Paul B. Thompson is a philosopher currently teaching at Michigan State University

Michigan State University

Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

 where he holds the W.K. Kellogg Chair in Agricultural Food and Community Ethics. Thompson earned his B.A. at Emory University

Emory University

Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...

 before going on to earn a Ph.D. in philosophy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook

State University of New York at Stony Brook

The State University of New York at Stony Brook, also known as Stony Brook University, is a public research university located in Stony Brook, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island, about east of Manhattan....

. He formerly taught at Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...

 and Purdue University

Purdue University

Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...

 before joining MSU where he now teaches and does research on ethical and philosophical questions dealing with agriculture and food and especially the development of agricultural techno-science. Dr. Thompson is the author of 13 books dealing with these topics, such as The Agrarian Vision, The Spirit of the Soil: Agriculture and Environmental Ethics, and The Ethics of Aid and Trade.

Contributions to philosophy

In addition to his numerous publications, Thompson has served on many national and international committees on agricultural biotechnology such as the International Advisory Panel for the PEGASUS Project on Animal Biotechnology (based at Wageningen University and Research Institute), the Advisory Committee on Biotechnology for the Board of Agriculture and Natural Resources (which is part of the National Research Council based in Washington D.C.), The Scientific Advisory Committee for the Mansholt Graduate School at Wageningen University and Research Institute, and was the Chair of the Council on Agricultural Science and Technology's Working Group on Ethics and Animal Agricultural Biotechnology from 2006—2010. Thompson also contributed to the National Research Council report entitled The Environmental Effects of Transgenic Plants. He is a past President of the Society for Philosophy and Technology and the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society.

Professional publications

Thompson authored several books including The Agrarian Vision: Sustainability and Environmental Ethics, The Ethics of Intensification: Agricultural Development and Cultural Change , What can Nanotechnology Learn from Biotechnology? Social and Ethical Lessons for Nanoscience from the Debate over Agrifood Biotechnology and GMOs, Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy, Food Biotechnology in Ethical Perspective, 2nd Edition, The Agrarian Roots of Pragmatism , Agricultural Ethics: Research, Teaching and Public Policy, Food Biotechnology in Ethical Perspective, The Spirit of the Soil: Agriculture and Environmental Ethics, Ethics, Public Policy, and Agriculture , The Ethics of Aid and Trade: U.S. Policy, Foreign Competition and the Social Contract, Sacred Cows and Hot Potatoes: Agrarian Myths and Policy Realities, and Beyond the Large Farm: Ethics and Research Goals for Agriculture. Thompson has also published numerous peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Poultry Science, NanoEthics,The Journal of Envrionmental Monitoring, Advances in Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Reproduction, Fertility and Development, The American Journal of Bioethics, The Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, Food Protection Trends, Techne, International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, The Journal of Animal Science, and Agriculture and Human Values.

Agrarian Vision: Sustainability and Environmental Ethics

With the continuing growth of industry and technology within modern society, sustainability has become a major issue within contemporary environmental and political discussions. The balance between development and the earth's ability to sustain that development is becoming more precarious as we strive towards a more sustainable society.Agrarian Vision: Sustainability and Environmental Ethics, tries to address this issue by creating a new ethic from which we can approach sustainability. Within it Paul B. Thompson lays out a new agrarian philosophy that emphasizes the pivotal role of agrarian philosophy in modern agriculture. He connects concepts from agrarianism, political theory, and environmental ethics in an attempt to articulate the importance of creating and maintaining environmentally conscious communities.

Reviews

Frederick L. Kirschenmann (A Distinguished Fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State University) wrote that "Paul Thompson has truly been an inspiration and mentor to all of us interested in ethics and agriculture. His many publications have provided a unique contribution to the history of American thought. This work on agrarianism provides us with yet another stellar analysis of an important ethical issue. The agrarian philosophy which Thompson articulates in this new analysis, probably his best book yet, provides us with a fresh, pragmatic approach to fulfilling our ecological responsibility whether we are farmers, policy makers, or eaters."

Ben A. Minteer (author of The Landscape of Reform: Civic Pragmatism and Environmental Thought in America) wrote that this volume is "a valuable and important synthesis of Thompson's pioneering work in the philosophy of agriculture and the environment. This book makes a compelling case for the vitality of the agrarian tradition and its role in the search for sustainability in the twenty-first century."

