Title: The Environment and Autonomy

Speaker: Dr Carmody Grey

About

Concepts of autonomy have provoked widespread critique and interrogation in recent philosophy and theology. In environmental discourses in particular, autonomy is associated with the rationalism, dualism and anthropocentrism that are seen to underlie the environmental crisis. I argue that a retrieval of some notion of autonomy is actually necessary for conceptualising environmental crisis. I explore some trajectories in environmental philosophy which are incompatible with such a project, and identify some conversation partners for developing an environmentally adequate conception of autonomy.

Seminar Presenter

Dr Carmody Grey is Assistant Professor of Catholic Theology in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University. She works in the areas of philosophical theology and theological ethics, with a focus on science, nature and environment. Carmody has degrees in theology from Trinity College Oxford, King’s College Cambridge, and from the Universities of Nottingham and Bristol, as well as a postgraduate degree in conservation biology from Edinburgh. She has worked on national and international conservation projects, and teaches and speaks publicly in a variety of arenas, including advisory support to charities and NGOS. During 2021, she has been Visiting Research Fellow at the Laudato Si’ Research Institute, Oxford, where she is working on themes related to land and agriculture.

How to Register

This seminar is open to members of the University of Oxford only and space is limited to 30 participants. To register your interest, please contact Timothy Howles with a brief description of your field of academic study.