Graduate
Studies in Religion and Environment
The Graduate Theological
Union, Berkeley, has a Center for Ethics and Social Policy, that is amenable
to environmental issues. Address: 2400 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA 94709. Phone
510/848-1674. The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences there has also
supported work in this area. Master's and Doctoral degrees are possible in both
places.
Several dissertations have
been written in seminaries in the Chicago area on religion and environment.
Contact J. Ron Engel, Meadville/Lombard Theological School, 5701 Woodlawn Avenue,
Chicago, IL 60637. Phone 312/753-3199.
University
of Florida, Department of Religion, announces a Ph.D. Program in religion and
nature, commencing fall 2003. This is the first Ph.D. program of this kind,
with five faculty with relevant specializations. Contact: Gene Thursby, Graduate
Coordinator, Department of Religion, University of Florida, P. O. Box 117410,
Gainesville, FL 32611. e-mail: gthursby@religion.ufl.edu. Website: http://web.religion.ufl.edu/
The Elliott Allen Institute
for Theology and Ecology is part of the Toronto School of Theology. It
offers a specialization in theology and ecology in graduate theology programs
there. Contact Stephen Dunn, Director, University of St. Michael's College,
81 St. Mary Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1J4. Phone 416/926-7140. Fax: 416/926-7276.
Temple University, Philadelphia.
William Grassie completed a Ph.D. thesis, Reinventing Nature: Science Narratives
as Myths for an Endangered Planet, spring 1994, in the Department of Religion.
The dissertation is a hermeneutical inquiry into the possibilities of a mythological
treatment of the modern scientific cosmology in the light of global environmental
and economic crises. Paul Ricoeur is used to develop a hermeneutical approach
to science. This is used to reconstruct science as mythos, illustrated in Thomas
Berry and Brian Swimme's The Universe Story, where scientific cosmology is read
as value-laden natural history. In turn this is reassessed using Donna Haraway,
and a radical postmodern hermeneutics that is suspicious of one-true stories.
The conclusion is a hermeneutical conversation between human and nonhuman nature
as a model for environmental ethics. The dissertation advisor was John Raines.
William Grassie, P. O. Box 586, 650 Brandywine Creek Road, Unionville, PA 19375.
Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. Glenn Gregory Garrison completed a Ph.D.
thesis, Moral Obligations to Non-human Creation: A Theocentric Ethic,
May 1994. The theocentric ethics of James Gustafson can be combined with the
nonanthropocentric environmental ethics of Holmes Rolston to produce a more
adequate environmental ethics from a religious perspective than others have
so far been able to do. Among others he considers are James Nash, Arthur Peacocke,
Albert Schweitzer, Paul Taylor, and Aldo Leopold. The theocentric valuation
offsets an anthropocentric bias in historical and contemporary theology and
makes for a more adequate appraisal of common planetary heritage and interdependence
on Earth. Paul D. Simmons was the chair of the dissertation committee.
University of Southern
California. Roberta M. Richards completed a Ph.D. thesis, How Should
We Think About Loggers and Owls? Principles for an Applied Environmental Ethic
in the School of Religion, May 1994. Our dominant moral traditions, rooted
in anthropocentrism, offer little guidance about how to resolve public policy
conflicts when these involve the balancing of human and extra-human goods. Richards
develops a theory grounded in process theologian John Cobb's "rich experience"
conception of value; one ought to maximize rich experience. She develops nine
moral principles for achieving this goal. These are here specifically applied
to the loggers versus owls crisis in the Pacific Northwest. William W. May was
the dissertation advisor.
University of Virginia.
Jessica Pierce completed a Ph.D., Theologies for Our Time: Our Moral Relationship
to the Earth, in the Department of Religious Studies, May 1993. Theological
ethics is moving away from anthropocentrism and toward theocentrism. While the
value of nonhuman life is necessarily understood from the human perspective,
it does not follow that humans beings are the center or measure of all value.
Ethics should be conceived primarily in the language of response and responsibility,
correcting a traditional formulation in terms of principles and rules in terms
of justice. This highlights community and the common good, relates parts to
whole, individuals to communities, and redescribes the community and common
good to include the nonhuman world. The work builds on James Gustafson's theocentric
ethics, and John B. Cobb's and Jay McDaniel's process theology. James F. Childress
was the principal advisor. Pierce is now Assistant Professor, Department of
Preventive and Societal Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Box
984350, Omaha, NE 68196-4350.
Vanderbilt University.
R. John Reiman, completed a Ph. D. thesis, Toward an Ecological Ethic,
December 1991, in the Graduate Department of Religion. Thesis advisors were
Howard Harrod and Peter Paris. Reiman constructs a systematic introduction to
a comprehensive enviromental ethic. Chapter titles: Chapter 1: Nature and Humanity
(Cartesianism, is/ought, facts/values; evolution and ecology). Chapter 2. Value
Theory and the Use and Protection of the Natural World (value theory, the degradation
of the natural world, conservation and preservation). Chapter 3: Approaches
to Environmental Ethics (deontological and utilitarian approaches; cost/benefit
analysis, holism). Chapter IV: The Boundaries of An Ecological Ethic (responsibilities
to future generations, the extension of moral community, the question of human
capacity seriously to consider the natural environment as a realm of duty).
The thesis builds principally from the work of Holmes Rolston and of H. Richard
Niebuhr.
Northwestern School of
Law of Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon. Chuck D. Barlow completed
a LL.M. (Master of Laws) thesis, Why the Christian Right Must Protect the Environment:
Theocentricity in the Political Workplace, in the environmental law and natural
resources program at the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College,
Portland, Oregon, December 1995. The faculty advisor was Professor William Funk.
The thesis analyzes the rise of the Christian right as a force in American political
policy, demanding adherence to traditional Biblical values. The Christian right
has taken, at best, an indifferent, and at worst, a heavily anthropocentric
attitude toward the use and conservation of the environment. Barlow rebuts the
proposition, asserted by Lynn White, Jr., Aldo Leopold, and others, and implicitly
accepted by the environmental inaction of the Christian right, that the scriptures
of the Judeo-Christian tradition promote an anthropocentric environmental ethic.
Rather, the Bible sets forth a "theocentric," or God-centered, approach to care
of the environment. Those who claim to base their political agenda on Christianity
ought to consider the Biblical mandate to use the earth's resources wisely.
Published in The Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review, vol. 23, no.
4, Summer, 1996, p. 781- . Chuck D. Barlow, c/o Phelps Dunbar, L.L.P., P.O.
Box 23066, Jackson, MS 39225-3066.
Emory University, Candler
School of Theology. Catharine Brockman Kuchar completed a Master of Theological
Studies, spring 1996. The thesis title: An Expansion in the Recognition of
Rights: Where Will Nature Find Its Place? The idea of "human rights" has
been expanded over history, but the "rights" idea is inappropriate when looking
for a way to protect the environment. Three alternative, value-based approaches
to placing "moral boundaries" around the environment are humanistic, naturalistic,
and theocentric value. Humanistic values lose the inherent values of nature;
naturalistic values fail to recognize the role and enormous responsibility of
humans. Theocentric value moves the measure of value from humankind and/or the
natural world to God, with humans conserving recognizing nature's dignity as
stewards under God. Thesis advisors were Jon Gunnemann and Richard Bondi. Address:
Catharine Brockman Kuchar, 510 Valley Brook Crossing, Decatur, GA 30033.
University of Chicago.
Robert Calvin Nygaard Kispert completed a Ph.D. in religious studies, Alienation
in Nature's Nation: A Practical-Theological Analysis of the Resource Conservation
and Wilderness Preservation Pieties in American Civil Religion (Environmental
Ethics), 1997. The Hetch Hetchy Valley controversy caused a rift in the fledgling
American environmental movement between wilderness preservationists and resource
conservationists, which continues to define contemporary environmental debates.
The United States is faced today with political and environmental issues that
cannot be resolved on the basis of the premises of liberal democracy. Therefore
religious convictions are appropriately brought to public policy debate. Pinchot
and Muir are located in American civil religion, including the American pastoral
myth and the myth of manifest destiny. Paul Tillich is used to criticize these
myths. Pinchot and Muir both characterized their visions as Christian, but both
deviate from Christian onto-theological presuppositions. A more adequate and
redemptive environmental praxis for Nature's Nation can be envisioned. The advisors
were: Don S. Browning, Alexander Campbell, and J. Ronald Engel.
Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary, Louisville, KY. Do Gon Jang completed a Ph.D. thesis: God,
Humanity, and Nature: Jesus-Centered Environmental Ethics, 1997. The relationship
between humanity and nature and the role of Jesus in understanding the right
relationship. Different views of contemporary Christian scholars: humanity-over-nature,
humanity-in-nature, and humanity- with-nature. Analysis of the power-relationship
between humanity and nature, arguing a "power-with" position and humanity-with-nature
view, for which Jesus is a model of a humble attitude toward nature. Christians
ought to practice simplicity in every day life as his disciples. The effectiveness
of the three positions in resolving human population regulation and the reduction
of human consumption. The advisor was Glen H. Stassen.
Union Theological Seminary,
New York. James B. Martin-Schramm completed a Ph.D. thesis: Population, Consumption,
and Ecojustice: Challenges for Christian Conceptions of Environmental Ethics.
Four moral norms that have been proposed as the foundation for an ethic of ecojustice
(sustainability, sufficiency, participation, and solidarity) are applied to
the problems posed by unsustainable patterns of human production, consumption,
and reproduction. An examination of the ecological, theological, and moral challenges
posed by population growth and overconsumption. A constructive ethic of ecojustice
and a critique of the 1994 United Nations World Plan of Action on World Population.
An assessment of five important theologians: James Nash, Sallie McFague, John
Cobb, Jr., Rosemary Radford Ruether, and Leonardo Boff. An adequate ethic of
ecojustice must emphasize the reciprocal relationship of ecological integrity
and social justice and must offer not only sound theological grounding but also
specific ethical guidance toward policy formulation. The advisor was Larry Rasmussen.
McGill University
(Canada). Bruce Allen Heggen completed a Ph.D. thesis: A Theology for Earth:
Nature and Grace in the Thought of Joseph Sittler, in 1995, in theology.
A theology adequate for an environmental ethic is found in the American Lutheran
theologian, Joseph Sittler. This is not a "theology of nature," but an "incarnation
theology applied to nature." The roots for Sittler's environmental concerns
lie in the Christology and eucharistic theology of Martin Luther. Sittler also
retrieves the theology of the second century theologian, Irenaeus of Lyons,
in whom creation and redemption are acts of the same God. Sittler develops a
"theology for earth," emphasizing the continuity of nature and grace and, using
concepts drawn from literature, music, architecture, painting, and modern physics,
articulates an "ontology of communion" in which human beings recognize the presence
of God in their own participation in the raw materials and processes of the
world. The advisor was D. J. Hall.
School of Theology at
Claremont, CA. Linda J. Filippi completed a Ph.D. thesis, Of Sweet Grapes,
Wheat Berries and Simple Meeting: Feminist Theology, Gestalt Therapy, Pastoral
Counseling and the Earth (Ecology), 1990. Dualistic frameworks and hierarchies
of value in psychology, philosophy, and theology have contributed to human suffering
and environmental degradation. If pastoral counselors are to address the issues
responsibly, they must draw from models which are integrative, holistic, and
especially sensitive to the power and intimacy of the relationship between humans
and the earth. Transformative feminism. The theologies of Carter Heyward, Rosemary
Radford Ruether, and Gestalt therapy. A regenerative, earth-centered focus in
pastoral counseling. The concept of "place," as used by phenomenological geographers,
is a central thread weaving together the healing of people, the growth of organic
community, the development of natural, moral decision making, experience of
the holy, and environmental healing. Relying on Martin Buber, authentic, simple
meeting is presented as the path for reconciliation with self, others, and the
earth. The adviser was Paul G. Schurman.
Emory University.
Laurel Diane Kearns completed a Ph.D. thesis, Saving the Creation: Religious
Environmentalism, 1994. 365 pages. Recently there has been much activity
from denominations, grassroots groups, and theologians articulating Christian
responses to the ecological crisis. This study is not an analysis of academy-produced
theological responses per se, but rather of the theologies held by those who
see themselves "converting the pews." Drawing upon both theology and the sociology
of religion to categorize these responses, there are three main religious-environmental
"ethics" emerging in the United States: the "stewardship" ethic, the "eco-justice"
ethic, and the "creation spirituality" ethic.
Analysis of Lynn White's thesis and the development
of ideas regarding nature from the Bible through American religious history.
A sociological account of the environmental movement and American religion beginning
in the sixties, with a focus on the creation spirituality of Matthew Fox and
Thomas Berry and the stewardship theology of evangelicals such as Cal DeWitt
and the North American Conference on Christianity and Ecology (NACCE). These
two theologies clashed in the first attempt at forming a national eco-theological
organization (NACCE), resulting in a splinter organization--the North American
Conference on Religion and Ecology (NACRE).
