Clare Palmer (born 1967) is a British philosopher, theologian and scholar of environmental and religious studies. She is known for her work on environmental and animal ethics. She was appointed as a professor in the Department of Philosophy at Texas A&M University in 2010. She had previously held academic appointments at the Universities of Greenwich, Stirling, and Lancaster in the United Kingdom, and Washington University in St. Louis in the United States, among others.
She has published three sole-authored books: Environmental Ethics (ABC-CLIO, 1997), Environmental Ethics and Process Thinking (Oxford University Press, 1998) and Animal Ethics in Context (Columbia University Press, 2010). She has also published two co-authored books and has edited (or co-edited) seven collections or anthologies. She is a former editor of the religious studies journal Worldviews: Environment, Culture, Religion, and a former president of the International Society for Environmental Ethics.
In Environmental Ethics and Process Thinking, which was based on her doctoral research, Palmer explores the possibility of a process philosophy-inspired account of environmental ethics, focussing on the work of Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne. She ultimately concludes that a process ethic is not a desirable approach to environmental questions, in disagreement with some environmentalist thinkers. In Animal Ethics in Context, Palmer asks about responsibilities to aid animals, in contrast to the typical focus in animal ethics on not harming animals. She defends a contextual, relational ethic according to which humans will typically have duties to assist only domestic, and not wild, animals in need. However, humans will often be permitted to assist wild animals, and may be obligated to do so if there is a particular (causal) relationship between humans and the animals' plight.
Career
Palmer read for a BA (Hons) in theology at Trinity College, Oxford, graduating in 1988, before reading for a doctorate in philosophy at the same university. From 1988 to 1991, she was based at Wolfson College, before becoming a Holwell Senior Scholar at The Queen's College. In 1992, having previously published book reviews, Palmer published her first research publication, "Stewardship: A Case Study in Environmental Ethics", in the edited collection The Earth Beneath: A Critical Guide to Green Theology, published by SPCK. She was also, along with Ian Ball, Margaret Goodall, and John Reader, a co-editor of the volume.Ball, Ian, Margaret Goodall, Clare Palmer and John Reader, eds. (1992). The Earth Beneath. London: SPCK. She graduated from Oxford in 1993 with a doctorate from The Queen's College;"Clare Palmer; Professor . Texas A&M University. Retrieved 10 September 2016. her thesis focussed on process philosophy and environmental ethics. She worked as a research fellow in philosophy at the University of Glasgow from 1992 to 1993, before becoming a lecturer in environmental studies at the University of Greenwich. She worked at Greenwich from 1993 until 1997, after which she spent a year as a research fellow at the University of Western Australia. In 1997, she published her first book: Environmental Ethics was published with ABC-CLIO.Palmer, Clare (1997). Environmental Ethics. Santa Barbara and Denver: ABC-CLIO. Additionally, the first issue of Worldviews: Environment, Culture, Religion (later renamed Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology), a peer reviewed academic journal in religious studies, was published. Palmer was the founding editor,Palmer, Clare (1997). "Editorial". Worldviews: Environment, Culture, Religion 1 (1): 1–2. and she remained editor until 2007.
Palmer returned to working in the UK in 1998, becoming a lecturer in religious studies at the University of Stirling. That same year, she published Environmental Ethics and Process Thinking with the Clarendon Press imprint of Oxford University Press.Palmer, Clare (1998). Environmental Ethics and Process Thinking. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. This was based ultimately on her doctoral dissertation. The book was reviewed by William J. Garland in Ethics,Garland, William J. (2000). "Clare Palmer, Environmental Ethics and Process Thinking" Ethics 110 (4): 859–861. . Richard J. Matthew in Environment,Matthew, Richard A. (1999). "Environmental Ethics and Process Thinking". Environment 41 (7): 30. and Stephen R. L. Clark in Studies in Christian Ethics,Clark, Stephen R. L. (1999). "Book review: Environmental Ethics and Process Thinking, by Clare Palmer". Studies in Christian Ethics 12 (2): 89–91. Timothy Sprigge in Environmental Ethics,Sprigge, T. L. S. (2000). "Environmental Ethics and Process Thinking". Environmental Ethics 22 (2): 191. . and Randall C. Morris in The Journal of Theological Studies.Morris, Randall C. (2001). "Environmental Ethics and Process Thinking" The Journal of Theological Studies 52 (1): 499–501. . It was also the subject of a "forum" in the journal Process Studies. Introduced by David Ray Griffin, the forum's editor,Griffin, David R. (2004). "Forum Introduction". Process Studies 33 1: 3. it featured a "Palmer on Whithead: A Critical Evaluation" by John B. CobbCobb, John B. (2004). "Palmer on Whithead: A Critical Evaluation". Process Studies 33 1: 4–23. and "Clare Palmer's Environmental Ethics and Process Thinking: A Hartshornean Response" by Timothy Menta,Menta, Timothy (2004). "Clare Palmer's Environmental Ethics and Process Thinking: A Hartshornean Response". Process Studies 33 1: 24–45. as well as a reply by Palmer herself.Palmer, Clare (2004). "Response to Cobb and Menta". Process Studies 33 1: 46–70. The next year, Cobb published "Another Response to Clare Palmer" in the same journal.Cobb, John B. (2005). "Another Response to Clare Palmer". Process Studies 34 1: 132–5.
