Every Tuesday February 1 st - March 22 nd 2011 4:30-6:00 p.m. in Butler Library 210

1. The Philosophy Program at Buffalo State College & the ERIE Program at the University at Buffalo present:Contemporary Debates in Environmental Philosophy & Ecosystem Restoration Every Tuesday February 1st - March 22nd 2011 4:30-6:00 p.m. in Butler Library 210 oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

2. For more information: www.erie.buffalo.edu

3. Justin Donhauser • “determinations of environmental policy are not a matter of determining the way the world is – presumably that is the job of science. [E]nvironmentalpolicy involves determining what to do, as a body politic, about some matter given the way the world is” (2009, 178). • White House established Interagency Ecosystem Management Task Force deemed the ‘ecosystem’ the “basic unit of environmental policy” in 1994ish • To date, principles of “ecosystem management,” borrowed from theoretical ecology, appear in upwards of 90 pieces of US legislation. • there is no standard or accepted (scientific) theory of what, if anything, ecosystems are • [concepts?, extant causal structures?, abstract models?, all of the above?]

4. What are we going to do?How?Why?

5. Robert Earle • Dissertation Title: “Deep Intentionality in Environmental Value” • Topic: The cognitive/non-cognitive debate in aesthetics of nature (as applied to the realm of ecological restoration) and the link between aesthetics and environmental ethics • Thesis: By setting up nature as something “out there”, that must be considered “on its own terms” appreciable through scientific study alone, we have neglected the active human component to nature appreciation. Aesthetic appreciation of nature conceived of as a triadic relation reminds us that we are wrapped up in the historic process of the valuation of nature. It also offers us the chance to reclaim our right to the land. • Image: Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog”

6. Environmental Philosophy and Ecosystem Science • Ecologist Frank Golleysuggests that ecological theory has roots in the sixth-century B.C. theories of pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus. • “it is wise to acknowledge that all things are one.” • Ecologist Robert Ulanowiczacknowledges that Aristotle’s influence is seen in the theories of some the most influential figures in ecology. • Plato, John Locke, Immanuel Kant, William James, are also frequently cited in theoretical ecology.

7. Historical Expansion of Moral Considerability  Contemporary Debates Historically we have been slow at integrating ethical reform: • Children’s rights(1850’s) • Women’s rights (1890-1950) • Equal rights for all races(1950-1960’s) _________________________1962_?_________________________ • Wilderness protection: Wilderness Act (1964) protects lands supposedly opposite of those where “man and his works dominate the land” • Animal rights: (1966 Animal Welfare Act in US) (1635 law in Ireland) / (6th Century BC Pythagoras) • Water protection: Clean Water Act (1972) calls for eliminating release of high amounts of toxins • Species Rights(in 1973 species were granted protected existence in US) – though the Endangered Species Act is contested to date • Ecosystem Protection? Interagency Ecosystem Management Task Force (IEMTF) 1993-1996

8. Aldo Leopold’s (1949) “Land, like Odysseus’ slave girls, is still property. The land-relation is still strictly economic, entailing privileges but not obligations” (1949, 38). “your true modern is separated from the land” (1949, 46). *even more so now; we live in plastic houses and get everything via the internet (even food, sex, and socialization)

9. Human as Dominator vs. Humans as Biotic Member • We, as homo sapien sapiens, share a layer in the biotic pyramid (the food chain) with bears, raccoons, and squirrels; eating meat and vegetables • Land is an Energy Circuit : • land is not just soil • the natural/native system of a place can adapt to changes by evolving • man made alterations are too unnatural and systems may not be able to adapt

10. Leopold on Destruction of the Land (in 1940’s) Referring to obvious cases of livestock depleted land in New Mexico and the “dustbowl”: “we have more education and less land” (1949, 41). • we know that depleting the land is bad for us in the long run, but it’s easier and cheaper • because we are catastrophe driven—a community has to be affected to implement rules that apply a “land ethic.” • Cites cases of farmers, showing that we only do enough to stop our immediate problems ; • * like spraying pesticides, chemically deicing planes, etc.

