Surveys and Perspectives Integrating Environment and Society www.surv-perspect-integr-environ-soc.net 1993-3800 1993-3819 1 2 2008 10.5194/sapiens-1-117-2008 http://www.surv-perspect-integr-environ-soc.net/1/117/2008/ http://www.surv-perspect-integr-environ-soc.net/1/117/2008/sapiens-1-117-2008.html http://www.surv-perspect-integr-environ-soc.net/1/117/2008/sapiens-1-117-2008.pdf 117 124 2008-11-13 Darwinian storied residence: an introduction to the work of Holmes Rolston III H.-S. Afeissa afeissa.hs@wanadoo.fr Académie de Dijon, France A key issue of environmental ethics is to identify intrinsic objects of valuation within the natural environment. Such intrinsic natural values are fundamental prerequisites to frame moral obligations to nature. This paper gives a global perspective on Holmes Rolston's philosophy. By deploying the evolutionary history of life on earth, Rolston draws attention to the formidable creativity which drives it so that it <i>commands respect and admiration</i>. This paper contends that his work lies at the intersection of epistemology of natural sciences, moral philosophy and religious studies. The Darwinian model is used to define the main thematic concepts in Rolston's philosophy and, in greater depth, the general trend of his thinking. Attfield, R.: Creation, Evolution and Meaning, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2006. Gofffi, J.-Y.: La valeur symbolique des êtres de nature, in \textitL'éthique environnementale, A. Fagot-Largeaut et P. Acot (Eds.), Paris, sens Editions, 113–128, 2000. Barbour, I. G.: When Science Meets Religion, San Francisco, Harper, 2000. Jackson, J. B.: The Necessity for Ruins, and Other Topics, Amherst, University of Massachusetts Press, 1980. Preston, Ch. and Ouderkirk, W. (Eds.): Nature, Value, Duty. Life on Earth with Holmes Rolston, III, Berlin, Springer, 2007. Rolston, H.: Is There an Ecological Ethic?, in: Ethics: An International Journal of Social, Political, and Legal Philosophy, 85, 93–109, 1975. Rolston, H.: The Human Standing in Nature: Storied Fitness in the Moral Overseer, in: Values and Moral Standing, edited by: Summer, W., Callen, D. and Attig, T., Ohio, Bowling Greene University Press, 90–101, 1986. Rolston, H.: Science and Religion. A Critical Survey, Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1987. Rolston, H.: Biophilia, Selfish Genes, Shared Values", in: The Biophilia Hypothesis, Kellert,St R. and Wilson, Ed. O., Washington, Island Press, 381–414, 1993. Rolston, H.: Conserving Natural Value, New York, Columbia University Press, 1994. Rolston, H.: Challenges in Environmental Ethics, in: Environmental Philosophy. From Animal Rights to Radical Ecology, edited by: Zimmerman, M., et al., New Jersey, Prentice Hall, 124–144, 1998. Rolston, H.: Aesthetics in the Swamps, Perspectives in Biology and Medecine, 43, 584–597, 2000. Rolston, H.: The Good Samaritain and His Genes, in: Evolution and Ethics. Human Morality in Biological and Religious Perspective, edited by: Clayton, Ph., and Schloss, J., Grand Rapids, W. B. Eedermans Publishing, 238–252, 2004. Rolston, H.: Genes, Brains, Minds: The Human Complex, in: Soul, Psyche, Brain: New Directions in the Study of Religion and Brain-Mind Science, edited by: Bulkeley, K., New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 10–35, 2005a. Rolston, H.: In the Zone of Complexity. Science and the Sacred, Parabola, 30, 45–63, 2005b. Sagoff, M.: On Preserving the Natural Environment, Yale Law Journal, 84(2), 205–267, 1974. Sideris, L. S.: Environmental Ethics, Ecological Theology and Natural Selection, New York, Columbia University Press, 2003. Wilson, E. O.: Sociobiology. The New Synthesis, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1975. \vspace*4mm \bf Selective bibliography \vspace*4mm 1 Books \vspace*4mm Biology, Ethics, and the Origins of Life, Belmont, Wadsworth Publishing, 1997. Philosophy Gone Wild, New York, Prometheus Books, 1986. Genes, Genesis and God. Values and their Origins in Natural and Human History, New York, Cambridge University Press, 1999. \vspace*4mm 2 Articles \vspace*4mm The Preservation of Natural Value in the Solar System, in: Beyond Spaceship Earth. Environmental Ethics and the Solar System, edited