Climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and more raise many ethical, philosophical and social questions. What does justice demand in the face of climate change? What do we value in biodiversity? How can we better achieve environmental justice? New technology and knowledge allow novel possibilities for dealing with some of these problems, from geoengineering the climate to using genetic engineering in conservation. The Institute for Practical Ethics supports work tackling these problems.
Professor, Philosophy
Craig Callender teaches Philosophy and the Environment, an undergraduate course that explores contemporary environmental issues from the perspective of philosophy, primarily applied ethics, political philosophy and philosophy of science. Topics include ethics, food and animals, wilderness and ecology, biodiversity, conservation, climate ethics, economics, and the future, property, pollution and justice.
Tata Chancellor’s Chair in Social Sciences; Professor, Sociology; Associate Dean, Social Sciences; Co-director, Institute for Practical Ethics
John Evans researches several overlapping areas, all of which concern the foundational humanistic questions behind scientific and technological development. He is an expert on the ethics of human gene editing and science and technology. He is also a leader in the sociological study of the relationship between religion and science, an area in which he coleads a small scholarly network and a 2.9 million dollar regranting project.
Assistant Teaching Professor, Philosophy; Director Undergraduate Philosophy Program
Andy Lamey is a professor, author, and director of the undergraduate philosophy program at UC San Diego. He teaches Ethics and Society and Philosophy of the Environment.
PHIL 148. Philosophy and the Environment
Investigation of ethical and epistemological questions concerning our relationship to the environment. Topics may include the value of nature, biodiversity, policy and science, and responsibility to future generations.
ANTH 111. Religion and Ecology: How Religion Matters in the Anthropocene
This course will study the role that religion has played, and possibly will play, in the Anthropocene, with religion construed broadly and comparatively. Topics include use of religion and ritual to regulate the ecology, religious conceptions of the relation between humanity and nature, how religion shapes ethical stances toward the nonhuman, religious ideas of ownership or stewardship of nonhuman resources, and the role of apocalyptic narratives in shaping reaction to climate change.