News Philosophy of Nature / Environmental Philosophy

The Irish Philosophical Society Hosted an excellent conference on 10^th and 11^th October with the theme of the “Philosophy of Nature / Environmental Philosophy”. The two-day conference began with a very enlightening presentation by Catherine Cleary, Co-founder of Pocket Forests, and Catriona Carlin, Lecturer in Environmental Science and Biodiversity, on the Pocket Forest project and the biodiversity on campus. This really gave a sense of the local context in which the philosophical deliberations took place. One of the keynote speakers was our colleague Nora Ward of Philosophy.

Speakers from Finland, Germany, Iran, Italy the Netherlands, Norway, the UK and Ireland discussed issues ranging from Plant Ethics to the Rights of Rivers, from Climate Change to the Anthropocene in the context of ethical and political, epistemological and metaphysical concerns. One very welcome feature was the Undergraduate panel in which two of our Philosophy students, Felix McCormack (final year) and Alex Solli (graduating this week) gave presentations. A further fascinating aspect of this conference was a tour of the James Mitchell Geology Museum, where conference delegates were enthralled by Prof. John Murray’s talk on museum artifacts and the University of Galway’s links to the naming of Neanderthal man.

Touring the James Mitchell Geology Museum guided by Prof. John Murray.