by: Hargrove, E. C., San Francisco, Sierra Club Books, 140–182, 1986. Beauty and the Beast. Aesthetic Experience of Wildlife, in: Valuing Wildlife. Economic and Social Perspectives, edited by: Decjer, D. J. and Goff, G. R., Boulder and London, Westview Press, 187–196, 1987. Biology and Philosophy in Yellowstone, Biology and Philosophy, 5, 241–258, 1990. Disvalues in Nature, The Monist, 75, 250–278, 1992. Creation: God, and Endangered Species, in: Biodiversity and Landscapes. A Paradox of Humanity, edited by: Chung Kim, K. and Weaver, R. D., New York, Cambridge University Press, 47–60, 1994. Does Nature Need to be Redeemed?, Zygon, 29, 205–229, 1994. Does Aesthetic Appreciation of Landscapes Need to be Science-Based?, British Journal of Aesthetics, 35, 374–386, 1995. Feeding People versus Saving Nature?, in: The Ecological Community. Environmental Challenges for Philosophy, Politics, and Morality, edited by: Gottlieb, R. S., London, Routledge, 208–225, 1997. Nature for Real: Is Nature a Social Construct?, in: The Philosophy of the Environment, edited by: Chappell, T. D. J., Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 38–64, 1997. Evolutionary History and Divine Presence, Theology Today, 55, 415–434, 1998. A Managed Earth and the End of Nature?, Research in Philosophy and Technology, 78, 143–164, 1999. The Land Ethic at the Turn of the Millenium, Biodiversity and Conservation, 9, 1045–1058, 2000. Kenosis and Nature, in: The Work of Love. Creation as Kenosis, edited by: Polkinghorne, J., Grand Rapids, W. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 43–64, 2001. Naturalizing Values: Organisms and Species, in: Environmental Ethics. Readings in Theory and Applicaton, edited by: Poijman, L. P., Belmont, Wadsworth Publishing, 76–89, 2001. Naturalizing Callicott, in: Land, Value, Community. Callicott and Environmental Philosophy, edited by: Ouderkirk, W. and Hill, J., Albany, SUNY Press, 107–122, 2002. From Beauty to Duty. Aesthetics of Nature and Environmental Ethics, in: Environments and the Arts. Perspectives on Environmental Aesthetics, edited by: Berleant, A., Aldershot, VT, 127–141, 2002. Naturalizing and Systematizing Evil, in: Is Nature Ever Evil? Religion, Science and Value, edited by: Drees, W. B., London, Routledge, 67–86, 2003. Environmental Virtue Ethics: Half the Truth but Dangerous as a Whole, in: Environmental Virtue Ethics, edited by: Sandler, R. and Cafaro, Ph., Lanham, Rowan & Littlefield Publishing, 61–78, 2004. F/Actual Knowing. Putting Facts and Values in Place, Ethics and the Environment, 10, 137–174, 2005. Generating Life on Earth. Five Looming Questions, in: The Evolution of Rationality, edited by: LeRonShultz, F., Grand Rapids, MIT, 197–225, 2006. What is a Gene? From Molecules to Metaphysics, Theoretical Medecine and Bioethics, 27, 471–497, 2006. Ecology. A Primer for Christian Ethics, Journal of Catholic Social Thought, 4, 293–312, 2007. 3 Concerning Rolston \vspace*4mm Attfield, R.: Saving Nature, Feeding People and Ethics, Environmental Values, 7, 291–304, 1998. Benzoni, F.: Rolston's Theological Ethic, Environmental Ethics, 18, 339–352, 1996. Callicott, J. B.: Rolston on Intrinsic Value: A Deconstruction, Environmental Ethics, 14, 129–143, 1992. Carlson, A.: Book Review: Philosophy Gone Wild, Environmental Ethics, 8, 163–177, 1986. Cheney, J.: Naturalizing the Problem of Evil, Environmental Ethics, 19, 299–313, 1997. Norton, B. G.: Book Review: Conserving Natural Value, Environmental Ethics, 18, 209–214, 1996. Nunez, Th. W.: Rolston, Lonegrand and the Intrinsic Value of Nature, Journal of Religious Ethics, 27, 105–128, 1999. Ouderkirk, W.: Can Nature be Evil? Rolston, Disvalue, and Theodicy, Environmental Ethics, 21, 135–150, 1999. Preston, Ch. J.: Epistemology and Intrinsic Values: Norton and Callicott's Critiques of Rolston, Environmental Ethics, 20, 409–428, 1998. Preston, Ch. J. and Ouderkirk, W. (Eds.): Nature, Value, Duty. Life on Earth with Holmes Rolston, III, Berlin, Springer, 2007. Scoville, J. N.: Value Theory and Ecology in Environmental Ethics: A Comparison of Rolston and Niebuhr, Environmental Ethics, 17, 115–134, 1995. Wynn, M.: Natural Theology in an Ecological Mode, Faith and Philosophy, 16, 27–42, 1999.