The Philosophy and Humanities Department is presenting Contemporary Debates in Environmental Philosophy and Ecosystem Restoration, a free, eight-part lecture series beginning Tuesday, February 1, and continuing every Tuesday through March 22.

Lectures are held from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in E. H. Butler Library 210. The public is welcome to attend.

“It’s an interesting topic,” said Kimberly Blessing, associate professor and chair of philosophy and humanities. “Environmental ethics is a newer subdiscipline in philosophy, and this series is an opportunity to introduce it to our students. It’s also a nice complement to the Ethics Bowl because it’s another example of applied ethics.”

The sessions will be co-presented by Justin C. Donhauser, ’06, and Robert Earle, both doctoral candidates in philosophy at the University at Buffalo. Both are involved in the Ecosystem Restoration through Interdisciplinary Exchange (ERIE) program at UB. ERIE is an interdisciplinary academic and research program designed to advance the sciences, engineering, and policy that pertain to ecosystem restoration and that contribute to the ecological recovery of the Great Lakes and Western New York.

“As a student here, Justin completed the honors program in philosophy,” said Blessing. “He and I co-authored ‘Fade to Black: Absurdity, Suicide, and the Downward Spiral’, a chapter in Metallica and Philosophy. Justin was definitely the Metallica expert!”

These days, Donhauser is the recipient of an ERIE-IGERT fellowship, funded by the NSF, and the most recent recipient of the Patrick Romanell Award for Best Dissertation Research in the Area of Philosophical Naturalism. Earle, a former recipient of the ERIE-IGERT fellowship, has been invited to present his research into the aesthetic appreciation of nature, environmental ethics and policy, and the role of cognition in natural aesthetic appreciation.

The ERIE doctoral program requires candidates to include an educational outreach program as part of their studies. Donhauser said that he and Earle wanted to foster cross-disciplinary communication. In addition, he said, “I am proud to be a Buffalo State alumnus and I see this as a way of giving back. We hope this series will be good exposure for both the ERIE program and for the philosophy program at Buffalo State.” The ERIE program includes opportunities for students to study at Buffalo State.

The team hopes to show that philosophical issues underlie many of the hurdles faced by efforts to manage and restore ecosystems. For example, should we value “natural things” more or less than unnatural things, and if so, why? Is it morally wrong to engage in a lifestyle that contributes to the extinction of polar bears? What if our lifestyle contributes to the suffering of people yet to be born?

Every argument about ecological issues raises philosophical issues. For example, high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, raises many issues. Arguments against hydrofracking include concerns about water quality and preserving scenic landscapes; arguments for it assert that the natural gas it produces is a cleaner source of energy than other fossil fuels, and that such production provides immediate economic good by creating jobs. Philosophy addresses the questions that underlie each position as well as asking, “Is it possible to integrate our distinctive values?”

During the first session, the team will invite audience members to suggest topics relating to environmental philosophy. One suggested topic is simply defining ecosystems. “Contrary to what we all learned in grade school,” Donhauser said, “ecologists disagree about what an ecosystem is.”