"Father of Environmental Ethics" to lecture at NCKU

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Templeton Prize Winner, the “Father Of Environmental Ethics”
to Lecture at National Cheng Kung University

Professor Holmes Rolston III, Professor of Philosophy at Colorado State University, widely recognized as “father of environmental ethics”, will be invited as the Chair Professor to give a series of lectures themed on “Environmental Ethics in the Era of Reducing Carbon Emission” from 1st of October to 15th of November on 13:30 to 17:00 each Tuesday (in a word, 10/7,10/14,10/21,10/28,11/14,11/11) at the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU). The aim of these lectures is to explore possible alternatives and resolutions to the deteriorated environment with other experts in NCKU.

Professor Holmes Rolston’s scheduled lectures in Taiwan include 6 keynote speeches in NCKU. He will give a speech at an international conference called “Accessing Science and Technology in the Context of Global Warming” and communicating with STS (Science, Technology and Society) and STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) networks. All the events are expected to be influential and inspiring.

Meeting with NCKU Academic Leaders recently, he said “I would rather evaluate the relationship between technology and environment on philosophical and ethical ways,” and adding “Human beings should pay more attention on the environment where we reside”. Academician Michael. M.C. Lai appreciated what Professor Holmes Rolston III has done and inspired to the public and also expressed his concerns to what technology developed may jeopardize the environment.

Professor Chao-Chen Lin of Department of Chinese Literature, who cordially invited Professor Holmes Rolston III to NCKU, is delighted to the coming of this environmental ethics maestro. He also anticipated Professor Holmes Rolston’s visit and lectures will inspire Taiwanese to treat environment in a more integrated and thoughtful way.

Professor Holmes Rolston III is the world-renowned philosopher, best known for his contribution to environmental ethics and to the issue of science and religion. He spent more than thirty years developing an integrated interpretation of the natural world, encompassing science, philosophy and religion. He has been of central importance for the establishment of environmental ethics as an academic discipline. He has published seminal books like Environmental Ethics (1988), Conserving Natural Value (1994), and Genes, Genesis & God (1999). He is a co-founder of the influential journal Environmental Ethics. His works have been translated in 18 languages. Professor Rolston argues that the natural world carries intrinsic values that human beings should recognize out of respect and love for creation. 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.

Since when Professor Holmes Rolston III authored his first article in terms of environmental ethics in 1975 on the Journal of Ethics, his name has been widely known in the field of environmental ethics. His academic achievement on ethics has been built on his faithful principle: Nature is not only to be respected but to be reverenced as a sacred gift.

In 2003, Dr. Rolston III was awarded with the prestigious Templeton Prize. Founded in 1973 by Sir John Templeton as the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, Templeton Prize is valued at 725,000 pounds sterling and is the world’s largest monetary annual award given to an individual. As the world’s best known religion prize, it is given each year to a living person to encourage and honor those who advance spiritual matters. The first recipient of the Templeton Prize was Mother Teresa of Calcutta, six years before she received the Nobel Peace Prize. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn received the prize in 1983.

Professor Holmes Rolston’s 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. With an academic appointment in philosophy at Colorado State University, he became a full professor in 1976.

Date Topic Location
October 7 The Call of the Wild: Philosophy in the Wild NCKU Medical College Cheng Shing Hall
October 14 The Global Environmental Crisis Challenges Religion and Culture NCKU Medical College Cheng Shing Hall
October 21 Human Responsibility for Nature: The Testimony of Environmental Ethics NCKU College of Arts Lecture Hall
October 28 Nature and Culture in Dialogue NCKU College of Arts Lecture Hall
November 4 Science, Instinct and Nurture: Genetics, Creation and Gods’ Fascinating Lessons NCKU Library Conference Room
November 11 Ethics in an Oil-Short age: Business Responsibilities to Low Lying Nations Southern Science and Technology Park, Forest/Valley Lecture Hall

For More Information (06) 2757575 ext 52155 or http://www2.ncku.edu.tw/ann/spotlight/index_en.php?sn=119