Teaching at UiS, November 2012

On Wednesday November 7th I taught for 5 hours at University of Stavanger, in the master course for health science students "Philosophy of science and ethics". The lectures had been rescheduled to this date from October 17th due to my son's (expected) birth in October - my wife's due date was October 10th (and he was born the very same day).

 

[This is part of my backlog catch up blogging]

Not in new MA International board; to be in Academic Advisory Committee

Minding Animals International (MAI) is in the process of being reorganised as part of an incorporation process. MAI is now registered in the US, in Delaware, and will soon be registered as a non-profit entity. A new board has been appointed, replacing the former one where all national Minding Animals organisations were represented along with other board members - I thus served in the Board of Directors 2011-2013. I let Rod Bennison, the CEO of MAI, know that depending on what names were in the mix I might be a candidate for the new board. Today several appointments were made known to the old board, patrons etc., and the only position still to be filled in the new board is that of the Treasurer. It is therefor clear now that I will not be a member of the new board of MAI. On the other hand national MA organisations will from now on be represented in the Academic Advisory Committee (replacing the old Academic Advisory Committee). As the chair of MA Norway I will be joining that committee.

See also: 

Minding Animals International to incorporate in the US (December 2012)

Two more letters in Morgenbladet's debate on human distinctiveness

A further two letters to the editor have appeared in the Norwegian weekly Morgenbladet in its July 26th-August 1st issue following the publication of professor in biology Dag Hessen's book chapter excerpt based on his contribution to Hvem er villest i landet her? Råskap mot dyr og natur i antropocen, menneskets tidsalder [Who is wildest in this country here? Brutality towards animals and nature in the Anthropocene, the age of Man], for which I am one of three editors along with Ragnhild Sollund and Guri Larsen. Professor in theology Knut Alfsvåg replies to Hessen's response with "Hessens selvmotsigelser, del 2" [Hessen's contradictions, part 2], and  Erik Nævdal, the Frisch Centre, writes "Hva kan vi lære av biologien?" [What can we learn from biology?].

See also

Hessen and Norwegian AHS anthology debated in Morgenbladet (July 12th)

Debate on human distinctiveness continues in Morgenbladet (July 19th)

To be supervised by experienced mentor; autumn courses being set up

A couple of days ago I participated in the introductory gathering for newly employed staff at the University of Stavanger, along with some 20 others. I was not the only one who has worked there for a while already (one and a half year in my case, plus a further 3 years as an external examiner). In the course of the next year I will, as part of the "NyTi program", be supervised by an experienced mentor, in form of six guidance meetings addressing topics of teaching and pedagogics.

This autumn, as the last, I'm giving two courses at Department of Health Studies - introductory philosophy for 200+ bachelor students in nursing, and a master course in philosophy of science and ethics, for health science students. I've done my first uploads and such to It's Learning, the digital learning environment used to interact with students.

"Animal and Eve" paper accepted for presentation in September

My paper "Animal and Eve: How representations of wolves and sheep are used to construct human identities" has been accepted for presentation at the international workshop Humanimals: Examining Histories and Productions of Animal-Human Relationships, to be held in Oslo, Norway, on September 26-27th.

A 2000 word paper to be distributed to participants is due September 5th.

Lecture to be given at Norwegian animal ethics conference: "What is nature in a world without wilderness?"

I will give a lecture on the Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference 2013, in Oslo on August 22nd, with the title "Hva er natur i en verden uten villmark?" [What is nature in a world without wilderness?] (currently scheduled for presentation at 10.15-10.40 a.m.). An abstract has been posted in my Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme.

Program for the Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference 2013

The full program of the Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference (Dyreetikkonferansen) 2013 has been released - see here. The conference takes place in Oslo on August 22nd, this year with the theme "Animals' nature under pressure: How we shape animals in our own image" (but note that the conference language is Norwegian). English thematic description available here.