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John Nolt

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My Ph.D. is from Ohio State University and I joined the department in 1978.

Research Interests

Environmental ethics, logic, contemporary metaphysics

Recent, representative publications

  • Edited Book
    • A Land Imperiled: The Declining Health of the Southern Appalachian Bioregion, (editor) University of Tennessee Press, 2005

  • Journal Articles
    • Why Nietzsche Embraced Eternal Recurrence,” History of European Ideas, 34, 3 (September 2008), pp. 310-323.
    • “Truth as an Epistemic Ideal,” Journal of Philosophical Logic 37, 3 (June 2008),  pp. 203-237.               
    • “Reference and Perspective in Intuitionistic Logic,” Journal of Logic, Language and Information 16, 1 (January 2007), 91-115.
    • “The Move from Good to Ought in Environmental Ethics,” Environmental Ethics 28, 4 (Winter 2006), 355-374.

  • Encyclopedia Articles
    • "Free Logics," in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, forthcoming.

  • Book Chapter
    • "Free Logics," in Philosophy of Logic, ed., Dale Jacquette, (Volume 5 of the Handbook of the Philosophy of Science under the general editorship of Dov Gabbay, Paul Thagard, and John Woods), Elsevier, 2006, pp. 793 - 830.
    • "What Are Possible Worlds?" in Philosophy of Logic: An Anthology, Dale Jacquette ed., Blackwell, 2001 (originally published in Mind XCV, October 1986).

Recent, representative presentations

  • “Problems with the Move from Is to Good for Nonsentient Organisms,” Annual Joint meeting of the International Society for Environmental Ethics and the International Association for Environmental Philosophy, Estes Park, Colorado May 29 -June 1, 2007.

  • “Ethics of Global Climate Change,” keynote address at Missouri Western State University's Galileo's Legacy conference on Global Warming, 4/16/07.  (Presentation included a panel discussion with Willie Soon, Harvard physicist and global warming skeptic, and Clair Parkinson, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center).

  • “Activists, Regulators, and the Regulated: What Are We Aiming For?” Environmental Law Session (sponsored by the American Bar Association) at the 35 th Annual Solid/Hazardous Waste Conference and Exhibition, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of Solid Waste Management, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, 5/4/06.

Recent Grants

  • 2006 Rebuild America Grant (U.S. Department of Energy), $25,000, for DOE assistance in creating UTK’s 25-year Energy Plan.

  • 2003 Foundation for Global Sustainability grant, $1,500 for two graduate research assistants for helping with the book A Land Imperiled.

  • 2002 Foundation for Global Sustainability grant, $3,000 for graduate research assistant for helping with the book A Land Imperiled.

  • 2000 Humane Society of the United States Grant, $1,000 for visiting speakers for a course on Animal and Human Welfare, with Catherine Faver (Social Work) and John New (Veterinary Medicine).

  • 2000 Council for Intellectual and Cultural Expression Grant, $5,200, for development of a course on Animal and Human Welfare, with Catherine Faver (Social Work) and John New (Veterinary Medicine).

Teaching Interests

Undergraduate courses include introductory philosophy, logic, existentialism, contemporary philosophy, environmental ethics, animal ethics, and the Southern Appalachian environment

Graduate courses include environmental ethics, animal ethics, ethics of furture generations, logic, Nietzsche, modal metaphysics, and theories of truth

Professional/Community Interests

  • President-Elect, UTK Faculty Senate
  • Campus Committee on the Environment (1999-present; co-chair 2003-present); this committee is preparing a 25-year energy plan for UT Knoxville.
John Nolt

Contact Information

John Nolt
Professor & Director of Undergraduate Studies
818 McClung Tower
Knoxville, TN 37996-0480

Phone: 865-974-7218
Fax: 865-974-3509

Email: nolt@utk.edu