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Ben Minteer

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School of Life Sciences
Professor
Faculty, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 4501
Sustainability Scientists and Scholars
Senior Sustainability Scholar
Faculty, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 4501
School for the Future of Innovation in Society > Related Faculty
Professor
Faculty, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 4501
Lincoln Center Applied Ethics
Lincoln Center Affiliated Faculty
Faculty, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 4501
Biography: 

Ben A. Minteer is professor of environmental ethics and conservation and the Arizona Zoological Society Endowed Chair in the School of Life Sciences at ASU. His work grapples with two big questions: What obligations do we have toward species and wildlands in a rapidly changing and increasingly human-shaped environment? And how can a better understanding of the American conservation tradition enhance our efforts to secure a biologically and culturally rich environmental future?  His writing is grounded in the tradition of American Pragmatism, especially its moral, scientific, and civic traditions. He is also a Fellow at the Center for Humans and Nature (Chicago).

Professor Minteer's work has appeared in Science, Nature, PNAS, BioScience, Conservation Biology, Environmental Ethics, Slate, and Earth Island Journal, among other outlets. He has also published many books, including most recently The Fall of the Wild: Extinction, De-Extinction, and the Ethics of Conservation (Columbia University Press) and The Ark and Beyond: The Evolution of Zoo and Aquarium Conservation (University of Chicago Press).

 

CV
Binary Data Curriculum Vitae
Education: 

PhD, University of Vermont, 2000

Videos
“The Value of Extinction in the Age of Humans," a public talk on the ethics of de-extinction at the American Museum of Natural History, NYC.
Research Website: 
http://www.benaminteer.com/
Research Interests: 

Environmental ethics, history & philosophy of conservation, American environmental thought, wilderness, zoos

 

Publications: 

Five Representative Publications:

  • Minteer, Ben A. 2018. The Fall of the Wild: Extinction, De-Extinction, and the Ethics of Conservation (Columbia University Press).
  • Minteer, Ben A., Jane Maienschein, and James P. Collins, eds. 2018. The Ark and Beyond: The Evolution of Zoo and Aquarium Conservation (University of Chicago Press).
  • Minteer, Ben A. and Stephen J. Pyne, eds. 2015. After Preservation: Saving American Nature in the Age of Humans (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
  • Minteer, Ben A., James P. Collins, Karen E. Love, and Robert Puschendorf. 2014. “Avoiding (Re)Extinction” Science 344: 260-261.
  • Minteer, Ben A. 2006. The Landscape of Reform: Civic Pragmatism and Environmental Thought in America (MIT Press).

*************************************************************************************************************************************************

BOOKS (published)

  • Minteer, Ben A. 2018. The Fall of the Wild: Extinction, De-Extinction, and the Ethics of Conservation (Columbia University Press).
  • Sarkar, Sahotra and Ben A. Minteer, eds. 2018. A Sustainable Philosophy: The Work of Bryan Norton (Springer).
  • Minteer, Ben A., Jane Maienschein, and James P. Collins, eds. 2018. The Ark and Beyond: The Evolution of Zoo and Aquarium Conservation (University of Chicago Press).
  • Minteer, Ben A. and Stephen J. Pyne, eds. 2015. After Preservation: Saving American Nature in the Age of Humans (University of Chicago Press).
  • Minteer, Ben A. 2012. Refounding Environmental Ethics: Pragmatism, Principle, and Practice (Temple University Press).
  • Minteer, Ben A., ed. 2009. Nature in Common? Environmental Ethics and the Contested Foundations of Environmental Policy (Temple University Press).
  • Minteer, Ben A. 2006. The Landscape of Reform: Civic Pragmatism and Environmental Thought in America (MIT Press).
  • Minteer, Ben A. and Robert E. Manning, eds. 2003. Reconstructing Conservation: Finding Common Ground (Island Press).
  • Minteer, Ben A. and Bob Pepperman Taylor, eds. 2002. Democracy and the Claims of Nature: Critical Perspectives for a New Century (Rowman & Littlefield).

 

BOOKS (in development)

  • Minteer, Ben A., Mark Klett, and Stephen J. Pyne. Wild Visions: Imaging and Imagining the American Wilderness.
  • Minteer, Ben A. and Jonathan Losos, eds. Heart of the Wild. Essays on Nature, Ecology, and the Human Future
  • Minteer, Ben A. and Harry W. Greene, eds. A Wilder Kingdom: Rethinking the Wild in Zoos, Wildlife Parks, and Beyond.

 

EDITED JOURNALS/SERIES

  • Minteer, Ben A., ed. 2012. “Environmental Ethics.” Article series for The Nature Knowledge Education Project (Nature Publications). Accessible at: http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/environmental-ethics-96467512.
  • Minteer, Ben A. and Thad Miller, eds. 2011. “The New Conservation Debate: Beyond Parks vs. People.” Special issue of Biological Conservation 144.
  • Bird, Stephanie J., Minteer, Ben A., and James P. Collins, eds. 2008. “Ecological Ethics.”  Special issue of Science and Engineering Ethics 14.

 

SELECTED ARTICLES, BOOK CHAPTERS, AND ESSAYS (SINCE 2013)

  • Minteer, Ben A., James P. Collins, and Aireona Raschke, in press. “From the Wild to the Walled: The Evolution and Ethics of Zoo Conservation.”  Routledge Companion to Environmental Ethics, eds. Benjamin Hale and Andrew Light (Routledge).
  • Minteer, Ben A. and Christopher Rojas. 2018. “The Transformative Ark.”  In A Sustainable Philosophy: The Work of Bryan Norton, eds. Sahotra Sarkar and Ben A. Minteer (Springer).
  • Minteer, Ben A., Jane Maienschein, and James P. Collins. 2018. “Zoo and Aquarium Conservation: Past, Present, Future.”  In The Ark and Beyond: The Evolution of Zoo and Aquarium Conservation, eds. Ben A. Minteer, Jane Maienschein, and James P. Collins (University of Chicago Press).
  • Minteer, Ben A. 2018. “The Parallax Zoo.” In The Ark and Beyond: The Evolution of Zoo and Aquarium Conservation, eds. Ben A. Minteer, Jane Maienschein, and James P. Collins (University of Chicago Press).
  • Minteer, Ben A. 2018. “Environmental Ethics.” Routledge Companion to Environmental Studies, eds. Noel Castree, Mike Hulme and James Proctor (NY: Routledge).
  • Minteer, Ben A. 2017. “Environmental Ethics, Sustainability Science, and the Recovery of Pragmatism.” In The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics, eds. Stephen M. Gardiner and Allen Thompson (Oxford University Press).
  • Minteer, Ben A. 2017. “What Would Leopold Do? Considering Assisted Colonization as a Conservation Strategy.” For Routledge Handbook for the Philosophy of Biodiversity, eds. Justin Garson, Anya Plutynski, and Sahotra Sarkar (Routledge).
  • Minteer, Ben A. and Robert E. Manning. 2016. “Wilderness Preserves.” In A Thinking Person’s Guide to the National Parks, eds. Robert E. Manning, David Harmon, Nora Mitchell, and Rolf Diamant (George Braziller, Inc.): 105-115.
  • Minteer, Ben A. 2016. “The Real Zootopia.” Slate (3/3/16). http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/03/the_real_zootopia_in_denmark_has_experts_divided_on_the_state_of_the_zoo.html
  • Minteer, Ben A. 2015. “Why Edward Abbey Still Matters.”  Earth Island Journal (5/15/15). http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/why_edward_abbey_still_matters/
  • Minteer, Ben A. and Stephen J. Pyne. 2015. “What Does it Mean to Preserve Nature in the Age of Humans?” The Conversation (5/1/15). https://theconversation.com/what-does-it-mean-to-preserve-nature-in-the-age-of-humans-39987
  • Minteer, Ben A.  2015. “Abbey’s Secret.” In Abbey in America: A Philosopher’s Legacy in a New Century, ed. John A. Murray (University of New Mexico Press): 57-64.
  • Minteer, Ben A. 2015. “When Extinction is a Virtue.” In After Preservation: Saving American Nature in the Age of Humans, eds. Ben A. Minteer and Stephen J. Pyne (University of Chicago Press): 96-104.
  • Minteer, Ben and Steve Pyne. 2015. “Writing on Stone, Writing in the Wind.” In After Preservation: Saving American Nature in the Age of Humans, eds. Ben A. Minteer and Stephen J. Pyne (University of Chicago Press): 1-8.
  • Minteer, Ben A. 2015. “The Perils of De-Extinction.” Minding Nature 8 (1): 11-17.
  • Minteer, Ben A. 2014. “Extinct Species Should Stay Extinct.” Slate (December 1).
  • Minteer, Ben A. 2014. “Can Zoos Save the World?” The Conversation  (10/30/15).
  • Minteer, Ben A. 2014. “The Fall of the Wild? Not Really.” Slate (July 21).
  • Minteer, Ben A. 2014. “A Kerfuffle Over Species Collection.” Slate (June 16).
  • Minteer, Ben A. 2014. “Is it Right to Reverse Extinction?” Nature 509: 261.
  • Minteer, Ben A., James P. Collins, Karen E. Love, and Robert Puschendorf.  2014. “Avoiding (Re)Extinction” Science 344: 260-261.
  • Winston, Johnny, Ben A. Minteer, and James P. Collins. 2014.“Old Wine, New Bottles? Using History to Inform the Assisted Colonization Debate.” Oryx 48: 186-194.
  • Minteer, Ben A. and James P. Collins. 2013 “Ecosystems Unbound: Ethical Questions for an Interventionist Ecology.”  In Ronald Sandler, ed., Ethics and Emerging Technologies (Palgrave-Macmillan), pp. 456-470.
  • Minteer, Ben A. and James P. Collins. 2013. “Ecological Ethics in Captivity: Balancing Values and Responsibilities in Zoo and Aquarium Research Under Rapid Global Change.”  ILAR Journal 54: 41-51.
  • Minteer, Ben A. 2013. “Conservation, Animal Rights, and Human Welfare: A Pragmatic View of the ‘Bushmeat Crisis’.” In Marc Bekoff, ed., Ignoring Nature No More: The Case for Compassionate Conservation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), pp. 77-93.
  • Minteer, Ben A. and Leah R. Gerber. 2013. “Buying Whales to Save Them.” Issues in Science and Technology 29: 58-68.
  • Minteer, Ben A. and Stephen J. Pyne. 2013. “Restoring the Narrative of American Environmentalism.” Restoration Ecology 21: 6-11.
Research Activity: 
Spring 2020
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 492Honors Directed Study
BIO 493Honors Thesis
BIO 495Undergraduate Research
SOS 527Environ Ethics & Policy Goals
BIO 527Environ Ethics & Policy Goals
Fall 2019
Course NumberCourse Title
PHI 310Environmental Ethics
BIO 324Environmental Ethics
BIO 493Honors Thesis
BIO 499Individualized Instruction
Spring 2019
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 492Honors Directed Study
BIO 493Honors Thesis
BIO 495Undergraduate Research
SOS 527Environ Ethics & Policy Goals
BIO 527Environ Ethics & Policy Goals
BIO 615Biology and Society Lab
HPS 615Biology and Society Lab
Fall 2018
Course NumberCourse Title
PHI 310Environmental Ethics
BIO 324Environmental Ethics
BIO 492Honors Directed Study
BIO 493Honors Thesis
BIO 499Individualized Instruction
Summer 2018
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 324Environmental Ethics
Spring 2018
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 492Honors Directed Study
BIO 493Honors Thesis
BIO 495Undergraduate Research
SOS 527Environ Ethics & Policy Goals
BIO 527Environ Ethics & Policy Goals
BIO 615Biology and Society Lab
HPS 615Biology and Society Lab
Fall 2017
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 493Honors Thesis
Summer 2017
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 324Environmental Ethics
Spring 2017
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 492Honors Directed Study
BIO 493Honors Thesis
BIO 495Undergraduate Research
SOS 527Environ Ethics & Policy Goals
BIO 527Environ Ethics & Policy Goals
Fall 2016
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 189Life Sciences Career Paths
PHI 310Environmental Ethics
BIO 324Environmental Ethics
BIO 492Honors Directed Study
BIO 493Honors Thesis
Summer 2016
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 324Environmental Ethics
Spring 2016
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 412Conservation in Practice
BIO 492Honors Directed Study
SOS 527Environ Ethics & Policy Goals
BIO 527Environ Ethics & Policy Goals
Fall 2015
Course NumberCourse Title
PHI 310Environmental Ethics
BIO 324Environmental Ethics
BIO 492Honors Directed Study
BIO 493Honors Thesis
BIO 615Biology and Society Lab
HPS 615Biology and Society Lab
SOS 799Dissertation
Presentations: 