But these two ethics have much in common.
Both are articulated primarily by similar organizations located outside of official
denominations. They are also similar in their reliance on the natural sciences
to support and inform their sacred vision. In an effort to re-enchant the world,
they have similar emphases on a more holistic understanding of humans place
in "creation". Yet their basic theological assumptions are quite different.
The adviser was Nancy Tatom Ammerman. See also Laurel D. Kearns, "Noah's Ark
Goes to Washington: A Profile of Evangelical Environmentalism," Social Compass
44 (1997): 349-66.
Claremont Graduate School,
Claremont, CA. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante did a Ph.D thesis, Towards an Ecological,
Christian Theology of Creation in an African Context, 1994. Africa south
of the Sahara desert has an ecological crisis and African theologians have not
adequately responded to it. The main-line Western theologies that have influenced
African theologians have themselves been ecologically bankrupt. The present
trend in thoroughgoing indigenization in contemporary African theologies tends
to divert attention from issues such as ecology. There is a need to respond
(theologically) to the ecological crisis by attempting an ecological doctrine
of creation which will be helpful for the current African context.
The study documents the ecological crisis
in sub-saharan Africa and then critically examinines the major literature on
African theology showing how in most cases there is a lot said about Africans'
interaction with nature when theologians are dealing with African traditional
thought per se. However, when they begin to do Christian theology, nature is
almost always forgotten about and Christian theology is done without an ecological
orientation. Following the lead of Jurgen Moltmann (and in critical combination
with African traditional thought forms), a specifically Protestant, Christian
ecological theology of creation, which takes seriously the relations (both internal
and external relations) between a human being and his/her environment, is attempted.
The adviser was Jack C. verHeyden.
Baylor University,
Waco, TX. Thomas Luther Marberry completed a Ph. D. thesis, The Place of
the Natural World in the Theology of the Apostle Paul, 1982. 307 pages.
The Hebrews attitude toward the natural world was unique among primitive peoples.
They did not worship nature, but the natural world did illustrate for them the
character and power of Yahweh. The New Testament approach is similar. Modern
scholarship has not, however, recognized the role which nature plays in New
Testament revelation. Contemporary scholarship tends to view nature as a machine
to be manipulated, or even exploited, to benefit mankind. Paul's view of nature
is most influenced by Judaism. There is some similarity in terminology with
certain Hellenistic philosophies. Paul has utilized Hellenistic terminology
to make his message understandable to a Greek-speaking audience, but the evidence
does not indicate that Hellenism makes a major contribution to Paul's basic
understanding. The doctrine of nature contributes to his views concerning creation,
God, Christ, sin, anthropology, and eschatology.
Vanderbilt University.
Michael Wayne Petty completed a Ph.D. thesis, A Faith That Loves the Earth:
The Ecological Theology of Karl Rahner, 1992. 352 pages. Karl Rahner's theology
has a profoundly ecological dimension. "Ecological theology" views the natural
world as a worthy object which demands theological interpretation. Four models
of ecological theology (feminist, process, incarnational/sacramental, and Hegelian/creator
spiritus). Rahner does not make a conscious attempt to respond to the ecological
crisis, but any ecological theology must at least address the questions of human
being's relation to the world, of God's relationship to the world, and the place
of the material world in the process of salvation. Rahner's theology is examined
in light of these questions. His theological anthropology, his understanding
of the incarnation as the foundation of his ecological theology. Eschatology,
the place of the material world in the process of salvation. There emerges a
truly ecological theology. Working from a profoundly non-dualistic metaphysical
vision rooted in the incarnation, Rahner develops a thoroughly ecological position.
Ways in which Rahner's insights might be appropriated.
University of Chicago.
William Cullen French completed a Ph.D. thesis, Christianity and the Domination
of Nature. Ph.D. thesis, 1985. 2 vols. 569+ pages. Theology has tended,
under the rise of science, to cut nature from its agenda, narrowing the scope
of its attention to the historical world and to human experience. This has been
at a high price, making it difficult to relate concepts of grace, or covenant,
or divine action to the natural world, and leaving both Protestant and Catholic
theology unable to provide any critical ethical guidance or prophetic challenge
regarding issues in the use of science and technology and, most importantly,
in the ecological crisis. This comes at a time when humans are coming to hold
an unprecedented responsibility for the broader community of life on Earth.
