European Environmental Philosophy Series (EEPS)

CETE-P together with Turku Environmental Ethics Research Centre and University of Pardubice Centre for Ethics invites you to a bi-semester online talk series on environmental philosophy. The talk series supports and promotes research and networks in European environmental philosophy.

Dates:

27 March 2026, 1pm-2:30pm CET
"Sustainability Research without Sustainability" by Markku Oksanen from the University of Eastern Finland

15 May 2026, 1pm-2:30pm CET
"Framing animals" by Doc. Dr Silvia Caprioglio Panizza, PhD FHEA 

2 October, 1pm-2:30pm CET
"Beyond Development: Biodiversity conservation and the transformation of eugenics from 'progressive' societal improvement to neo-illiberal techno-engineering" by Bram Büscher

27 November 2026, 1pm-2:30pm CET
TBD

For abstracts and registration details see below. 

Programme of the series:

27 March, 1pm-2:30pm (CET)
"Sustainability Research without Sustainability" by Markku Oksanen from the University of Eastern Finland

Abstract:
Ever since the emergence of sustainable development and sustainability discourses in the 1980s, some people have decided to swim upstream and commenced a search for alternative concepts and frameworks. Among the most cited authors within (philosophical) sustainability research are researchers who avoid using sustainability concept and/or who unequivocally reject it. These authors relate to a large variety of disciplines and approaches, from such major figures as Bruno Latour, Donna Haraway and Timothy Morton to many less known environmental philosophers. The main purpose of the talk is to reflect whether their inclusion in the “canon” of the research (such as a textbook) can be justified.

Sign up and get the zoom-link for this talk by messaging lamakou@utu.fi

15 May 2026, 1pm-2:30pm CET
"Framing animals" by Doc. Dr Silvia Caprioglio Panizza, PhD FHEA 

Abstract:
I will look at the way evaluative 'frames' determine thinking and discussions around non-human animals. In particular, I will look at the way in which value frames what is taken to be possible for us, in thinking, imagination, and action. While disagreement in animal ethics depends on accepting certain questions and offering different answers, the claim is that disagreeing on a topic implies the acceptance of the question and the values that the question itself contains.

[Note: this talk is part of a broader collaborative article with N.Collin, L.Hall, H.Grimm, A.Rademan, J.Gasol, N.Forsberg, E.Linder, K.Deininger, and C.Salzani]

Please register for this talk and get the zoom link here.

2 October, 1pm-2:30pm CET
"Beyond Development: Biodiversity conservation and the transformation of eugenics from 'progressive' societal improvement to neo-illiberal techno-engineering" by Bram Büscher

Abstract:
Eugenics, the pseudo-science of the 'improvement' of life, has gone through multiple transformations across its enduring lifespan. Recent literature emphasizes how eugenics is far from a pre-WWII phenomenon: it not only survived the war in 'progressive' forms that accompanied broader development ideas but is more recently making a comeback through new forms of science, technology and neo-illiberal movements and administrations. Related literature also shows how biodiversity conservation has been central to these transformations. In this paper, we bring these discussions together by reviewing the historical and contemporary connections between biodiversity conservation and the transformations of eugenics from the 19th century to the present. This allows us to add two crucial yet overlooked points that change how we think about conservation more generally. The first is how conservation, historically and currently, has often functioned as a 'vanguard' domain for experimenting with eugenical ideas and practices. We argue that this comes out most clearly in current forms of techno-driven conservation, which employs familiar social scientific arguments to pursue novel eugenical agendas. Second and unlike the 19th century, we argue that the current planetary 'polycrisis' moves eugenics from a concern with neoliberal 'improvement' of life to a focus on 'sustaining' certain forms life in the face of increasing disasters and threats of mass extinction. Here, eugenics should no longer primarily be understood as a form of illiberal, racist development, but rather as a form of neo-illiberal, biological 'maintenance'. Eugenics, in short, is itself becoming a form of conservation.

MS Teams link for the session here.

Programme for the rest of the series tbd.