University of Oxford
, The Queen's College
DPhil, 1993
College Station, Texas, United States
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics
Areas of Interest
Applied Ethics
Normative Ethics
  •  18
    Human Responsibility for Predation
    Food Ethics 9 (1): 1-9. 2023.
    In Just Fodder, Josh Milburn defends the view that sentient animals have negative rights. Since non-human animals are not moral agents, and can’t themselves violate anyone’s rights, wild predation is normally ethically unproblematic. However, Milburn argues, there are occasions when humans can become morally responsible for an animal’s predation. In cases like these, predation does violate the prey animal’s rights. The difficulty here lies in determining when a human is ‘sufficiently’ morally re…Read more
  •  4
    A hybrid theory is any moral theory according to which different classes of individuals ought to be treated according to different principles. We argue that some hybrid theories are able to meet standards of psychological plausibility, by which we mean that it’s feasible for ordinary human beings to understand and act in accord with them. Insofar as psychological plausibility is a theoretical virtue, then, such hybrid theories deserve more serious consideration. To make the case for this view, w…Read more
  •  4
    Linking Ecology and Ethics for a Changing World: Values, Philosophy, and Action (edited book)
    with Juan J. Armesto, J. Baird Callicott, S. T. A. Pickett, and Ricardo Rozzi
    Imprint: Springer. 2013.
    Ecological sciences have informed environmental ethics from its inception as a scholarly pursuit in the 1970s-so much so that we now have ecological ethics, Deep Ecology, and ecofeminism. Throughout the 20th century, however, most ecologists remained enthralled by the myth that science is value-free. Closer study of science by philosophers reveals that metaphors are inescapable and cognitively indispensable to science, but that metaphors are value-laden. As we confront the enormous challenges of…Read more
  • Fat companions : understanding the welfare effects of obesity in cats and dogs
    with Peter Sandøe and Sandra Corr
    In Michael C. Appleby, Daniel M. Weary & Peter Sandøe (eds.), Dilemmas in Animal Welfare, Cabi International. 2014.
  • Animal ethics
    In Michael C. Appleby, Anna Olsson & Francisco Galindo (eds.), Animal welfare, Cabi. 2018.
  • The Ecological Community
    Environmental Values 7 1. 1998.
  •  70
    Companion Animal Ethics
    with Sandra Corr and Peter Sandoe
    Wiley. 2015.
    Companion Animal Ethics explores the important ethical questions and problems that arise as a result of humans keeping animals as companions. The first comprehensive book dedicated to ethical and welfare concerns surrounding companion animals Scholarly but still written in an accessible and engaging style Considers the idea of animal companionship and why it should matter ethically Explores problems associated with animals sharing human lifestyles and homes, such as obesity, behavior issues, sel…Read more
  • The Earth Beneath (edited book)
    with Ian Ball, Margaret Goodall, and John Reader
    SPCK. 1992.
  • T.N. Khoshoo, Mahatma Gandhi: An Apostle Of Applied Human Ecology (review)
    Philosophy in Review 17 392-395. 1997.
  •  24
    Some recent conservation proposals – including the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) EDGE of Existence programme – have focused on the value of protecting species with high evolutionary distinctiveness, a dimension of biodiversity conservation that’s not been much emphasized in conservation practice. In this paper we critically examine this strategy, investigating whether there are good reasons for prioritizing evolutionarily distinctive species, and the phylogenetic diversity to which they c…Read more
  •  36
    In his book Wild Animal Ethics, Kyle Johannsen argues that our duties of beneficence to help suffering wild animals require significant interventions into wild nature. In particular, he claims that the majority of wild animals lead miserable lives and that naturalness, or wildness, is not an intrinsically valuable property. In these comments, I question both these claims. First, I argue that a lot more evidence is needed than Johannsen provides to support the claim that most wild animal lives ar…Read more
  •  5
    Just Policy Paralysis?
    Animal Sentience 3 (27). 2019.
    Treves et al. (2019) argue that policy making should include the interests and well-being of present and future generations of humans and nonhumans. There are deep and abiding conflicts of interest both between and within these groups. Trying to factor in so many considerations is likely to generate political gridlock. The authors need to explain how to avoid this.
