Callicott was instrumental in developing the field of environmental philosophy and in 1971 taught the world's first course in environmental ethics.

As “ an expatriate Southerner, fresh from the pitched battles of the Civil Rights struggle in Memphis, Tennessee ,” Callicott believed that “ the environment was under wholesale assault from every direction with no surcease in sight ” and that “ Civil Rights was a cause already won in the republic of ideas and in the courts ( if not on Main Street in Memphis ).” He “ was a concerned citizen, but was also, more particularly, a challenged philosopher .” So Callicott asked “ how, as a philosopher, could contribute to a rethinking of human nature and a reconstruction of human values to help bring them into line with the relatively new ideas about the nature of the environment emerging from ecology and the new physics .”

Callicott writes that “ the landscape that had helped shape and inspire the nascent evolutionary-ecological thought of the youthful Muir and that of the mature Leopold was the perfect setting for ( me ) to inaugurate ( my ) life-long vocation as a founder of academic environmental philosophy .” In 1995, he joined the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies at the University of North Texas in Denton.

Callicott has explored the possibility of a Judeo-Christian “ citizenship ” environmental ethic as a more radical alternative to the familiar Judeo-Christian “ stewardship ” environmental ethic that was developed in response to criticism from environmental historians and philosophers.

In addition, his arrangement for " Cottonfield Blues " was performed by early Delta blues musicians Garfield Akers and Mississippi Joe Callicott in 1929.

In 1959, Callicott graduated from Memphis's then racially segregated Messick High School and attended Southwestern at Memphis ( now Rhodes College ), earning a B.

Callicott began his career as an academic philosopher in 1966 at Memphis State University ( now the University of Memphis ).

For 26 years, Callicott lived and taught in the northern reaches of Wisconsin's sand counties, located on the Wisconsin River, just ninety miles from Aldo Leopold's storied shack and John Muir's first homestead on Fountain Lake, the region that stirred the souls of two very influential environmental thinkers.

The distinctiveness of environmental ethics turns on the question of non-anthropocentrism, and that question turns on the question of nature ’ s intrinsic value, according to Callicott.

Callicott offers a subjectivist theory of nature ’ s intrinsic value: he does not challenge the modern classical distinction between subject and object, but rather insists that all value originates in subjects ( human or otherwise ) and is conferred by those subjects on various objects.

Callicott has worked with conservation biologists to develop a philosophy of conservation and conservation values and ethics, based in part on the recent paradigm shift in ecology from what he calls the “ balance of nature ” to the “ flux of nature .” He has been a strong critic of the “ received wilderness idea ”: the idea that wildernesses are places that are “ untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain .” That idea, Callicott claims in The Great New Wilderness Debate ( 1998 ), perpetuates a pre-Darwinian human-nature dualism ; in effect, it “ erases ” from collective memory the indigenous inhabitants of North America and Australia, liberating the current inhabitants of those continents from disturbing thoughts of their own heritage of genocide.

As Andrew Light observes, Callicott does not insist that the Leopold land ethic is based on the uniquely true worldview of evolutionary biology and ecology.

Callicott ’ s justification for this claim is an analysis based on the following criteria for tenability: self-consistency ; comprehensiveness ; self-correction ; universality ; and beauty.

Worldviews: Environment, Culture, Religion ( Special Theme Issue on J. Baird Callicott ’ s Earth ’ s Insights ).

“ Callicott, J. Baird 1941 –.” Pages 129-130 in J. Baird Callicott and Robert Frodeman, eds., Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy.

Baird Callicott, 1941 -.” Pages 290-295 in Joy A. Palmer, ed.

* Nelson, Michael P. ( 2005 ) “ Callicott, J. Baird ( 1941 -).” Pages 252-254 in Bron Taylor and Jeffrey Kaplan, eds., Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature.

J. Baird Callicott

Callicott is, perhaps, best known for his research which explores an Aldo Leopold ethic as a response to global climate change.

Callicott supports a holistic, non-anthropocentric environmental ethic which is in accordance with Leopold's view that " A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.

* Ransom M. Callicott, restaurateur and politician

Among many other speakers: Tyler Volk, Co-director of the Program in Earth and Environmental Science at New York University ; Dr. Donald Aitken, Principal of Donald Aitken Associates ; Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, President of the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment ; Robert Correll, Senior Fellow, Atmospheric Policy Program, American Meteorological Society and noted environmental ethicist, J. Baird Callicott.

* J. Baird Callicott

J. Baird Callicott is an American philosopher whose work has been at the forefront of the new field of environmental philosophy and ethics.

Callicott held the position of Professor of Philosophy and Natural Resources at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point from 1969 to 1995, where he taught the world ’ s first course in environmental ethics in 1971.

J. Baird Callicott, University Distinguished Research Professor at the University of North Texas, Denton.

Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac is one of environmental philosophy ’ s seminal texts, and Callicott is widely considered to be the leading contemporary exponent of Leopold's land ethic.

Callicott ’ s book In Defense of the Land Ethic ( 1989 ) explores the intellectual foundations of Leopold's outlook and seeks to provide it with a more complete philosophical treatment ; and a following publication titled Beyond the Land Ethic ( 1999 ) further extends Leopold ’ s environmental philosophy.

Callicott ’ s Earth ’ s Insights ( 1994 ) is also considered an important contribution to the budding field of comparative environmental philosophy ; a special edition of the journal Worldviews: Environment, Culture, Religion ( Vol.

Callicott is co-Editor-in-Chief with Robert Frodeman of the award-winning, two-volume A-Z Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy, published by Macmillan in 2009.

The addition of Callicott ’ s expertise helped cement its standing as the world's leading program in the field.

* J. Baird Callicott ( Philosophy Department, 1965 – 94 ) – founder of academic environmental ethics discipline ; now at the University of North Texas

In 1969, Callicott joined the philosophy department of Wisconsin State University-Stevens Point ( now the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point ).

Aldo Leopold, according to Callicott, provides reasons why non-human species, biotic communities, and ecosystems should be valued intrinsically ( and thus not severely compromised or destroyed ).

Callicott claims that philosophers and laypersons should not adopt one theory, say utilitarianism, for one purpose or in one context and another theory, say Kantian deontology, for another purpose or in another context ( this would be theoretical pluralism ).

* Callicott, J. Baird ( 1989 ).

* Flader, Susan L. and J. Baird Callicott ( 1991 ).

* Callicott, J. Baird ( 1994 ).

* Callicott, J. Baird ( 1999 ).

* Callicott, J. Baird and Michael P. Nelson ( 2004 ).

* Callicott, J. Baird and Robert Frodeman, eds .- in-chief ( 2009 ).

* Callicott, J. Baird ( 2009 ).

* Callicott, J. Baird ( 2009 ).

* Callicott, J. Baird ( 2010 ).