Mark Sagoff (who is the Director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at the University of Maryland) wrote that "Thompson shows the centrality of agriculture and its communities not just to our livelihood, health, and security, but to the beauty and sense of place that unites us historically and politically. With this book he brings all the power of analytic philosophy to environmental ethics."

Cornelia Butler(who is the coauthor of Rural communities: Legacy and Change) wrote that "the Agrarian Vision takes us beyond the virtues of human-scale agriculture to examine the ethics of food linked to agricultural production. By enlarging his focus to food, Thompson illuminates the linkages between food and agriculture, rather than agriculture as a source of industrial inputs. By doing this, he deepens the discussion on sustainability to include the normative frame of agrarianism. Brilliantly written, The Agrarian Vision is a must read for those involved in the many strains of the sustainable movement."

The Journal Agricultural History wrote that "Thompson's book shows just how much heavy spadework remains to be done for a full recupation of the agrarian ideal... [and] will be of use to anyone seeking to articulate a twenty-first century agrarian vision."

What Can Nanotechnology Learn From Biotechnology?: Social and Ethical Lessons for Nanoscience from the Debate over Agrifood Biotechnology and GMOs

What Can Nanotechnology Learn From Biotechnology? is a collection of diverse perspectives on biotechnology and nanotechnologies edited by Paul Thompson and Kenneth David. Recognized experts in their fields contribute articles which try to represent the perspectives of a diverse range of stakeholders. This book specifically addresses the controversy over genetically modified foods and explores how the lessons learned can be applied to developing nanotechnologies; particular attention being paid to agricultural and other food-related applications. It explores the diverse territory of the pros and cons of these risky technologies by exploring the environmental, social and ethical impact of nanotechnology.

Food Biotechnology in Ethical Perspective (The International Library of Environmental, Agricultural and Food Ethics)

Agrifood biotechnology (or the genetic transformation of plants and animals) has fueled controversy in the food system for over twenty years. This collection edited by Paul Thompson discusses ethical issues associated with labeling, animal transformation, and the impacts of biotechnology on traditional farming communities. It addresses current debates surrounding cloning, biotechnology, and the Precautionary Principle.

The Ethics of Intensification: Agricultural Development and Cultural Change (The International Library of Environmental, Agricultural and Food Ethics)

This book is a collection of diverse articles from highly respected international scholars offer comments dealing with issues surrounding the ethics of agricultural intensification and the intensification of animal agriculture.
Specifically, it is a response to the FAO intensification paper on these subjects which is included within this volume. It is then followed by chapters that offer reactions to its relevance for agricultural technology, globalization, and animal welfare, and environmental protection. After which, these four topics are further discussed and elaborated within eight commentary chapters. Agricultural development policy is addressed with specific attention paid to its relevance to farmers, consumers, and other affected parties. It also utalizes key disciplinary and philosophical approaches. The overall goal of the volume is to forward the argument that ethics should be more central to planning and programming within agricultural development projects.

Reviews

James B. Gerrie wrote in his review of the book that “the book is helpful in the multiple overviews it provided of the major fault lines that exist in mainstream ethical theory. … for anyone who requires an accessible survey of recent ethical and political controversies in agriculture. … it is rich enough in detail and theoretical depth that I could also recommend it as a textbook for higher level university courses in fields that deal with such issues in greater detail. … to all those interested in the subject of the philosophy of technology … .”

The Agrarian Roots of Pragmatism (Vanderbilt Library of American Philosophy)

When this book was written, the majority of historians, philosophers, political theorists, and other scholars took a dim view of agrarianism. Agrarianism should not be viewed as an unthoughtful set of claims about farming and politics but rather as an ever deepening and developing complex philosophy which gives us a new set of puzzles and complex standpoint from which to understand the rural landscape and our responsibilities for its use. The essays within this volume, edited by Paul Thompson, revitalize and critically analyze agrarian philosophy through tracing its development from classical American philosophy to the modern day. Specifically, it traces its footprint through the work of key figures such as Franklin, Jefferson, Emerson, Thoreau, Dewey, and Royce. Three chapters specifically address the belief that farmers develop moral virtue and a desire for democracy and four examine how a reconstitution of agrarian philosophical themes may invigorate our nation's thinking on food, environment, and rural development policy.

