Naturalness and rewilding – philosophy of conservation in the Anthropocene

Keywords : Environmental philosophy, Conservation sciences, Nature, Rewilding, Protected areas

Profile and skills required : M.A. (or similar) in philosophy with a specialization in philosophy of science or environmental philosophy.
A training or a strong interest in ecology or conservation biology
A taste for nature conservation issues and field working.
Working langage in French and English

Project description : Global changes are disrupting the traditional roles of protected areas and shake the tenuous balances established between societies and their environment to conserve nature. This PhD project will be hosted by an interdisciplinary team that brings together researchers in philosophy, geography, ecology and conservation biology. It wil question and reinvest the concepts of ‘naturalness’ and ‘wilderness’ in the context of the Anthropocene (Maris 2018) . The theoretical inquiry will be based on the empirical study of practical challenges faced by biodiversity managers as well as policy makers. Addressing the old philosophical issue of the human/nature relationships, this project is articulated at the interface between science, expertise and decision, in order to produce a useful reflection to think the adaptation of conservation strategies in the context of global changes. The PhD project will focus on how the ideas of rewilding and renaturalization are currently mobilized in the management of certain protected areas and on the link between these practical experiments and philosophical debates around the notions of ‘nature’, ‘naturalness’, ‘wildness’ and “wilderness”.

Funding : A PhD studentship for three years is already obtained (ANR)

Application : Send by email to virginie.maris@cefe.cnrs.fr before the 20th June 2019:
– A motivation letter
– A detailed curriculum vitae
– The grades for graduate studies
– One personal writing relevant to the research topic (published or unpublished essay, MA dissertation, non-academic writing…)
– Name and contact information of two potential referees

References
Blandin, Patrick. 2009. De la protection de la nature au pilotage de la biodiversité. Science En Questions. Versailles: Quae.
Bonneuil, Christophe, and Jean-Baptiste Fressoz. 2013. L’événement anthropocène : La Terre, l’histoire et nous. Anthropocène. Paris: Seuil.
Callicott, J Baird, and Michael P Nelson, eds. 1998. The Great New Wilderness Debate. Athens: University of Georgia Press.
Chakrabarty, Dipesh. 2009. “The Climate of History: Four Theses.” Critical Inquiry 35 (2): 197–222.
Cronon, William. 1992. “A Place for Stories: Nature, History, and Narrative.” Journal of American History 78 (4): 1347–76.
Crutzen, Paul J., and Eugene F. Stoermer. 2000. “The Anthropocene.” Global Change Newsletter 41 (May): 17–18.
Hache, Émilie. 2011. Ce à quoi nous tenons. Paris: La Découverte.
Inkpen, S. Andrew. 2017. “Are Humans Disturbing Conditions in Ecology?” Biology & Philosophy 32 (1): 51–71.
Jenkins, Clinton N., and Lucas Joppa. 2009. “Expansion of the Global Terrestrial Protected Area System.” Biological Conservation 142 (10): 2166–74.
John Dewey. 1938. Logic – The Theory Of Inquiry. New York: Henry Holt and Co.
Kareiva, Peter. 2014. “New Conservation: Setting the Record Straight and Finding Common Ground.” Conservation Biology 28 (3): 634–36.
Kolbert, Elizabeth. 2014. The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. First Edition edition. New York: Henry Holt and Co.
Larrère, Catherine, and Raphaël Larrère. 1997. Du bon usage de la nature : Pour une philosophie de l’environnement. Paris: Flammarion.
———. 2015. Penser et agir avec la nature – Une enquête philosophique. Paris: La Découverte.
Latour, Bruno. 1999. Politiques de la nature – Comment faire entrer les sciences en démocratie. Paris: La Découverte.
Light, Andrew, and Eric Katz. 1996. Environmental Pragmatism. London: Routledge.
Maris, Virginie. 2015. “Back to the Holocene – a Conceptual, and Possibly Practical, Return to a Nature Not Intended for Humans.” In The Anthropocene and the Global Environmental Crisis: Rethinking Modernity in a New Epoch, edited by Clive Hamilton,François Gemenne, and Christophe Bonneuil, 123–33. London: Routledge.
———. 2016. Philosophie de la biodiversité – petite éthique pour une nature en péril. Seconde édition. Paris: Buchet/Chastel.
———. 2018. La part sauvage du monde – penser la nature dans l’Anthropocène. Paris: Seuil.
Mathevet, Raphaël, John D. Thompson, Carl Folke, and F. Stuart Chapin. 2016. “Protected Areas and Their Surrounding Territory: Socioecological Systems in the Context of Ecological Solidarity.” Ecological Applications 26 (1): 5–16.
Minteer, Ben A.. 2011. Refounding Environmental Ethics: Pragmatism, Principle, and Practice. Temple University Press.
Minteer, Ben A., and Stephen J. Pyne. 2015. After Preservation – Saving American Nature in the Age of Humans. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Mittermeier, R. A., C. G. Mittermeier, T. M. Brooks, J. D. Pilgrim, W. R. Konstant, G. A. B. da Fonseca, and C. Kormos. 2003. “Wilderness and Biodiversity Conservation.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100 (18): 10309–13.
Morizot, Baptiste. 2016. Les Diplomates, Cohabiter avec les loups sur une nouvelle carte du vivant. Paris: Wildproject Editions.
Nelson, Michael P, and J Baird Callicott, eds. 2008. The Wilderness Debate Rages On: Continuing the Great New Wilderness Debate. Athens: University of Georgia Press.
Piccolo, John J., Haydn Washington, Helen Kopnina, and Bron Taylor. 2018. “Why Conservation Scientists Should Re‐embrace Their Ecocentric Roots.” Conservation Biology 32(4): 959-961.
Soulé, M.E. 1985. “What Is Conservation Biology?” BioScience 35 (1): 727–34.
Takacs, Professor David. 1996. The Idea of Biodiversity: Philosophies of Paradise. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Wuerthner, George, Eileen Crist, and Tom Butler. 2014. Keeping the Wild: Against the Domestication of Earth. Washington, DC: Island Press.