Philosophy at Texas A&M

Gary Varner

EDUCATION

ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT

AREAS OF RESEARCH SPECIALIZATION

AREAS OF TEACHING COMPETENCE

WORK IN PROGRESS

PUBLICATIONS

Book:

Journal articles and book chapters:

  1. "Personhood, Memory, and Elephant Management," invited contribution to Christen Wemmer and Catherine Christen eds., Never Forgetting: Elephants and Ethics, Johns Hopkins University Press (forthcoming)

  2. "A Ética e o Ambiente" ["Ethics and the Environment," translated by Vanda Alves Monteiro and Humberto D. Rosa], in Humberto D. Rosa, ed., Bioética para as Ciências Naturais (Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento, Lisboa, Portugal 2004), pp. 161-180

  3. "Animals," invited chapter in Life Science Ethics, Gary Comstock, ed. (Iowa State University Press, 2002), pp. 141-68

  4. Invited chapter on
    5. "Biocentric Individualism," in David Schmidtz and Elizabeth Willott, eds., Environmental Ethics: What Really Matters, What Really Works (Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 108-120

  5. Invited chapter on "Pets, Companion Animals, and Domesticated Partners," in Ethics for Everyday, David Benatar, ed. (McGraw-Hill, 2002), pp. 450-75

  6. "Scientific and Ethical Questions About Animal Somacloning," Biotechnology International III: The Biotech Millennium" (San Francisco: Universal Medical Press, 2001), pp. 56-60

  7. "Sentientism," invited chapter in Dale Jamieson, ed., A Companion to Environmental Philosophy (Blackwell, 2001), pp. 192-203

  8. "Reconfiguring Borders: Health-Care Providers and Practical Environmentalism in Cameron County, Texas" (with Tarla Rai Peterson, Susan J. Gilbertz, Kathi Groenendyk, and Jay Todd), Women's Studies Quarterly 29 (2001), pp. 51-63.

  9. Encyclopedia entry on "Cloning, Overview of Animal Cloning" in The Encyclopedia of Ethical, Legal and Policy Issues in Biotechnology, Maxwell J. Mehlman and Thomas H. Murray, eds. (John Wiley and Sons, 2000), pp. 139-148; an updated version appeared in an on-line version of the encyclopedia in 2002

  10. "Prolegomena to Any Future Artificial Moral Agent" (with Colin Allen and Jason Zinser), Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence 12 (2000), pp. 251-61

  11. "Should You Clone Your Dog?" Animal Welfare (Britain), 8 (1999), pp. 407-420

  12. "How Facts Matter: On the Language Condition and the Scope of Pain in the Animal Kingdom," Pain Forum 8 (1999), pp. 84-86

  13. Encyclopedia entries on "Hunting: Environmental Ethics and Hunting" and "Vegetarian Diets: Ethics and Health" in Marc Bekoff, ed., Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare (Greenwood Press, 1998)

  14. "The Takings Issue and Two Visions of Humans' Relations to Nature," Journal of Human Ecology 3 (1997), #1, pp. 12-15

  15. "Can Animal Rights Activists be Environmentalists?" invited paper in Donald Marietta and Lester Embree, eds., Environmental Ethics and Environmental Activism (Rowman & Littlefield, 1995), pp. 169-201

  16. "Teaching Environmental Ethics as a Method of Conflict Management" (with Susan Gilbertz and Tarla Rai Peterson), in Andrew Light and Eric Katz, eds., Environmental Pragmatism (Routledge, 1996), pp. 266-82

  17. "Environmental Law and the Eclipse of Land as Private Property," in Frederick Ferre and Peter Hartel, eds., Ethics and Environmental Policy: Theory Meets Practice (University of Georgia Press, 1994), pp. 142-60

  18. "What's Wrong with Animal Byproducts?" Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 7 (1994), pp. 7-17

  19. "In Defense of the Vegan Ideal: Rhetoric and Bias in the Nutrition Literature," Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 7 (1994), pp. 29-40

  20. "Rejoinder to Kathryn Paxton George," Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 7 (1994), pp. 83-86

