University of Kentucky

Graduate Student, Philosophy

About

My areas of research interest are primarily focused within biological, ecological, and cognitive philosophy.  I am particularly interested in issues involving environmental ethics, humanity’s place within nature, and a naturalized philosophy of mind.  A biological and ecological perspective recognizes that Homo sapiens has functioned within ecosystems as a highly invasive keystone species for at least the past several thousand years, leading to radical alterations to all layers of the Earth’s biosphere in an incredibly short period of geologic time.  Burgeoning human populations and their exponentially growing need for more habitat and natural resources present enormous challenges to achieving or maintaining the ideals of sustainability and biodiversity.  Among my chief concerns is the mass extinction of species as a result of human invasion into ‘novel’ ecosystems.  The questions I pose in environmental philosophy acknowledge humanity’s role as an invasive species and facilitator of ecosystem transformation.  Because conceptions about the natural world heavily influence human-environment interactions, I am also highly interested in investigating the role that has been played by assumptions (largely unquestioned, particularly in developed nations) about humanity’s place within nature.  One of the most influential assumptions behind human-environment interactions has been Homo sapiens’ self-ascribed privileged status compared to most, if not all, other species that have made up Earth’s biota over the last four billion or so years—due mainly to the human capacity for reason.  One of my research aims involves questioning the assumption that mind and agency are unique to Homo sapiens.  All organic components of Earth’s biosphere sense, perceive, and meaningfully react to what occurs within the environments of which they are inextricable components.  A naturalized philosophy of mind recognizes that consciousness of self and world is of obvious benefit to any viable life form and is certainly an evolutionarily adaptive feature.  From a biological perspective, consciousness is thus best viewed as a phenomenon of life that is experienced on a continuum.