J. Michael Scoville

A photo of J. Michael Scoville

Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Section

History and Philosophy; Environmental Science and Society (ENVI) Interdisciplinary Program

702K Pray Harrold

734.487.0066

[email protected]

Education

  • Ph.D., Philosophy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2011
  • MA, Philosophy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006
  • MA, Liberal Studies, New School for Social Research, 2001

Interests and Expertise

Dr. Scoville specializes in ethics and environmental philosophy.

Research and Teaching Interests
  • Environmental philosophy
  • Ethical theory
  • Value theory
  • Social and political philosophy (especially theories of justice)

Courses

  • PHIL 110 Philosophies of Life
  • PHIL 220 Ethics
  • PHIL 224 Ethics and Food
  • PHIL 229 Environmental Ethics
  • PHIL 379 Special Topics: Justice and the Environment
  • PHIL 420W/520 Ethical Theory
  • PHIL 429W/529 Topics in Environmental Philosophy

Publications and Presentations

Selected Publications
  • “A Defense of Integrity as a Conservation Concept.” 2016. Ethics & the Environment 21(2): 79-117.
  • “Framing Food Justice.” 2015. In Just Food: Philosophy, Justice and Food. Ed. J. M. Dieterle, 3-20. New York: Rowman & Littlefield International.
  • “Historical Environmental Values.” 2013. Environmental Ethics 35(1): 7-25. (This essay was awarded the 2012 Holmes Rolston III Early Career Essay Prize.)
Dissertation
  • Environmental Values, Animals, and the Ethical Life
Recent Professional Presentations
  • “On the Divergence of Subjective and Objective Evaluative Perspectives in the Conceptualization of Well-Being,” Thirty-Fifth International Social Philosophy Conference, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, July 2018.
  • Comments on “Constitutive Moral Luck and Strawson’s Argument for the Impossibility of Moral Responsibility,” paper presented by Robert J. Hartman, Colloquium on Moral Luck, Deliberation, and Disagreement, American Philosophical Association (Central division), Chicago, IL, February 2018.
  • “Can Environmental Philosophy Do Without the Concept of Nature?”, paper to be presented at the meeting of The International Association for Environmental Philosophy, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 2016.
  • “Assessing the Critique of the Appeal to ‘Nature’ in Environmental Ethics,” American Philosophical Association (Central Division), International Society of Environmental Ethics Group Session, Chicago, Illinois, March 2016. 
  • “Conceptualizing the Nature that Matters, and Why,” Scholarship of Sustainability Series, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, February 2016 (invited).
  • “Framing Climate Ethics,” Scholarship of Sustainability Series, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, April 2015 (invited).
  • “Climate Justice,” Scholarship of Sustainability Series, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, April 2014 (invited).
  • “The Welfare Pluralist Account of Sustainability,” American Philosophical Association (Central Division), International Society of Environmental Ethics Group Session, Chicago, Illinois, February 2014.
  • “Welfare Pluralism and Sustainability,” International Social Philosophy Conference, Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut, July 2013.
  • “Envisioning Sustainability,” Scholarship of Sustainability Series, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, January 2013 (invited).
  • “If We Can, Should We? Ethics and the Global Environment,” Star Lecture Series 2012–2013, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan, November 2012 (invited).
  • “Justice and the Environment,” Campus Series on the Scholarship of Sustainability, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, March 2012 (invited).
  • “Historical Environmental Values,” American Philosophical Association (Central Division), International Society of Environmental Ethics Group Session, Chicago, Illinois, February 2012.
  • “A Defense of Integrity as a Conservation Concept,” American Philosophical Association (Eastern Division), International Society of Environmental Ethics Group Session, Boston, Massachusetts, December 2010.
  • “Dimensions of Justice,” The Human Place in Nature: A Campus Series on Sustainability, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, April 2010 (invited).
  • “Human Embeddedness in Nature: Some Ontological & Ethical Dimensions,” Human Flourishing and Restoration in the Age of Global Warming Conference, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, September 2008.
  • “The Commodification of Nature & Nonhumans: Some Ethical, Political & Ontological Considerations,” STEWARDship Workshop, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, June 2008.

Grants, Honors and Awards

  • Dr. Scoville won the 2012 Holmes Rolston III Early Career Essay Prize for his article “Historical Environmental Values” (published in Environmental Ethics).