambiguity relates to the different points of view taken by a participant in a system and a detached observer of the system. The second section, “Sustainability as a System Describing Concept,” examines epistemological puzz…Read more
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42Ebola Needs One BioethicsEthics, Policy and Environment 18 (1): 96-102. 2015.Bioethics coverage of the recent Ebola outbreak neglected the ethical issues associated with aspects of the outbreak having environmental significance. The neglect of environmental dimensions is symptomatic of the way that the current institutionalization of bioethics as a field of inquiry separates medical and environmental expertise. As visionaries who are recognizing the need for better integration of human and veterinary medicine with environmental health are starting to call for “One Health…Read more
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41Agriculture and working-class political culture: A lesson from The Grapes of WrathAgriculture and Human Values 24 (2): 165-177. 2007.John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel can be given a reading that links events and the mentality of characters to mainstream schools of liberal and neo-liberal political theory: libertarianism, egalitarianism, and utilitarianism. Each of these schools is sketched in outline and applied to topics in rural political culture. While it is likely that Steinbeck himself would have identified with an egalitarian or utilitarian view, he resists the temptation to deny his Okie characters an authentic voice that ma…Read more
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39What Can Nanotechnology Learn From Biotechnology?: Social and Ethical Lessons for Nanoscience From the Debate Over Agrifood Biotechnology and Gmos (edited book)Elsevier/Academic Press. 2008.Printbegrænsninger: Der kan printes kapitelvis.
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38Introduction, Dan Bromley, 2014 Coss Dialogues Invited SpeakerThe Pluralist 10 (1): 1-5. 2015.the coss dialogues were initiated in 1995 to foster cross talk between philosophers working in the classical American tradition modeled by C. S. Peirce, William James, John Dewey, Jane Addams, and others, on the one hand, and contemporary representatives from other traditions, especially disciplines other than philosophy, on the other. The format for the Coss Dialogues was originally conceived as a plenary presentation at the annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosop…Read more
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37Marcel mazoyer and Lawrence roudart, a history of world agriculture from the neolithic age to the current crisis, James H. membrez, trJournal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 22 (1): 101-104. 2009.
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36Ethical dilemmas in agriculture: The need for recognition and resolution (review)Agriculture and Human Values 5 (4): 4-15. 1988.Agricultural research and education ended 100 years of funding under the Hatch Act with a decade of unprecedented criticism of goals and outcomes. This paper examines the way that planners can accommodate some of these criticisms within a framework for understanding the ethical and social goals of agriculture that is consistent with traditional practice. The paper goes on to state that some criticisms are so fundamental that they cannot be readily incorporated into this framework. They must be r…Read more
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36Norton’s Sustainability: Some Comments on Risk and SustainabilityJournal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 20 (4): 375-386. 2007.Bryan Norton’s 2005 book Sustainability describes a pragmatic approach to environmental philosophy that stresses philosophy’s role as one of mediating between scientific and ordinary language. But on two topics, Norton’s approach is not pragmatic enough. In the case of his discussion of risk, he accedes to a scientific notion that fails to acknowledge the way that ordinary usage of the word risk involves pragmatic links to human action and moral responsibility. With respect to the word sustainab…Read more
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36Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics (edited book)Springer Verlag. 2012.The second edition of this extensive work is the definitive source on issues pertaining to the full range of topics in the important area of food and agricultural ethics. Altogether about 100 new entries appear in this new edition. The start of the 21st century has seen intensified debate, discussion, and criticism of food and agriculture. Scholars, activists, and citizens increasingly question the goals and ethical rationale behind production, distribution and consumption of food, and the use o…Read more
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36Agricultural Ethics in East Asian Perspective: A Transpacific Dialogue (edited book)Springer Verlag. 2018.This collection of essays is a transpacific dialog on the role of agriculture and food, especially within traditions of Chinese and Japanese philosophy and social thought.
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36Pragmatism and policy: The case of waterIn Andrew Light & Eric Katz (eds.), Environmental Pragmatism, Routledge. pp. 187--208. 1996.
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34Commentary on Paul B. Thompson’s From Field to Fork: Food Ethics for EveryoneSocial Philosophy Today 33 209-215. 2017.Paul Thompson’s excellent book, From Field to Fork: Food Ethics for Everyone, argues that contemporary food ethics persistently ignores the nature and actual impact of GMOs, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, food aid to developing countries, and more. On Thompson’s view, such philosophical analyses must incorporate empirical knowledge. Additional strengths of Thompson’s book: its attention to quality-of-life issues, its openness to the concerns of the marginalized, and its emphasis on the …Read more
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34The reshaping of conventional farming: A north american perspective (review)Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 14 (2): 217-229. 2001.Debates over the future of agriculture in North Americaestablish a dialectical opposition between conventional,industrial agriculture and alternative, sustainable agriculture.This opposition has roots that extend back to the 18th century inthe United States, but the debate has taken a number ofsurprising turns in the 20th century. Originally articulated as aphilosophy of the left, industrial agriculture has utilitarianmoral foundations. In the US and Canada, the articulation of analternative to …Read more
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32Need and safety: The nuclear power debateEnvironmental Ethics 6 (1): 57-69. 1984.Many arguments for and against nuclear power can be analyzed according to a matrix of logically competing claims on the need and safety of nuclear power. Logical analysis of the arguments reveals their philosophical basis and contributes to an understanding of their explanatory appeal. The evidential value of claims made in the arguments of both supporters and opponents depends upon familiar issues in the philosophy of language and the philosophy of science
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31Borgmann on commodification: A comment on real american ethicsJournal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 21 (1): 75-84. 2008.
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31Commentary on “Rhetoric, Technical Writing and Ethics” (michael davis)Science and Engineering Ethics 5 (4): 484-486. 1999.
East Lansing, Michigan, United States of America
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