  •  9
    Wildlife Ethics A systematic account of the ethical issues related to wildlife management and conservation Wildlife Ethics is the first systematic, book-length discussion of the ethics of wildlife conservation and management, and examines the key ethical questions and controversies. Tackling both theory and practice, the text is divided into two parts. The first describes key concepts, ethical theories, and management models relating to wildlife; the second puts these concepts, theories, and mod…Read more
  •  96
    Assisting Wild Animals Vulnerable to Climate Change: Why Ethical Strategies Diverge
    Journal of Applied Philosophy 38 (2): 179-195. 2021.
    Many individual sentient wild animals are vulnerable to anthropogenic climate change. In this article, I suggest that animal ethicists who take sentient animals’ moral status seriously are likely to agree that, other things being equal, we have moral responsibilities to assist wild animals made vulnerable to climate change. However, I also argue that these ethicists are likely to diverge in terms of the strategies they believe would actually fulfil such moral responsibilities, depending on wheth…Read more
  •  33
    CLARE PALMER | : This paper argues that there is no simple rift between animal liberation and environmental ethics in terms of strategies for environmental conservation. The situation is much more complicated, with multiple fault lines that can divide both environmental ethicists from one another and animal ethicists from one another—but that can also create unexpected convergences between these two groups. First, the paper gives an account of the alleged rift between animal liberation and envir…Read more
  •  61
    Should we help wild animals suffering negative impacts from climate change?
    In Svenja Springer & Herwig Grimm (eds.), Professionals in food chains, Wageningen Academic Publishers. pp. 35-40. 2018.
    Should we help wild animals suffering negative impacts from anthropogenic climate change? It follows from diverse ethical positions that we should, although this idea troubles defenders of wildness value. One already existing climate threat to wild animals, especially in the Arctic, is the disruption of food chains. I take polar bears as my example here: Should we help starving polar bears? If so, how? A recent scientific paper suggests that as bears’ food access worsens due to a changing climat…Read more
  •  107
    Should We Offer Assistance to Both Wild and Domesticated Animals?
    The Harvard Review of Philosophy 25 7-19. 2018.
    In this paper, I consider whether we should offer assistance to both wild and domesticated animals when they are suffering. I argue that we may have different obligations to assist wild and domesticated animals because they have different morally-relevant relationships with us. I explain how different approaches to animal ethics, which, for simplicity, I call capacity-oriented and context-oriented, address questions about animal assistance differently. I then defend a broadly context-oriented ap…Read more
  •  68
    The Future of Environmental Philosophy
    with Robert Frodeman, Dale Jamieson, J. Baird Callicott, Stephen M. Gardiner, and Lori Gruen
    Ethics and the Environment 12 (2): 117-118. 2007.
  •  443
    Some Problems With Sustainability
    Studies in Christian Ethics 7 (1): 52-62. 1994.
  •  48
    Colonization, urbanization, and animals
    Philosophy and Geography 6 (1): 47-58. 2003.
    Urbanization and development of green spaces is continuing worldwide. Such development frequently engulfs the habitats of native animals, with a variety of effects on their existence, location and ways of living. This paper attempts to theorize about some of these effects, drawing on aspects of Foucault's discussions of power and using a metaphor of human colonization, where colonization is understood as an "ongoing process of dispossession, negotiation, transformation, and resistance." It argue…Read more
  •  2014
    A Bibliographical Essay On Environmental Ethics'
    Studies in Christian Ethics 7 (1): 68-97. 1994.
  •  2
    Killing Animals, edited by The Animal Studies Group
    Illinois University Press. 2006.
  •  62
    Three Questions on Climate Change
    Ethics and International Affairs 28 (3): 343-350. 2014.
    Climate change will have highly significant and largely negative effects on human societies into the foreseeable future, effects that are already generating ethical and policy dilemmas of unprecedented scope, scale, and complexity. One important group of ethical and policy issues raised here concerns what I callenvironmentalvalues. By this I do not mean the impact that climate change will have on the environment as a valuable human resource, nor am I referring to the changing climate as a threat…Read more
  •  35
    Philosophical Dialogues (review)
    Environmental Ethics 24 (1): 103-104. 2002.