Palmer remained at Stirling for several years before taking up the post of senior lecturer in philosophy at Lancaster University in 2001. While at Lancaster, she became the vice-president of the International Society for Environmental Ethics (ISEE). In 2005, she moved to Washington University in St. Louis, where she took up the role of associate professor, jointly appointed in departments of philosophy and environmental studies. The same year, the five-volume encyclopaedia Environmental Ethics, co-edited by Palmer and J. Baird Callicott, was published by Routledge,Callicott, J. Baird, and Clare Palmer, eds. (2005). Environmental Philosophy, Vols. 1–5. London and New York: Routledge. and, in the subsequent year, she was part of "The Animal Studies Group" which published the collection Killing Animals with the University of Illinois Press.The Animal Studies Group, ed. (2006). Killing Animals. Champaign-Urbana: Illinois University Press. While at Washington, she was also the editor of both Teaching Environmental Ethics (Brill, 2007)Palmer, Clare, ed. (2007). Teaching Environmental Ethics. Leiden: Brill. and Animal Rights (Ashgate Publishing, 2008).Palmer, Clare, ed. (2008). Animal Rights. Farnham: Ashgate. In 2007, she was elected president of the ISEE, a position she held until 2010.
In 2010, Palmer was appointed professor in the Department of Philosophy at Texas A&M University. The same year saw the publication of her Animal Ethics in Context with Columbia University Press.Palmer, Clare (2010). Animal Ethics in Context. New York: Columbia University Press. Among reviews of this book were pieces by Bernard Rollin in Anthrozoös,Rollin, Bernard (2012). "Book review: Animal Ethics in Context Clare Palmer". Anthrozoös 25 (2): 250–1. . Jason Zinser in The Quarterly Review of Biology,Zinser, Jason (2012). "Animal Ethics in Context by Clare Palmer". The Quarterly Review of Biology 87 (3): 246–7. . J. M. Dieterle in Environmental Ethics,Dieterle, J. M. (2011). "Animal Ethics in Context". Environmental Ethics 33 (2): 223–4. . Scott D. Wilson in EthicsWilson, Scott D. (2011). "Animal Ethics in Context by Palmer, Claire". Ethics 121 (4): 824–8. . and Daniel A. Dombrowski in the Journal of Animal Ethics.Dombrowski, Daniel A. (2012). "Animal Ethics in Context by Clare Palmer". Journal of Animal Ethics 2 (1): 113–5. . She has subsequently published papers on the theme of assisting animals in the wild—ideas discussed in her Animal Ethics in ContextDorado, Daniel (2015). "Ethical Interventions in the Wild. An Annotated Bibliography". Relations. Beyond Anthropocentrism 3 (2): 219–38. . —in animal-focussed journals,Palmer, Clare (2013). "What (If Anything) Do We Owe Wild Animals?" Between the Species 16 (1): 15–38. . Palmer, Clare (2015). "Against the View That We Are Normally Required to Assist Wild Animals". Relations. Beyond Anthropocentrism 3 (2): 203–10. . prompting commentary from Joel MacClellan,MacClellan, Joel (2013). "What the Wild Things Are: A Critique on Clare Palmer's 'What (If Anything) Do We Owe Animals?'" Between the Species 16 (1): 53–67. . Gordon Burghart,Burghart, Gordon (2013). "Beyond Suffering – Commentary on Clare Palmer". Between the Species 16 (1): 39–52. . and Catia Faria.Faria, Catia (2015). "Disentangling Obligations of Assistance. A Reply to Clare Palmer's 'Against the View That We Are Usually Required to Assist Wild Animals'". Relations. Beyond Anthropocentrism 3 (2): 211–18. .
While at Texas A&M, Palmer co-edited the 2011 Veterinary Science: Humans, Animals and Health with Erica FudgeFudge, Erica, and Clare Palmer, eds. (2014). Veterinary Science: Humans, Animals and Health. London: Open Humanities Press. and the 2014 Linking Ecology and Ethics for a Changing World: Values, Philosophy, and Action with Calliott, Ricardo Rozzi, Steward Pickett, and Juan Armesto.Rozzi, Ricardo, Steward Pickett, Clare Palmer, Juan Armesto and J. Baird Callicott, eds. (2014). Linking Ecology and Ethics for a Changing World: Values, Philosophy, and Action. Dordrecht: Springer. In 2015, Wiley-Blackwell published Palmer's Companion Animal Ethics, co-authored with Peter Sandøe and Sandra Corr,Sandøe, Peter, Sandra Corr and Clare Plamer (2015). Companion Animal Ethics. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. and, in 2023, Wiley published her Wildlife Ethics: The Ethics of Wildlife Management and Conservation, which was co-authored with Bob Fischer, Christian Gamborg, Jordan Hampton, and Sandøe.
Thought
Environmental ethics
In Environmental Ethics and Process Thinking, Palmer examines whether process philosophy, in particular the philosophies of Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne, can provide an appropriate background for engaging in environmental ethics. Process thought, Clark notes, has frequently appealed more to theologically inclined environmental ethicists than classical theism; in particular, the views of Hartshorne and Cobb have been influential.
Palmer first sets forth a process ethic. The ethic she presents is similar to John Stuart Mill's utilitarianism, but while Mill's approach locates value in pleasure, Palmer's process ethic locates value in "richness" of experience. She then compares this ethic to several dominant schools in environmental ethics: "individualist consequentialism" (as championed by Peter Singer, Donald VanDeVeer and Robin Attfield), "individualist deontological environmental ethics" (including the diverse positions presented by Albert Schweitzer, Kenneth Goodpastor, Tom Regan and Paul W. Taylor), "collectivist environmental ethics" (including those thinkers who advocate doing what is best for nature as a whole, such as Aldo Leopold and Callicott in his earlier work) and deep ecology.