Anthropocentric theology has restricted intrinsic value solely to humans and
denied it to the nonhuman world, unable to recognize value in other forms of
life and in the systems of life support. Nevertheless, there is, within Christianity,
a stewardship ethic as well as a domination ethic, and one of the most promising
sources is the classic natural theology in Thomas Aquinas. The best insights
of the Thomistic model converge remarkably with the emerging ecological picture
of Earth's complex biotic communities. The advisors were Robin Lovin and James
Gustafson. French is in the theology department, Loyola University of Chicago.
Austin Presbyterian Theological
Seminary, Austin, Texas. Frank Kurzaj completed a Doctor of Ministry Dissertation,
Ecological Theology in a Small Parish, May 1995. The ecological crisis
reveals how far astray persons have gone in pursuit of freedom and happiness.
The oikos (house)--the Earth-- becomes unlivable. We become trapped in our own
success. How Christianity responds to the ecological crisis demands an interpretation.
Understanding the material world has not always been at the forefront of the
Western Christian tradition. But the Christian God is Creator, Redeemer, and
Sanctifier of the whole cosmos. God is the first environmentalist, one who cares
about the material world and will finally liberate it from the bondage of decay.
The gospel carries the promise of good news for every creature. Humans, as the
most revered of God's beings in the universe, are the priests of creation, and,
as such the mediators between God and the creation. Christians seek constant
spiritual formation in which the practice of ecological theology cannot be ignored.
University of Chicago.
William P. George completed a Ph.D. dissertation in the Divinity School: Envisioning
Global Community: The Theological Character of the Common Heritage Concept in
the Law of the Sea, 1990. How three theologians, Reinhold Niebuhr, Jacques
Maritain, and Gustavo Guti‚rrez, would understand the "common heritage of mankind,"
a key concept in the Law of the Sea, negotiated by the United Nations, and opened
for signing in 1982. This involves their common capacity to maintain conceptually
a tension between alternative worlds and the present international order, a
tension between "ought" and "is" in international affairs. The concept of the
common heritage of mankind must be set in a wider context if it is to have normative
power, and for this Robert M. Cover's constitutional legal theory is useful,
mediating between the non-theological political discussion and the ideals the
theologians wish to contribute. The advisor was Robin Lovin. George teaches
at Dominican University (formerly Rosary College), River Forest, IL.
University of Chicago.
Dana K. Horrell completed a Ph.D. dissertaion in the Divinity School: Reclaiming
the Covenant: The Eco-Justice Movement as Practical Theology, 1993. 364
pages. A historical study narrating the development of the eco-justice movement
as practical theology, a distinctive response of Christians to the environmental
crisis. In the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's, this began with an analysis of the
situation, such as the crisis of the limits to growth, with resources both being
depleted and unjustly distributed. Then it moved to a retrieval of theological
resources, particularly those provided by the prophetic tradition. Then it moved
back to the transformation of practice, undertaking less consumptive lifestyles
and the conversion of public policy. One lesson: people more frequently act
their way into a new way of thinking than they think their way into a new way
of acting. The thesis concludes with suggestions for the future of the eco-justice
movement.
Harvard University.
H. Paul Santmire completed a Ph.D. thesis, Creation and Nature: A Study of
the Doctrine of Nature with Special Attention to Karl Barth's Doctrine of Creation,
1966. 417 pages.
Indiana University.
Lisa H. Sideris completed a Ph.D. dissertation, The Limits of Theodicy: Ecological
Theology, Natural Selection, and the Problem of Suffering in Nature, 2000.
Department of Religious Studies. A critical examination of Christian environmental
ethics. Much ecological theology has ignored natural science, particularly evolutionary
perspectives. This neglect produces practical and theoretical problems, many
of which revolve around the problem of suffering in nature, and whether it can
and ought to be eradicated. Invoking an an ecological model of nature that resembles
pre-Darwinian and Romantic views, such ethicists issue an imperative to love
and liberate nature from a suffering which is, in fact, integral to nature.
I propose an alternative approach that incorporates
elements of science and theology, arguing that it is possible to extend a qualified,
less-interventionist, and more discriminating ethic of love to nature.
The advisor was Richard B. Miller.
University of Chicago
Divinity School. Peter W. Bakken completed a Ph.D. thesis, The Ecology
of Grace: Ultimacy and Environmental Ethics in Aldo Leopold and Joseph Sittler,
August 1991. An influential articulation of a secular environmental ethic, Leopold's
Sand County Almanac, invests the natural environment with an aura of
ultimacy that grounds that ethic and gives it a subtly but genuinely religious
character. A contemporary interpretation of the Christian doctrines of creation,
Christ, and grace, in the theology of Joseph Sittler, invests the nonhuman world
with a similar aura of ultimacy. Leopold's greater attention to "wildness" can
critique Sittler's treatment of grace in nature. But Leopold seems unaware of
his dependence on religious or quasi-religious factors, and leaves him unable
to provide ultimate answers to the place and role of humans in nature. Christian
theology can both be corrected by and add deeper dimensions to Leopold's land
ethic.
The co-advisors were Robin Lovin and J. Ronald
Engel.
Yale University Divinity School. Gretel Van Wieren, completed a
Ph.D. thesis, Restoring Earth, Restored to Earth: Christianity, Environmental
Ethics, and Ecological Restoration. May 2011. Environmentalists
have long bemoaned the modern alienation of humans from the natural world. One
response to this alienation that has received surprisingly scant attention from
environmental ethicists, especially religious environmental ethicists, is the
practice of ecological restoration. Ecological restoration is the attempt to
heal and make nature whole through the science and art of repairing ecosystems
that have been damaged by human activities. Restoration projects range from
the massive, multi-billion dollar Kissimmee River project to restore over 25,000
acres of Everglades' wetlands to the $30 million effort to restore industrial
Brownfield sites in Chicago's south side Lake Calumet region to reforestation
and tree-planting efforts throughout Eastern Africa.
In a deeper sense, however, ecological restoration
is the attempt to heal and make the nature-human relation whole. In its metaphysical
understanding of the fundamental interconnectedness of nature and culture and
in its practice which provides a material bridge between people and land, ecological
restoration is viewed by its proponents as providing a promising, and moral,
model for human living with the natural world. In the actual practice of repairing
degraded lands – reintroducing, reforesting, revegetating, ripping out
and so on – persons and communities are, in an important sense, restored
to land. Further, ecological restoration is understood as a form of restitution
for past (and present) destruction and exploitation of land and land-based communities,
and as an important vehicle of empowerment for communities whose native ecosystems
have been degraded for the purpose of cultural and economic progress.
This dissertation examines the significance
of ecological restoration thought and practice for environmental ethics, especially
Christian approaches to environmental ethics, and for our understanding of the
human relationship to nature. It argues that ecological restoration provides
a distinctive framework for understanding the nature-human relation, one that
ought to shape twenty-first century environmentalism as well as environmental
ethics. It further argues that the explicit treatment of ecological restoration
as an ethical framework advances the field of environmental ethics in a more
action-oriented, experience-based direction, deepening our understanding of
the way in which particular environmental activities may shape certain spiritual
experiences and moral ecological values, virtues, and norms.
The advisor was Margaret Farley.
Van Wieren is now teaching at Michigan State University.
Yale University Divinity School. Christiana Z. Peppard
completed a Ph.D. dissertation, Valuing Water, 2011. The late
twentieth century will be remembered for free-market
capitalism, globalization, and environmental degradation.
Fresh water exists at their intersection.
It will become increasingly scarce (regionally
and globally) and therefore contested as
populations grow, aquifers are depleted, and
climate change begins to alter hydrological
patterns. The paradigms within which water
is valued are consequential for how people,
societies and ecosystems have access to
fresh water and for how water is,
and is not, allowed to flow on
every level of scale. I analyze and evaluate several
scholarly discourses that inform the slippery
task of valuing water, beginning with a political
economy of water . I analyze nine "market
myopias, " in which something proximate may
be seen, but that which is farther
away remains obscured. Based largely on concern
about equity, moral objections are directed
at the dominance of the free market
as a way of monopolizing value. Serious
consideration of water's multiplicity of values
needs to be mobilized. I turn to
ethical theory in order to further nuance,
systematize, and theorize fresh water's value.
These include the question of intrinsic vs. extrinsic
value, the challenge of anthropocentrism, and
the plausibility of universal moralities.
I describe a form of relational value
that recognizes constitutive embodiment; I propose a "hydrological
hermeneutic" for moral anthropology. I critically
reviewing a range of available approaches
before focusing on theological and social
ethics, especially Catholic Social Teaching.
I conclude with principled, normative, and universalizable
guidelines that are both procedural and
substantive in nature. These form the
basis of a fresh water ethic.
The advisor
was Margaret Farley. Peppard is now teaching at Fordham University.