Philosophy conference "What can philosophy tell us about the ecological crisis?"

january 17, 2024 5:00 PM - january 17, 2024 19:00

Organized by USMB's Langages, Littératures, Sociétés Etudes Transfrontalières et Internationales (LLSETI) laboratory and the Association des professeurs de philosophie de l'enseignement public, the "What work in a finite world?" cycle of philosophical conferences continues this Wednesday, January 17 at 5pm with a talk entitled "What can philosophy tell us about the ecological crisis? ". This lecture will take place in room 3, at theuniversité Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB), in Chambéry. It is open to all, without registration.

This talk offers an introduction to environmental philosophies, demonstrating their fruitfulness not only in diagnosing the unprecedented ecological crisis we are experiencing, but perhaps also in attempting to tackle it. The late 1970s saw the development of a number of environmental ethics that sought to morally qualify the relationship between humans and nature, by examining the historical and conceptual roots of what is now known as the Anthropocene, and the ways in which we can justify why we should care for the environments in which we live.

Should we respect them because they are useful to us, or because they have value in their own right? The aim is to map out the different approaches, assessing what is at stake and what the implications are, in order to underline the importance of speculative thinking, which underpins all practical decisions.

Céline Bonicco-Donato, Professor of Philosophy at ENSA Grenoble, Université Grenoble Alpes, will host the conference.

About the cycle "What work in a finite world?

We only became aware of the ravages of unlimited human transformation of nature and the world when this world threatened to become uninhabitable. But is it the transformation of the world in general that is in question, or is it an economic model that subjects everything to commodification, while allowing the logic of domination to persist? To put it plainly: aren't people expelling themselves from the world by failing to challenge these models? We've started to get scared, and for good reason. However, understanding why and how we've come to this point is essential if we are to influence a course of events that is not inevitable. Discussing this issue would reveal its political dimension as well as its social stakes.

LEARN MORE