11. Leopold’s “Land Ethic” Leopold = environmental problems are based in a philosophy; based in the way we view nature Leopold analogically describes “nature’s song”: “To hear even a few notes of it you must first live here for a long time, and you must know the speech of hills and rivers…Then you may hear it—a vast pulsing harmony—its score inscribed on a thousand hills, its notes the lives and deaths of plants and animals, its rhythms spanning the seconds and the centuries.” (1949, 149)

12. Key Distinctions Individualism vs. Holism Anthropocentricism vs. Non-anthropocentrism Intrinsic vs. Instrumental Value Individualism: extension of moral considerations beyond humans should be limited to other individuals, namely, those individuals who could be argued to have interests. Otherwise there is no coherent basis for ascribing value to non-human entities Holism: Extension of moral considerations beyond humans should not be limited to individuals because individualism fails to offer direct reason for moral consideration of ecosystems, wilderness, or endangered species (considered collectiviely) anthropocentrism: The restriction of direct moral obligations only to humans. non-anthropocentrism: The expansion of direct moral obligations to living things other than humans. intrinsic value: The worth objects have in their own right, independent of their value to any other end. instrumental value: The worth objects have in virtue of something else

13. Jump to 1962: Nature as Vehicle for Injustice • Identified biological impacts of indiscriminate usage of pesticides [DDT]. • Prompted applied science, industry testing to challenge her claims. • Widely regarded as the impetus for the environmentalist movement.

14. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring • In the official history of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): “EPA today may be said without exaggeration to be the extended shadow of Rachel Carson. The influence of her book has brought together over 14,000 scientists, lawyers, managers, and other employees across the country to fight the good fight for ‘environmental protection’.”

15. 1960’s  1970’s Carson’s Silent Spring prompted looking at the nature as a common resource that we should all have equal rights to. • 1967: historian Lynn White Jr. “The Historical Roots of our Environmental Crisis” published in Science= argues that Judeo-Christian thinking encourages overexploitation of nature by maintaining human superiority. • 1968: Paul Ehrlich The Population Bomb= warns that human population growth rate threatens the viability of needed natural resources. • 1968: Garrett Hardin's "The Tragedy of the Commons" published in Science = points out that every individual in a community takes a little more than they need has a catastrophic net effect on common resources. • 1970: Leopold’s Sand County Almanac is made widely available via a special edition published by the Sierra Club • 1973: Australian philosopher, Richard (Routley ) Sylvan, presented “is There a Need for a New, an Environmental, Ethic?” at the 15th World Congress of Philosophy • 1975: Holmes Rolston, III's "Is There an Ecological Ethic?" published in Ethics= attention of environmental ethics in mainstream philosophy • 1979: Eugene Hargrove established the journal Environmental Ethics.

16. Standing Contemporary Debates Concerns on which modern analytic philosophers focus fall into four broad categories, well expressed in the form of the following questions: • Why should we value ecosystems? • What is the nature of a “restoration”? • Is there a best or single right way to restore any given ecosystem? • What is the essential nature of ecosystems? • (1970’s today) • (1980’s today) • (1990’s today) • (2000’ish today)

17. Tentative Lecture Series Schedule In the next seven lectures we will focus on the following topics. We hope you join us! • Feb 8 What is ‘Naturalness’; Does Naturalness matter? • Feb 15 Is it Possible to Integrate our Distinctive Values? • Feb 22 Is Nature a Place? • March 1 Sustainability and What we Owe the Future • March 8 Formal Paper Presentation by Robert Earle • March 15 Formal Paper Presentation by Justin Donhauser • March 2 Should We, Can We, “Do No Harm”?

18. This lecture is made possible by National Science Foundation Grant No. DGE-0654305 “Ecosystem Restoration through Interdisciplinary Exchange (ERIE) Traineeship Program,” awarded to the University at Buffalo.  The views expressed in this lecture have not been subject to any peer or policy review by NSF, they do not necessarily reflect the views of this funding agency, and no official endorsement should be inferred.

19. FOR NEXT TIME Topic: ‘naturalness’: what is it? why is it a major focus of environmental management/restoration? Should it be??? Suggested readings (available on ANGEL and our LISTSERV) • Elliot, R. (1982). "Faking nature." Inquiry, 25(1), 81-93. • Katz, E. (2000). The Big Lie: Human Restoration of Nature. In W. Throop (Ed.), Environmental Restoration (pp. 83–93). Amherst, NY: Humanity Books. • Light, A. (2000). "Ecological restoration and the culture of nature: A pragmatic perspective." Restoring nature: Perspectives from the social sciences and humanities, 49-70.