Treanor - Emplotting Virtue: A Narrative Approach to Environmental Virtue Ethics

Emplotting Virtue

SUNY series in Environmental Philosophy and Ethics
J. Baird Callicott and John van Buren, editors

A Narrative Approach to Environmental Virtue Ethics

Brian Treanor

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

2014 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

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Production by Eileen Nizer
Marketing by Michael Campochiaro

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Treanor, Brian.
Emplotting virtue : a narrative approach to environmental virtue ethics / Brian Treanor.
pages cm. (SUNY series in environmental philosophy and ethics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-5117-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4384-5118-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Virtue. 2. Ethics. 3. Environmental ethics. 4. Narration (Rhetoric) I. Title.
BJ1531.T74 2014
179'.1dc23

2013021456

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For my parents, Richard Treanor and Margaret Treanor,
and my siblings, Erin, Adam, and Michael, with love

Given that this is, in part, a book on narrative, I am acutely aware of the diverse cast of characters who contributed, each in his or her own way, to this project. The story of writing this book intersected a variety of other stories at various points in its development.

I am fortunate to have a very fine group of friends and associates who helped me in one way or another during the process of writing. My colleagues at Loyola Marymount University are, to a person, supportive and encouraging; many of them provided feedback on early attempts to grapple with some of the main themes of this book. Jason Baehr was a source of much useful discussion on virtue theory and Scott Cameron has been a sympathetic ear and ally on issues hermeneutic and environmental. Chris Kaczor, my regular lunch partner, not only encouraged me in my work, but also provided so many helpful suggestions related to my scholarly habits that Ive turned over a new leaf as a writer in the process of finishing this project. In the field of environmental philosophy, Ive been fortunate to receive helpful feedback at various times from Phil Cafaro and Ron Sandlerboth advocates of a virtue ethics approach to environmental ethicsand, more recently, from Katie McShane, whose thinking on narrative pushed me to clarify my position in helpful ways. Forrest Clingerman, David Utsler, and Martin Drenthen have been both collaborators (on other projects) and commentators on my work; their friendship and collegiality is much appreciated.

In addition to these colleagues, I have been blessed with a number of truly remarkable students during the past few years, several of whom worked through the ideas presented here in classes on either environmental virtue ethics or narrative and virtue: Greer Gosnell, Kim Tomicich, Annie Daly, Dan Gray, and Bianca Darby-Matteoda deserve special recognition for their active and enthusiastic engagement with the ideas developed in this book. My graduate assistant, Donald Boyce, was a great help in preparing the final manuscript. In addition to saving me from myriad slips and typos with a keen editorial eye, his philosophically astute comments and questions aided me in clarifying the argument.

The work of finalizing this project was done under the auspices of a College Fellowship provided by the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts at Loyola Marymount University. I very much appreciate this institutional support for my work. Thanks are also owed Dean Rosnau, of June Lake, and his family, whose remarkable hospitality enriched the summer of 2011 for me and for my family while I worked on an early draft of the book.

I am indebted to John Van Buren and Baird Callicott, as well as Andrew Kenyon at SUNY Press, for their confidence in me and in this project, their support during its development, and their patience during the process. Thanks as well to production editor Eileen Nizer and copyeditor Sharon Green, who helped in the final preparation of the manuscript for publication. I also must thank the anonymous readers who reviewed the manuscript for SUNY. I have had numerous other projects reviewed in the course of publication, and served as a reviewer myself on many occasions. I can honestly say that the readers for this project went far beyond the call of duty in their careful reading of the manuscript and in their many helpful comments, questions, and objections. Although I imagine that they will still find arguments and stylistic choices with which they disagree, and raise concerns I was unable to take up in the pages of this book, the project was certainly improved by responding to their questions and criticisms. I owe them a deep debt of gratitude.

Finally, none of my work, here or elsewhere, would be possible without the love and affection I have for and receive from my family. My wife Gitty has long been an intellectual friend and partner, in addition to all the other ways in which she supports my endeavors. She reads drafts of much of my work, and listened indulgently as I wrestled out loud with many of these subjects over the past few years. My daughters, Darya and Ciara, regularly (and thankfully) pulled me away from writing and were always quick to remind me that we should be climbing, camping, skiing, biking, and swimming more oftenwhich given our regular and passionate pursuit of such activities is, Im proud to point out, saying something.

As Ive indicated, the ideas in this book have developed over time and germinated in other works. Various publishers have graciously allowed me to reproduce work that has appeared elsewhere. The following essays have appeared in print previously and contributed in ways direct and indirect to the argument in this book.

, first appeared in Environmental Philosophy vol. 7 (2010): 2746.

I would also like to thank Counterpoint Press and the estate of Wallace Stegner for permission to use the excerpt from Stegners Wilderness Letter with which this work opens (Copyright 2007 by Page Stegner from The Selected Letters of Wallace Stegner by Wallace Stegner. Reprinted by permission of Counterpoint).

It really is of importance, not only what men do, but also what manner of men they are that do it.

John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

Now I see the secret of making the best persons, / it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.

Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

One of lifes quiet excitements is to stand somewhat apart from yourself and watch yourself softly becoming the author of something beautiful.

Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

Few environmentalists in the United States are unfamiliar with Wallace Stegners famous Wilderness Letter, written in 1960 to David Pesonen of the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission. The letter is an eloquent and heartfelt paean to the importance of wilderness and wildnessnot as a source of raw material for production, or a pool of biodiversity, or even as an arena in which people can pursue certain activities they are unable to pursue elsewhere. Rather, Stegner seeks to draw our attention to wildness as a spiritual resource, one that has formed our character and shaped our history: