presents

The Necessity of Narrative in Environmental Ethics? A Lecture by Christopher Preston

7:30 p.m., October 16, 2001 EESAT 125

One of the most provocative pieces of writing in the environmental ethics literature is a first person narrative about scaling a rock face written by Karen Warren. Warren shows how her narrative exibits many important feminist ethical sensibilities. I want to broaden Warren's claim and suggest that narratives are also central to other kinds of environmental ethics. A careful look at one of the most popular non-narrative approaches to environmental ethics, the claim that nature has objective intrinsic value, reveals that narrative lies at its heart. This claim raises some interesting questions about the connection between the evolutionary and ecological tradition and environmental ethics.

Lecture is free and open to the public. For special accommodation, contact us at 565-2266 or philosophy@unt.edu.

Christopher Preston is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina teaching classes in philosophy, the school of the environment, and in women's studies. He is a native of England and has a bachelors degree from the University of Durham in England, a masters degree from Colorado State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. In the past, he has fished commercially and worked for the National Park Service in Alaska.

CEP - PHIL - UNT - October 4, 2001