Biographical Sketches
Holmes Rolston III (b. 1932)
Holmes Rolston III was born in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. His richly
varied educational career included studying physics as an undergraduate at
Davidson College, then entering theological seminary and completing a Ph.D.
in theology at Edinburgh University, Scotland, in 1958. He then worked for
some years as a Presbyterian pastor before taking a master's degree in
philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh. An academic
appointment in philosophy followed at Colorado State University, where he
became a full professor in 1976.
Rolston has been of central importance to the development of environmental
ethics as an academic discipline, both as a profuse writer in the field and
as one of the founders of the journal Environmental Ethics. He has
published widely in environmental ethics, including three important books:
Philosophy Gone Wild (1986), Environmental Ethics (1988),
and Conserving
Natural Value (1994). Rolston argues that the natural world carries
intrinsic values that human beings should recognize. These values exist not
only at the level of individual organisms but also in species, ecosystems,
and natural processes. The existence of such values means that humans have
duties toward the natural world, including duties to protect species and
ecosystems from destruction. Besides publishing in environmental ethics,
Rolston has also written in philosophy of science and religion more
generally, including his 1987 book Science and Religion: A Critical
Survey.
Rolston is associate editor of the journal Environmental Ethics and serves
on the editorial boards of a number of other journals, including
Environmental Values. He currently holds the position of University
Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Colorado State University.
from:
Clare Palmer, Environmental Ethics (Contemporary Ethical Issues) (Santa
Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1997), p. 42.