  21. "The Propects for Consensus and Convergence in the Animal Rights Debate," Hastings Center Report January/February 1994, pp. 23-27

  22. Encyclopedia entries on "Animal Rights," "Sentience," "Vegetarianism," and "Vivisection" in Ready Reference: Ethics (Salem Press, 1994)

  23. "On the Moral Status of Fish," Aquatic Conservation 2(2), 1993, pp. 9-10

  24. "No Holism Without Pluralism," Environmental Ethics 13 (1991), pp. 175-79

  25. "Agricultural Research Policy, Environmental Quality, and Animal Welfare" (with Paul Thompson and Deborah Tolman), in Paul Thompson and Bill Stout, eds., Beyond the Large Farm: Ethics and Research Goals for Agriculture (Westview, 1991), pp. 217-36

  26. "Rejoinder: More on the Ethics of Captive Breeding" (with Martha C. Monroe), Endangered Species UPDATE, vol. 8, #11 (September, 1991), p. 6 (rejoinder to published criticism of following article)

  27. "Ethical Perspectives on Captive Breeding: Is it For the Birds?" (with Martha C. Monroe), Endangered Species UPDATE, vol. 8, #1 (November, 1990), pp. 27-29 (invited paper in special issue on captive breeding)

  28. "Species, Individuals, and Domestication," Between the Species 6 (1990), pp. 181-84

  29. "Biological Functions and Biological Interests," Southern Journal of Philosophy 28 (1990), pp. 251-70

  30. "Congress, Consistency, and Environmental Law: Nuclear Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada" (with John Lemons & Donald Brown), Environmental Ethics 12 (1990), pp. 311-27 (on the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and the nuclear waste disposal issue)

  31. "Do Species Have Standing?" Environmental Ethics 9 (1987), pp. 57-72 (on the Endangered Species Act of 1973)

  32. "The Schopenhauerian Challenge in Environmental Ethics," Environmental Ethics 7 (Fall, 1985), pp. 209-29

Reprinted work:

Book reviews:

  1. Byran Norton, Sustainability: A Philosophy of Adaptive Ecosystem Management (University of Chicago Press, 2006), forthcoming in Environmental Ethics 29 (2007), pp. ___-___

  2. Cass Sunstein and Martha Nussbaum, eds., Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions (Oxford University Press, 2004), The Philosophical Review 116 (2007), pp. 281-86

  3. Robert Garner, Political Theory and Animal Rights (Manchester University Press, 2005) and Steven Best and Anthony J. Nocella, eds., Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals (New York: Lantern Books, 2004), for Organization & Environment, 19 (2006), pp. 527-31

  4. Nicholas Agar, Life's Intrinsic Value: Science, Ethics, and Nature (Columbia University Press, 2001), Environmental Ethics, 25 (2003), pp. 413-416

  5. Gary Comstock, Vexing Nature? On the Ethical Case Against Agricultural Biotechnology (Kluwer, 2000), in Bioethics in Brief (Iowa State University), vol. 2, issue 6, May 2001. (Available online by
    6. clicking here)

  6. Lewis Petrinovich, Darwinian Dominion: Animal Welfare and Human Interests (MIT Press, 1999), in Animal Welfare, 9 (2000), pp. 461-63

  7. Reviews of web sites of the International Society for Environmental Ethics and the Center for Environmental Philosophy, for the American Philosophical Association's Newsletter on Computers and Philosophy 1997

  8. Philip D. Brick and R. McGreggor Cawley, ed.s, The Wolf in the Garden (Rowman and Littlefield, 1996), in Environmental Ethics 20 (1998), pp. 441-43

  9. John O'Neill, Ecology, Policy, and Politics: Human Well-Being and the Natural World (Routledge, 1993), in Canadian Philosophical Reviews 15 (1995), pp. 271-73

  10. R.J. Berry, Environmental Dilemmas: Ethics and Decisions (Chapman & Hall, 1993), in Biodiversity and Conservation

  11. Eugene C. Hargrove, The Animal Rights/Environmental Ethics Debate: The Environmental Perspective (SUNY Press, 1992), in Environmental Ethics 15 (1993), pp. 279-82

