2017-18 Philosophy Department Colloquium Series presents guest lecturer Bryan Bannon, Associate Professor and Director of Environmental Studies, Merrimack College. Duvernoy will give a talk titled “Friendship as Reflective Environmental Practice.” This is the second in a series of four talks on Environmental Philosophy.

Abstract: In this presentation, Bannon argues for a specific hermeneutic framework for understanding the human relationship to nature, friendship. Many current discussions of the human-nature relationship focus on the question of anthropocentrism, taking for granted that nature is a “moral patient.” Following an argument by Val Plumwood, Bannon, however, contends that if nature is understood as an active agency, we are able to begin conceptualizing what the contours of a friendship with nature would be like. After describing such contours, Bannon also considers how modeling our relationship on friendship could help to extricate environmentalism from its position as a discourse of sacrifice and situate it as an alternative conception of the good life.