Conference: Environmental Aesthetics & Ethics: At the Intersection
Indiana University, Bloomington
May 12-14, 2016
IMU Oak Room

Why, if at all, should we protect the environment? Environmental Ethicists and Environmental Aestheticians are coming together at Indiana University, Bloomington to talk about various answers to this question. We will explore whether we have aesthetic reasons, moral reasons, or some combination of these for protecting the environment. Join us for our workshop! The event is free and open to the public. Visit us at http://enviroethics.indiana.edu/

More and more people today are concerned about the impact humans have on the natural environment. Therefore, of increasing philosophical concern are the following questions: Why, if at all, do we have a responsibility to protect non-sentient parts of the natural environment? Are such responsibilities best justified on aesthetic or moral grounds, or some combination of the two? Our workshop, taking place at Indiana University, Bloomington, aims to address these and other related questions. The conference will take the form of a workshop, with presentations of works-in-progress and 40 minutes of Q&A after each talk.

To kick off our event, we are screening the film Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art at the IU Cinema. The film is an art-historical investigation of three land artists: Michael Heizer, Walter de Maria, and Robert Smithson. The film chronicles how each artist used the land as their canvas and thereby challenged dominant trends in western art. Piecing together original and re-mastered footage, as well as interviews with their contemporaries, Troublemakers explores how the three land artists related to the environment, their work, and each other. We hope you’ll join us for the film as well as the conference as a whole! Registration for the talks is required but the workshop is free and open to the public. Please visit us at http://enviroethics.indiana.edu/