  12. Marc Reisner and Sarah Bates, Overtapped Oasis: Reform or Revolution for Western Water (Island Press, 1990), in Environmental Ethics 14 (1992), pp. 93-94

  13. Graham Richards, Human Evolution: An Introduction for the Behavioural Sciences (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987), in Ethics 100 (1990), p. 698

  14. Max Nicholson, The New Environmental Age (Cambridge University Press, 1987), in Ethics 99 (1989), p. 468

  15. Christopher D. Stone, Earth and Other Ethics (Harper & Row, 1987), in Environmental Ethics 10 (1988), pp. 259-65

Political commentaries and radio interviews:

  1. "The Point," February/March 2000 edition of The Touchstone magazine.

  2. "The Starry Heavens Above Us" (December 2001), broadcast on KEOS Community Public Radio

  3. "Boneheaded Alumnus" (November 2002), broadcast on KEOS Community Public Radio

  4. A one hour interview with Ian Wilmut (of Dolly the cloned sheep fame), recorded July 2001, broadcast on KEOS Community Public Radio March 2002

  5. "Roe v. Wade: Origins, Principles and Prospects" (an interview with Sarah Weddington, who argued Roe v. Wade before the U.S. Supreme Court), The Touchstone magazine, Feb/Mar 2002. Here is a four part audio version broadcast on KEOS Community Public Radio:

  6. "Clinic Bombing Survivor Speaks" (an interview with Emily Lyons), Summer 2000 edition of The Touchstone magazine

  7. "It's Not Time to Stem the Tide of Embryonic Research" (on stem cell research) September/October 2000 edition of The Touchstone magazine. Here is a two-part audio version broadcast on KEOS Community Public Radio:

  8. "A Pro-Life Argument for Pro-Choice Policy," Summer 1999 edition of The Touchstone magazine

  9. "Texas A&M Shouldn't Have a Prayer (at Graduation)," February/March 1999 edition of The Touchstone magazine

.

Other papers:

  1. "Biotechnology in Animal Agriculture: An Overview,"
    2. Council on Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST), Issue Paper #23, January 2003 (12 pages); written by a committee to which I was appointed

  2. "Should You Clone Your Dog?" was made available from the (now defunct) Center for Science and Technology Policy and Ethics at Texas A&M in 1998

  3. "Environmental Ethics: Conservation or Preservation?" was made available from the (now defunct) Center for Biotechnology Policy and Ethics at Texas A&M in 1996

  4. "Facts, Values, and Hunting: the Prospects for Consensus and Convergence" was made available from the (now defunct) Center for Biotechnology Policy and Ethics at Texas A&M in 1992

  5. "Opposition to Agricultural Biotechnology: An Overview of the Ethical Issues" was made available from the (now defunct) Center for Biotechnology Policy and Ethics at Texas A&M in 1990

GRANTS AND OTHER AWARDS

PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS
  1. "Sustaining Animals: Envisioning Humane Sustainable Communities," invited presentation to
    2. A Mini-conference on Agriculture and Environmental Ethics hosted by the Bioethics Program at Iowa State University, June 25, 2007.

  2. Commentator on Thomas White’s “DeGrazia, MacIntyre and Dolphins," Pacific Division APA, San Francisco, April 7, 2007.

  3. "Personhood and Biography: Distinguishing Persons from 'Near-Persons' and 'The Merely Sentient'," invited presentation at Amherst College, sponsored by the Pick Readership in Environmental Studies, March 7, 2007.

  4. "Restoring What? Scale and values in ecological restoration." Invited keynote presentation to the Fifth European Conference on Ecological Restoration, Greifswald, Germany, August 22-25, 2006.

  5. "Something Fishy? Animal Consciousness and Arguments by Analogy," invited presentation sponsored by the Aquaculture Centre and the Center for the Study of Animal Welfare at the University of Guelph, July 14, 2006.

  6. "Environmental Ethics and Endangered Species," invited presentation to students in the Chemical Engineering summer program at North Carolina State University, June 29, 2006.

  7. Invited panelist (with Gary Comstock, Hilary Bok, and Rebecca Walker) on "Experimenting on Animals: A Case of Just Suffering?" American Society for Bioethics and Humanities annual meeting, October 20, 2005 in Washington, D.C.

  8. "Ethics and Biodiversity," invited presentation to the seventh annual "Summer Institute on Global Environmental Issues" at the Foundation for Luso-American Development (Lisbon, Portugal), July 20, 2005

  9. Commentator on Derek Turner and Kate Kovenock's "Reformulating the Precautionary Principle," Pacific Division APA, San Francisco, March 2005

  10. Commentator on Frank Chessa’s “Endangered Species and the Right to Die,” Pacific Division APA, Pasadena, March 2004

  11. "Why Think that Plants have Intrinsic Value?" invited presentation to a conference titled "Engineering Life: Bioscience and Ethics in a Global Context," co-sponsored by the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences and the European Union Center of California, Scripps College, May 2003, Claremont, California

  12. "Personhood, Memory, and Elephant Management," invited presentation to a conference on ethics and elephant management at the Smithsonian Institution's Conservation and Research Center, Front Royal, Virginia, March 19, 2003

  13. "Is 'Non-Replaceability' a Useful Concept for a Utilitarian?" invited presentation to the Philosophy Department at Iowa State University, January 24, 2003

  14. "Personhood, Memory, and Elephant Management," invited talk in the Philosophy Department at the University of North Texas (Denton), December 5, 2002

  15. "Harey Animals," invited presentation to the Glasscock Center for Humanities Research at Texas A&M University, September 29, 2002.

  16. "Somaloning: Technology on the Scientific and Philosophical Frontiers," invited presentation to a meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Technology, in conjunction with the Central Division meeting of the APA, Chicago, April 26, 2002

  17. Commentator on Nicholas Agar's book, Life's Intrinsic Value: Science, Ethics, and Nature (Columbia University Press, 2001), International Society for Environmental Ethics meeting in conjunction with the Pacific Division APA convention, Seattle, March 2002

  18. "Sustainability and Environmental Ethics," invited public lecture at the Superior Institute of Applied Psychology, Lisbon, Portugal, March 22, 2002

  19. "Conceptual and Philosophical Issues in Animal Welfare," invited lecture in an extra curricular course on "Animal Welfare" (course designed for individuals with advanced training in any area related to the use of animals, including biologists, veterinarians, zoologists, psychologists, etc.) at the Superior Institute of Applied Psychology, Lisbon, Portugal, March 21, 2002

  20. "Sustainability and Animal Welfare," invited presentation to the Department of Animal Science, Texas Tech University, Wednesday, January 23, 2002

  21. I presented on various subjects (including animal ethics, environmental ethics, ethical theory, ethical reasoning, and the property takings issue) at various Bioethics Institutes (five day institutes for life scientists wishing to incorporate an ethics module in their courses), at Iowa State, Michigan State, Oregon State, Purdue, the University of Illinois, and at the Foundation for Luso-American Development (Lisbon, Portugal), 1996 through 2005. To view some of the materials I have used in these presentations, click here.

  22. "Genetic Engineering and Intrinsic Value Arguments" (working title), invited presentation to a conference titled "Engineering Life: Bioscience and Ethics in a Global Context," hosted by the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences, Claremont, California, May 2, 2003 (http://www.eucenter.scrippscol.edu/engineeringlife/).

  23. At an "Author Meets Critics" session on my book, In Nature's Interests? I responded to Robert Elliot of Sunshine Coast University, Australia, and Elinor Mason of Arizona State, International Society for Environmental Ethics meeting in conjunction with the Eastern Division APA convention, Atlanta, December 2001

  24. "Welfare Issues in Animal Cloning," invited presentation at Texas Lutheran College, 8 November 2001

  25. "Somaloning: Technology on the Scientific and Philosophical Frontiers," 12th Biennial International Conference of the Society for Philosophy and Technology, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, July 9-11, 2001

