Fusing Science and Ethics: Tools for Natural Resource Educators

Presenter Information

Linda Nagel
Michael Nelson
John Vucetich

Location

Peavy/Richardson Halls

Event Website

http://uenr.forestry.oregonstate.edu/

Start Date

3-15-2008 10:30 AM

End Date

3-15-2008 11:00 AM

Description

Natural resource educators are beginning to appreciate that formal critical thinking and ethical reasoning skills are not only important but absolutely necessary tools for the 21st century natural resource professional (both scientist and manager). However, given a historic lack of formal ethical reasoning within natural resource curricula combined with the separation of the sciences from the humanities over the past 100 years, a full embracing of ethics into natural resource curricula meets with resistance. One challenge associated with incorporating ethical reasoning into natural resource curricula appears to come from a misunderstanding of the very nature of ethics. While a certain characterization of ethics makes it appear to be at odds with science, intractable, and easy to dismiss, there are ways to characterize ethics and therefore allow for ethical discourse within the natural resource curricula that melds the two in a useful way. Another challenge involves the manner in which one recognizes, confronts, and works through ethical dilemmas. We address this problem by presenting some real-world examples amenable to ethical discourse and demonstrate how to work through at least two circumstances that are familiar to wildlife and forestry professionals. Finally, we suggest a minimal set of critical thinking and ethical reasoning skills that are crucial for the education of future natural resource professionals.

Comments

Session #5: Fostering Critical Thinking. Presentation for 7th Biennial Conference on University Education in Natural Resources, March 13-15, 2008, Corvallis, Oregon. Featured in the ScholarsArchive@OSU in Oregon State University. Suggested Citation: Nagel, L., Nelson, M., Vucetich, J. 2008. Fusing science and ethics: Tools for natural resource educators. UENR 7th Biennial Conference, ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University. http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8162

Share

COinS
 
Mar 15th, 10:30 AM Mar 15th, 11:00 AM

Fusing Science and Ethics: Tools for Natural Resource Educators

Peavy/Richardson Halls

Natural resource educators are beginning to appreciate that formal critical thinking and ethical reasoning skills are not only important but absolutely necessary tools for the 21st century natural resource professional (both scientist and manager). However, given a historic lack of formal ethical reasoning within natural resource curricula combined with the separation of the sciences from the humanities over the past 100 years, a full embracing of ethics into natural resource curricula meets with resistance. One challenge associated with incorporating ethical reasoning into natural resource curricula appears to come from a misunderstanding of the very nature of ethics. While a certain characterization of ethics makes it appear to be at odds with science, intractable, and easy to dismiss, there are ways to characterize ethics and therefore allow for ethical discourse within the natural resource curricula that melds the two in a useful way. Another challenge involves the manner in which one recognizes, confronts, and works through ethical dilemmas. We address this problem by presenting some real-world examples amenable to ethical discourse and demonstrate how to work through at least two circumstances that are familiar to wildlife and forestry professionals. Finally, we suggest a minimal set of critical thinking and ethical reasoning skills that are crucial for the education of future natural resource professionals.

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cuenr/7thBiennial/Sessions/9