Colorado State University Professor Holmes Rolston Invited To Present Gifford Lectures
Tuesday, February 4, 1997
FORT COLLINS--Holmes Rolston, University Distinguished
Professor at Colorado State University and a leading
environmental-ethics scholar, has been selected to present the
prestigious Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh in
Scotland.
The lecture series has been in existence for more than 100
years at the University of Edinburgh and the universities of
Aberdeen, Glasgow and St. Andrews. The series has featured the
world's most creative and influential philosophers, scholars and
researchers. Previous Gifford Lecturers include Hannah Arendt,
Karl Barth, Niels Bohr, Richard Dawkins, John Dewey, J.S.
Haldane, William James, Reinhold Niebuhr, Carl Sagan, Albert
Schweitzer, Paul Tillich, Arnold Toynbee and Alfred North
Whitehead.
Rolston will present a series of 10 lectures on the topic,
"Genes, Genesis and God," in November at the University of
Edinburgh, where he earned his doctorate in theology and
philosophy of religion.
Rolston, acknowledged as a founder of environmental ethics as a
modern academic discipline, is perhaps best known for his views
of how philosophical, scientific and religious concepts apply to
nature.
A basic theme running through Rolston's work is that non-
human life forms are of intrinsic worth and good on their own,
and that they have natural value in addition to the value placed
on them by humans. Species of plants, for example, should be
preserved because of their natural value rather than just their
appeal or usefulness to humans.
Rolston uses the following example to illustrate his point:
"Years ago, signs in national forests and parks read, `Please
leave the flowers for others to enjoy.' Now, some of those signs
read, `Let the flowers live.' That's a subtle shift indicating
that we shouldn't measure a flower's worth simply by the pleasure
it brings to humans."
Rolston concedes that such areas as national parks usually
can't be totally free of human influence, but they can be
managed to minimize human impact.
His Scottish lecture series, which also is the basis for a
new book, will deal with the origins of natural value and the
importance of humans conserving, enriching and appreciating those
values by applying scientific, ethical and religious concepts. He
is especially interested in scientific and philosophical
interpretations of the genetic basis of such creativity.
In addition to his doctorate, Rolston received a bachelor of
science degree from Davidson College in North Carolina, a
divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va.,
and a master's degree in philosophy at the University of
Pittsburgh.
Rolston, who is one of the founders and an editor of an
academic journal, Environmental Ethics, is the author of
critically acclaimed books, including Environmental Ethics:
Duties to and Values in the Natural World; Philosophy Gone Wild;
Science and Religion: A Critical Survey; and Conserving Natural
Value.
Rolston said one of the major audiences for all his writings
is students. The material in each of his books has been presented
in classes at Colorado State before appearing in print. Students
have the opportunity to read his work, challenge it, compare it
to the views of other scholars and point out parts that aren't
balanced or clear. "A lot of what I've written has been born in
the classroom," Rolston said. "Students help you think."
Rolston's books have been used as texts in more than 100
colleges and universities, and he has been a distinguished
lecturer on six continents. He has been an invited lecturer at
Yale University, Harvard University, Oxford University in
England, the University of Oslo, the University of Helsinki,
Hanazono College in Kyoto, Japan, and has been a visiting scholar
at the Harvard University Center for the Study of World
Religions.
Rolston also has served as consultant with conservation and
policy groups, including the U.S. Congress and a presidential
commission. He is a member of the Working Group on Ethics of the
World Conservation Union and serves on the editorial board of
Zygon: A Journal of Science and Religion; Public Affairs
Quarterly; Environmental Values; and Conservation Biology.
In addition to being a University Distinguished Professor at
Colorado State, Rolston has received a Pennock Award for
distinguished service at the university and the Dean's Award for
Creativity and Excellence in the Humanities.
Outside the academic world, Rolston is a backpacker, field
naturalist and has a special interest in bryology, the study of
mosses.
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