  26. Commentator on Diane P. Michelfelder & William H. Wilcox, "When Cats Have More Than Nine Lives: The Ethics of Cloning Companion Animals" at 12th Biennial International Conference of the Society for Philosophy and Technology, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, July 9-11, 2001

  27. "Therapeutic Hunting of Obligatory Management Species," invited presentation in the Eighth Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Relations with Animals and the Natural World, "Licensed to Kill: The Science, History, and Ethics of Hunting," sponsored by the Center for the Interaction of Animals and Society in the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine, Philadelphia, April 25, 2001

  28. "Genetic Modification and the Moral Status of Plants," invited presentation sponsored by the Plant Sciences Institute at Iowa State University, March 27, 2001

  29. "In Defense of Biocentric Individualism," invited presentation to the Philosophy Department at the University of Colorado - Boulder, March 12, 2001

  30. "Should You Clone Your Dog? Scientific and Ethical Questions about Animal Cloning," invited presentation at Green Mountain College, Poultney, Vermont, October 27, 2000

  31. "Humans and Animals: The Next Ethical Revolution?" public lecture in Lisbon, Portugal, sponsored by the Foundation for Luso-American Development (FLAD), July 8, 2000

  32. "Sustaining Animals: Envisioning Humane Sustainable Futures," presentation at the Eighth International Symposium on Society and Resource Management, Bellingham, Washington, June 2000

  33. "Property, Land, and Animals: What's the Beef?" invited presentation to the American Alfalfa Processors Association, San Antonio, March 2000

  34. Commentator on Timothy Menta's "Schopenhauer, Metaphysics, and Animal Liberation" at the Central Division APA, New Orleans, May 1999

  35. "Property Rights and Environmental Regulation," invited presentation to the Center for Values and Social Policy, University of Colorado - Boulder, April 1998

  36. "What's So Bad about Somacloning?" invited presentation to conference on the topic of "Should You Clone Your Dog?" sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania Bioethics Center and College of Veterinary Medicine, Philadelphia, March 1998

  37. Served as commentator on William Throop's "On the Elimination of Exotic Species" at the Eastern Division APA in Atlanta, December 1997

  38. "Land Use Regulations and the Takings Issue," Annual Meeting of the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society (AFHVS), University of Wisconsin-Madison, June 5-8, 1997

  39. Presenter (with Raymond Frey) in day-long symposium titled, "Ethics and Xenotransplantation: Should we use animal organs to save human lives?" sponsored by the Bioethics Program at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, April 5, 1997

  40. Served as commentator on Zev Trachtenberg's "Identifying Environmental Takings: Four Baselines for Distinguishing Environmental Benefits from Harms" at Central Division APA, Chicago, April 27, 1996

  41. Served as commentator on Alan Clune's "Nonhuman Animal Rights" at Eastern Division APA, New York, December 28, 1995

  42. "The Takings Issue and Two Visions of Humans' Relations to Nature," invited presentation at the Society for Human Ecology, Lake Tahoe, October 1995

  43. "To What Extent is Government Entitled to Regulate Land for Environmental Purposes without Compensating the Landowner?" invited presentation in Bioethics Institute, University of Illinois, May 19, 1995

  44. "Conceptions of Animal Well-Being and the Managerial Euthanasia Debate," invited presentation at conference on "The Well-Being of Animals in Zoo and Aquarium Sponsored Research," co-sponsored by the American Veterinary Medicine Association and the Scientists Center for Animal Welfare, New Orleans, May 8, 1995

  45. Served as commentator on Amy Knisley's paper "My Pet, My Property?" at the Central Division APA, May 1995

  46. Invited panelist on private property rights and environmental regulation, Texas Section of the Society for Range Management, Austin, October 24, 1994

  47. Invited presentation on the property takings issue to Legislative Study Group of the Texas Legislature, August 15, 1994

  48. With Tarla Peterson and Susan Gilbertz, organized and was a primary presenter at a 90 minute session summarizing our research on "Teaching Environmental Ethics as a Method of Conflict Management," at the International Society for Conflict Management meeting in Eugene Oregon, June 15, 1994

  49. Invited presentation on property rights and environmental regulation, Texas Agricultural Extension Service Sustainable Land Management Conference, at the Brazos Center in Bryan, Texas, February 1, 1994

  50. "Environmental Ethics: Conservation or Preservation?" invited presentation to the Society for Marine Mammalogy's Tenth Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, Galveston, Texas, November 15, 1993

  51. "Philosophical Bases of Litigants' Viewpoints," invited presentation to Wisconsin Supreme Court's Judicial Education Division Seminar on environmental law, November 4, 1993, Oshkosh, Wisconsin

  52. "Can Animal Rights Activists be Environmentalists?" invited presentation at conference on "Environmental Ethics and Environmental Activism," sponsored by Florida Atlantic University, May 13-15 1993 (attendance by invitation only; the other participants were: J. Baird Callicott, Brian Norton, Eric Katz, Donald Marietta, Robert Lofton, Richard Watson, Lester Embree, Irene Klaver, Kate Rawls, and Ullrich Melle)

  53. "Professional Ethics in Range Management," co-organizer and keynote speaker in two-hour plenary session of the Society for Range Management, Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 15, 1993 (approximately 1000 members attended the session)

  54. "Does Recognizing Animals' Rights Preclude Experimentation?" Texas A&M Cognitive Psychology Colloquium Series, December 1, 1992

  55. "Ethics and Captive Breeding: Questions about Animal Rights and Environmental Ethics," invited presentation at conference on "Conservation Genetics and Evolutionary Ecology: A case study of the Cichlid Fauna of Lake Victoria," sponsored by the College of Biological Sciences at the Ohio State University and the Columbus Zoo, October 30-November 2, 1992

  56. "Rangelands: Rights and Responsibilities," invited presentation to Texas Section of the Society for Range Management, College Station, Texas, October 9, 1992

  57. Comment on Roger Paden's paper, "Two Types of Preservation Policies," at the joint annual meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology and the Wildlife Society, Blacksburg, Virginia, June 30, 1992

  58. "Philosophical Bases of Litigants' Viewpoints," invited lecture at the American Bar Association's National Judicial College, University of Nevada-Reno, in week-long course on environmental law, May 1992

  59. "Environmental Law and the Eclipse of Land as Private Property," invited paper at Second International Conference on Ethics and Environmental Policies, University of Georgia-Athens, April 1992

  60. "A Critique of Environmental Holism," International Society for Environmental Ethics, at Eastern Division APA, December 1991

  61. "No Sympathy for Systems: Humean-Smithian Moral Psychology and the Foundations of the Leopold Land Ethic," Mountains-Plains Philosophy Conference, Fort Collins, Colorado, October 1991

  62. "Why Dairy Products Are Immoral," Varieties of Sustainability Conference, University of California - Santa Cruz, May 1991

  63. "Environmental Ethics: Current Trends and Future Prospects," invited panelist (with Andrew Brennan, Sara Edenreck, Bryan Norton, and Holmes Rolston III), International Society for Environmental Ethics, at Eastern Division APA, December 1990

  64. Comment on Jane Duran's paper, "Domesticated and then Some," Society for the Study of Ethics and Animals, at Easter Division APA, December 1989

  65. "Economics, Ethics, and the Environment," invited lecture at St. Norbert College, Green Bay, Wisconsin, April 1989

  66. Comment on Bart Gruzalski's paper, "The Replaceability Thesis Defeats Preference Utilitarianism," Central Division APA, May 1988

  67. "The Role of Environmental Ethics in Environmental Education," co-organizer, keynote speaker and principal facilitator at two day workshop at annual meeting of the North American Society for Environmental Education, Orlando, Florida, October 1988

  68. "Animals and Ecosystems: The Ethical Quandry," invited lecture, University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, February 1988

  69. "Localizing Desire: Behavior, Neurophysiology, and the Moral Standing of Non-Human Animals," Illinois Philosophical Association, October 1987

  70. "Do Species Have Standing?" American Society for Value Inquiry, Central Division APA, May 1986

  71. "The Schopenhauerian Challenge in Environmental Ethics," conference on "New Directions in Environmental Ethics," University of Georgia, October 1984
OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
REFERENCES
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