The Agricultural Ethics of Biofuels: A First Look |
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Authors: | Paul B Thompson |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Philosophy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, 48824, USA |
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Abstract: | A noticeable push toward using agricultural crops for ethanol production and for undertaking research to expand the range
of possible biofuels began to dominate discussions of agricultural science and policy in the United States around 2005. This
paper proposes two complementary philosophical approaches to examining the philosophical questions that should be posed in
connection with this turn of events. One stresses a critique of underlying epistemological commitments in the scientific models
being developed to determine the feasibility of various biofuels proposals. The second begins with a broader set of questions
about the philosophical goals of agriculture, then queries the place that a turn to biofuels might have within the philosophy
of agriculture. Both are portrayed as viable and important. The paper itself is a preliminary stage-setting reflection on
the need for these two types of philosophical inquiry. |
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Keywords: | energy bioenergy ethanol agrarianism philosophy of technology |
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