April 12, 1999 Volume 21, No. 14

Moral Importance of Environment Debated Two prominent philosophers in the field of environmentalethics will debate the topic "Does the Environment Matter Morally?" on Thursday, April 15. The debate between J. Baird Callicott and Andrew Light is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. in Textor 103. It is free and open to the public. The president of the International Society for Environmental Ethics, Callicott has been a seminal figure in developing the entire field of environmental philosophy and ethics. In 1971 he designed and taught the nation’s first college course in the subject. In 1973 he helped to create — and from 1980 to 1986 directed — a multidisciplinary environmental studies program at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. A professor of philosophy at the University of North Texas, he has published articles and essays in such professional philosophical periodicals as the American Philosophical Quarterly and Inquiry, and in the scientific journals Forestry, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology. Light’s area of specialization is environmental philosophy and policy, political and social philosophy, and philosophy of technology. He is an assistant professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he holds a joint appointment in the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Environmental Studies. In 1998 Light edited Social Ecology after Bookchin, a collection of critical essays on social ecology, which is one of the most influential schools of environmental political thought. Published earlier this year was Philosophy and Geography III: Philosophies of Place, the third volume of his peer-refereed annual journal. He serves on the editorial board of Environmental Ethics, the premier journal in the field of environmental philosophy. The debate is made possible by the New York Council for the Humanities and is sponsored by the Office of the Provost, School of Humanities and Sciences, environmental studies program, Department of Philosophy and Religion, and Department of Biology. For more information call 274-1378 or visit the World Wide Web site.