My current work centers on the ethical and cultural dimensions of the environmental crisis, very broadly conceived, and on our reconstructive and imaginative resources for more promising responses. I am especially interested in social improvisation and radical social change in general, and what I call "Millennial Imagination" - for we may after all stand at the moment of a thousand-year shift, and not just in how we number the years. I believe that we are entering a time of dramatic social change, as any number of ecological, social, and conceptual developments converge and synergize, and that philosophers can make a vital contribution to this work if we frame it appropriately - and jump in with both feet.
My books include several in environmental philosophy, Back to Earth: Tomorrow's Environmentalism (Temple University Press, 1994) and An Invitation to Environmental Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 1999) and a number of texts in ethics and critical thinking: A Practical Companion To Ethics (Oxford, 1997; third edition 2006), A 21st Century Ethical Toolbox (Oxford, 2001; second edition 2008), as well as my first and most widely-used book, A Rulebook for Arguments (Hackett, 1986; fourth edition, 2008). In 2007 I added two books on practical creativity with Oxford: Creativity for Critical Thinkers and Creative Problem-Solving in Ethics. I have also published several attempts at Deweyan reconstruction in philosophy, Toward Better Problems (Temple, 1992) and Jobs for Philosophers (Xlibris, 2004) - the latter self-published and read by hardly anyone, but actually my favorite book (and available upon request). My latest is a little book just out with New Society Publishers, How to Re-Imagine the World: A Pocket Handbook for Practical Visionaries (2007). I have been doing some public workshops and radio interviews in connection with this theme too: there is a link on this page to one of the interviews as well as a link to the publisher's page for the book. I also write articles in a range of areas from philosophy of education to applied ethics, space exploration, and of course environmental philosophy, of which I am just finishing a collection to appear with SUNY Press next year as The Incompleat Eco-Philosopher: Essays on the Edges of Environmental Ethics.
My running-mate Amy Halberstadt and I live with our two children and cat in Durham.
- E-Mail Professor Weston
- Representative Course Syllabi:
I teach a variety of courses, from the introductory Critical Thinking and Ethical Practice courses and “Environmental Visions” to upper-level courses like Environmental Ethics, Philosophy of Education, and “Marx, Darwin, Freud”. I also facilitate the January Term “Zen in Theory and Practice” course. Here is a sampling of my courses, including a draft course description for my Fall 2008 course in Costa Rica. - Marx, Darwin, and Freud -- Spring 2008
- Environmental Ethics -- Spring 2008
- CRITICAL (and Creative and Constructive) THINKING
- Ethical Practice
- Environmental Ethics
- MAGIC IN THE LAND
- Millennial Imagination
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