Ryan Darr (Yale University), “How Are We to Value Other Species? Ethical Reflections on Literary Depictions” (Institute of Sacred Music)

A central question in the ethics of biodiversity conservation is what kind of value other species have. In this talk, Ryan Darr asks instead how we are to value other species, treating value as a verb rather than a noun. Ryan seeks insight into the question by considering two novels that depict characters and communities interacting with species on the edge of extinction: Charlotte McConaghy’s Migrations and Linda Hogan’s People of the Whale. Ryan argues for the importance of social practices by which we can value other species together, at least in part by identifying with them.

 

Ryan Darr is a Postdoctoral Associate in Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Princeton University Center for Human Values. Ryan is a religious ethicist currently working on a book that draws from theology, philosophy, and literature to address ethical issues surrounding the emerging mass extinction event. His first book on the theological origins of consequentialist ethics is forthcoming from The University of Chicago Press.

 

Please RSVP to raymond.vogel@yale.edu by October 31, 2022 and include your Yale NetID

Note: Seating capacity will be limited and given on a first-come, first-served basis.