Associate Professor of Philosophy

Ph.D., University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, Philosophy, 1999

M.A., Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, Applied Ethics, 1993

B.A., University of Durham, Durham County, England, Philosophy, 1990

Office: Liberal Arts 157
Office Phone: (406) 243-2937
Fax Number: (406) 243-5313
Send Email

Christopher Preston

Areas of Interest

Environmental Philosophy
Feminist Epistemology
Ethics
Interdisciplinary science and ethics

Courses Taught

Environmental Philosophy
Feminist Ethics
Systematic Ethics
History of Modern Philosophy
Ethics: Great Traditions
Philosophy of Ecology
Debating Science: Practical Reason and Nanotechnology
Ethics and the Environment
Senior Seminar: The Embodied Mind
Environmental Ethics: Fire, Restoration, and Wilderness in an Age of Climate Change

Professional Information

Christopher Preston grew up in England, dividing his time between family on the South Coast, school at a Benedictine monastery in North Yorkshire, and the University of Durham in the North-East’s coal country. He completed a Masters degree with a specialty in environmental ethics at Colorado State University in Fort Collins in 1993 and a PhD in philosophy at the University of Oregon in Eugene in 1998. To provide some context for his theoretical work in environmental ethics (and to seek adventure), he has spent eleven summers in Alaska working different aspects of the fishing and aquaculture industries, the oil transportation industry, the Prince William Sound Conservation Alliance, and the National Park Service. After a one year position at The University of Montana in Missoula in 1998-9, he moved to the philosophy department at the University of South Carolina where he stayed five years. He moved back to Montana in late 2004.

His specialty is environmental philosophy. He has published several papers in value theory, environmental epistemology, and ecofeminism. His book Grounding Knowledge: Environmental Philosophy, Epistemology, and Place (University of Georgia, 2003) is an investigation of "sense of place" through a discussion of how place and mind intertwine. It is an interdisciplinary work bringing environmental philosophy into contact with epistemology and the philosophy of mind. He guest edited a special issue of the journal Ethics and the Environment on the “epistemic significance of place” in 2005 and published a co-edited volume on the work of Holmes Rolston, III (with Wayne Ouderkirk) titled Nature, Value, and Duty: Life on Earth with Holmes Rolston, III in 2007. His next book, Saving Creation: Nature and Faith in the Life of Holmes Rolston, III is due out with Trinity University Press in 2009. It is a biography of “the father of environmental ethics" (Holmes Rolston), dealing in an accessible way with the intersection of science, theology, and the environment. Other academic interests include ethics education in science and emerging technologies. Recreation interests center of mountain biking and skiing.

Publications

Monographs and Edited Books

Saving Creation: Nature and Faith in the Life of Holmes Rolston, III. (www.savingcreationbook.com) (San Antonio: Trinity University Press 2009)
Grounding Knowledge: Environmental Philosophy, Epistemology, and Place. (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2003).
Nature, Value, Duty: Life on Earth with Holmes Rolston, III. Co-Editor with Wayne Ouderkirk. (Springer 2007).
Guest editor of a journal special issue on “The Epistemic Significance of Place” in Ethics and the Environment 10 (2)(2005).

Articles

Moral Knowledge: Real and Grounded in Place." Ethics, Place, and Environment, vol. 12 (2) (June 2009): 175-186.
“Synthetic Biology, Natural Nanotechnology, and Environmentalism's Debt to Darwin.” Environmental Values17(1)(Feb 2008): 23-39.
“Refining Rolston: A Natural Ontological Attitude Towards Natural Values.” In Nature, Duty, and Value: The Thought of Holmes Rolston, III, Wayne Ouderkirk and Christopher Preston (eds.) (Springer 2007).
“Restoring Misplaced Epistemology” Ethics, Place, and Environment. vol. 8 (3)(October 2005): 373-384. Reply to Code and Kawall.
“Pluralism and Naturalism: Why the Proliferation of Theories is Good for theMind.” Philosophical Psychology, vol. 18 (6)(December 2005): 715-735.
“The Promise and Threat of Nanotechnology: Can Environmental Ethics GuideUs?” Hylé: The International Journal for the Philosophy of Chemistry, vol.11 (1)(2005): 19-44.
“Public Health and Environmentalism: Adding Garbage to the History of Environmental Ethics” co-written with Steven Corey, Environmental Ethics, vol. 27 (1)(2005): 3-21.
“Rolston’s Intrinsic Value Theory: A Quick Evaluation,” Tharsis, (2004) (invited).
“Animality and Morality: Human Reason as an Animal Activity,” Environmental Values, vol. 11 (4) (2002): 427-442.
“Intrinsic Value and Care: Making Connections Through Ecological Narratives,” Environmental Values, vol. 10 (2001): 243-263.
“Conversing with Nature in a Post-modern Epistemological Framework,” Environmental Ethics, vol. 22 (Fall 2000): 227-240.
“Environment and Belief: The Importance of Place in the Construction of Knowledge,” Ethics and the Environment, vol. 4 (2) (1999): 211-218.
“Epistemology and Intrinsic Value: Responses to Norton and Callicott,” Environmental Ethics, vol. 20 (Winter 1998): 409-428.
“The Deep Ecology Movement and Natural Resource Industries: Some Lessons from a Fishing Boat,” The Trumpeter, vol. 13, No.4 (1996): 167-172.

Significant Grant Supported Professional Development

Resident Fellow, The Island Institute, Sitka, AK. August 21 – September 21, 2008.
NSF grant for “Debating Science.” PI Dane Scott (Center for Ethics) and co-written with Rebecca Bendick (Geological Sciences). To educate graduate students in the natural sciences on ethics and policy related to climate change, agricultural biotechnology, and nanotechnology.
Sir John Templeton Foundation Grant. To support research and writing of Saving Creation: Nature and Faith in the Life of Holmes Rolston, III.
National Science Foundation sponsored travel to “Cities and Rivers Workshop” in St. Petersburg, Russia, June 17th - 24th, 2004.
New Directions Initiative, Colorado School of Mines and the University of South Carolina, “Humanizing Environmental Research on the South Carolina Coast.” Collaboration marine science professor to bring humanistic questions into a marine science research program. Project dates 2002-2003.
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Institute, “Environmental Ethics: Alaska As a Case Study,” University of Alaska Anchorage, May 27th – July 1st, 2001.
Visiting Scholar at The Hastings Center, Garrison, NY, August 14th – 22nd, 2000.
The Environmental Writing Institute led by Rick Bass, Hamilton, MT, May 17th – 22nd, 2000

Department of Philosophy