The Spirit of the Soil: Agriculture and Environmental Ethics

Within The Spirit of the Soil, Thompson examines problems concerning industrial agriculture

Industrial agriculture

Industrial farming is a form of modern farming that refers to the industrialized production of livestock, poultry, fish, and crops. The methods of industrial agriculture are technoscientific, economic, and political...

 in an attempt to get environmentalists to think more deeply about the ethical dimensions of agriculture and its impact on the environment. While addressing problems such as chemical pesticides and biotechnology, Thompson compares the four "world views"-- priorities; productionism, stewardship, economics and holism. Thompson ends by offering an open-ended sustainability ethic designed to help us regain the spirit of the soil.

Reviews

Michael Attridege (from the University of St. Michael's College Toronto Journal of Theology) wrote that "the work is a fine and welcome contribution to a growing corpus of postconciliar research and will clearly benefit both students and professors alike.

Awards and distinctions

In addition to being named the W. K. Kellogg Professor of Agricultural Food and Community Ethics at Michigan State University, Thompson is a Fellow of the Hastings Center. He was also the Joyce and Edward E. Brewer Professor of Applied Ethics at Purdue University from 1997—2003, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Program on Agrarian Studies at Yale University from 1994–1995, and a distinguished visiting professor at New Mexico State University from 1994–1995. Thompson won the American Agricultural Economics Association Award for Professional Excellence in Communication for Sacred Cows and Hot Potatoes in 1993 and the American Agricultural Economics Association Award for Professional Excellence in Communication for contributions to Agricultural Biotechnology: Issues and Choices in 1992. He is a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow (1986–87), a National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy, Resources for the Future, Resident Fellow (1986–87), and a SUNY Doctoral Exchange Fellow (1977–78).

Selected works

P. B. Thompson, The Agrarian Vision: Sustainability and Environmental Ethics. Lexington, KY: The
University Press of Kentucky, 2010.

P. B. Thompson, Ed. The Ethics of Intensification: Agricultural Development and Cultural Change.
Dordrecht, NL: Springer, 2008.

K. David and P. B. Thompson, Eds. What Can Nanotechnology Learn from Biotechnology? Social and
Ethical Lessons for Nanoscience from the Debate over Agrifood Biotechnology and GMOs. Burlington,
MA: Academic Press, 2008.

J. B. Callicott and R. Frodeman, Eds-in-Chief; V. Davion, B. Norton, C. Palmer and P. B. Thompson,
Assoc. Eds. Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy Farmington Hills, MI: 2008, Gale-
Cengage Learning.

P. B. Thompson and T. C. Hilde, Eds. The Agrarian Roots of Pragmatism. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt
University Press, 2000.

P. B. Thompson, Agricultural Ethics: Research, Teaching and Public Policy, Ames, IA: Iowa State
University Press, 1998.

P.B. Thompson, Food Biotechnology in Ethical Perspective, London: Chapman and Hall (Blackie
Academic and Professional), 1997.

P.B. Thompson, The Spirit of the Soil: Agriculture and Environmental Ethics, New York and London:
Routledge Publishing Co., 1995.

P.B. Thompson, R. Matthews, E.O. van Ravenswaay, Ethics, Public Policy, and Agriculture, New York:
Macmillan, 1994.

P.B. Thompson, The Ethics of Aid and Trade: U.S. Food Policy, Foreign Competition and the Social
Contract, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

W. Browne, J. Skees, L. Swanson, P.B. Thompson, and L. Unnevehr, Sacred Cows and Hot Potatoes:
Agrarian Myths and Policy Realities, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992.

P.B. Thompson and B. A. Stout, Eds. Beyond the Large Farm: Ethics and Research Goals for
Agriculture, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1991.

See also

American Philosophy

American Philosophers

Environmental Ethics

Environmental ethics

Environmental ethics is the part of environmental philosophy which considers extending the traditional boundaries of ethics from solely including humans to including the non-human world...