BIO 324/PHI 310 Environmental Ethics

BIO 412 Conservation in Practice

BIO 527/SOS 527/PHI 528 Environmental Ethics and Policy Goals

Service: 
  • University of Chicago Press, manuscript reviewer (2013 - Present)
  • Collaboration with the Phoenix Zoo, AZ Zoological Society Chair (2013 - Present)
  • SoLS Communications Committee, Member (2012 - Present)
  • University of New Mexico Press, Manuscript reviewer (2012 - Present)
  • WIREs Climate Change, Referee (2012 - Present)
  • BioScience, Referee (2012 - Present)
  • Journal of Environment and Development, Referee (2012 - Present)
  • Ethics, Policy and the Environment, Referee (2012 - Present)
  • Ecological Economics, Referee (2012 - Present)
  • Synthese, referee (2011 - Present)
  • Environmental History, referee (2011 - Present)
  • Environmental Philosophy, referee (2011 - Present)
  • CLAS Committee on Committees, member (2011 - 2015)
  • Environmental Ethics, Editorial Board (2010 - Present)
  • Environmental Ethics, Editorial Board (2010 - Present)
  • Oxford University Press, Manuscript reviewer (2010 - Present)
  • National Science Foundation, Panel reviewer (2009 - 2014)
  • Ethics and the Environment, Referee (2010 - Present)
  • Journal for the Study of Nature, Religion & Culture, referee (2009 - Present)
  • SoLS Undergraduate Programs Committee, Committee Member (2009 - 2014)
  • Biological Conservation, Referee (2009 - Present)
  • University Press of Kentucky, Manuscript reviewer (2009 - Present)
  • SUNY Press, Book Manuscript Reviewer (2009 - Present)
  • Conservation Letters, Referee (2009 - Present)
  • Environmental Ethics, Referee (2009 - Present)
  • Gale/Cengage GREENr Prpoject (Multi-Media Resource for Sustainability), Editorial Advisory Board Member (2009 - 2011)
  • Conservation Biology, Referee (2006 - Present)
  • Environmental Values, Referee (2006 - Present)
  • Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, Referee (2006 - Present)
  • ASU National Scholarships and Fellowships Committee, committe member -- Udall Scholarship Competition; Marshall Interview Committee (2004 - Present)
  • ASU National Scholarships and Fellowships Committee, committe member -- Udall Scholarship Competition; Marshall Interview Committee (2004 - Present)
  • Environmental Ethics, Editorial Board Member (2010 - 2020)
  • Politics & Policy, Referee (2010 - 2011)
  • Temple University Press, manuscript reviewer (2008 - 2008)
  • CLAS Faculty Senate, Member (2006 - 2008)
  • National Scholarships and Fellowships Committee, Member (2004 - 2007)
  • SoLS Undergraduate Curriculum Review Committee, Committee Member (2006 - 2007)
  • SoLS Collections Committee, Member (2005 - 2006)
  • SoLS Human Dimensions Speaker Nomination Committee, Chair (2005 - 2006)
  • Conservation Biology, Referee (2006 - 2006)
  • Island Press, Book Proposal Reviewer (2006 - 2006)
  • SoLS Sustainability Committee, Member (2006 - 2006)
  • Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics Advisory Council, Affiliate (2004 - 2006)
  • SUNY Press, Book Manuscript Reviewer (2006 - 2006)
  • Ecology, Referee (2006 - 2006)
  • Students for Environmental Action, Faculty Advisor (2004 - 2005)
  • National Science Foundation, Proposal Reviewer (2005 - 2005)
  • MIT Press, Reviewer (2004 - 2004)
  • Philosophy and Geography, Referee (2004)
  • Worldviews: Environment, Culture, Religion, Referee (2004)
  • Environmental Ethics, Referee (Present)
  • Landscape and Urban Planning, referee (Present)
  • Restoration Ecology, referee (Present)
Expertise Areas: 
Environmental Ethics
Ecological Ethics
Conservation Policy
Conservation Biology
Environmental History