Nathan Kowalsky, PhD, MPhil, MCS, BA (Hons)

Associate Professor, St Joseph's College

Contact

Associate Professor, St Joseph's College
Email
nek@ualberta.ca
Address
0-08 St. Joseph's College
114 St - 89 Ave
Edmonton AB
T6G 2J5

Overview

About

I received a PhD in philosophy from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (now simply "KU Leuven"), Leuven, Belgium in 2006. I also received an MPhil (Licentiate, MA equivalent) in philosophy from the same institution in 2003. I completed an MCS (Master of Christian Studies, also an MA equivalent) in interdisciplinary studies from Regent College, Vancouver, Canada in 2002 (also received 2003). I received a BA (Honours) in philosophy from the University of Alberta, Canada, in 1998. Somewhere in the middle of all that I got married, had two kids, and got a job! :)


Research

Research Areas and Interests:

Environmental Philosophy

  • Wilderness
  • Relationship between Nature and Culture
  • Intersections with Philosophy of Technology
  • Intersections with Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology

Environmental Ethics

  • Hunting
  • Nonhuman Animals
  • Environmental Radicalism (including Deep Ecology)
  • Reformist Environmentalism and Social Acquiescence

Philosophy of Religion

  • Problem of Natural Evil
  • Divine Alterity
  • Axiological Transcendence

Philosophy of Culture

  • Civilization, Primitivism, and Anarchism
  • Non-agrarian Hermeneutics

Philosophy of Technology

  • Technological Societies (Jacques Ellul)
  • Technological Enframement (Martin Heidegger)

Teaching

I teach undergraduate courses in the following areas:

  • Philosophy
  • Science, Technology, and Society (STS)
  • Theology (Christianity and the Environment)

I supervise graduate students (MA or Phd) in Religious Studies working in the area of Religion and Ecology.

Courses

PHIL 219 - The Art of Living Well: Meaning and the Good Life

Philosophies of the good life. Topics may include integrated wellness, attentiveness, objects of devotion, and community in historical and contemporary contexts.


PHIL 269 - Moral Philosophy and the Christian Tradition

Analysis and evaluation of selected moral and social issues.


PHIL 279 - Philosophy of Hunting

The moral, conceptual, existential, environmental, socio-political, and spiritual issues raised by the practice of hunting by humans.


PHIL 359 - Topics in Christian Philosophy


STS 200 - Introduction to Studies in Science, Technology and Society

An examination of the interrelations of science, technology, society and environment, emphasizing an interdisciplinary humanities and social sciences perspective. Note: not to be taken by students with credit in INT D 200.


Browse more courses taught by Nathan Kowalsky

Featured Publications

Animal Difference in the Age of the Selfsame

Nathan Kowalsky

Animals in Our Midst: the Challenges of Co-existing with Animals in the Anthropocene. 2020 January; ed. Bernice Bovenkerk & Jozef Keulartz (Cham, Switzerland: Springer):79-98


Going Outside

Nathan Kowalsky

Canadian Environmental Philosophy. 2019 January; ed. Byron Williston, C. Tyler DesRoches, and Frank Jankunis (Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press):137-156


The God(s) of November

Nathan Kowalsky

Encountering Earth: Thinking Theologically With A More-Than-Human World. 2018 January; ed. Trevor Bechtel, Matthew Eaton, & Timothy Harvie (Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, Wipf & Stock):166-177


Anti-hunting as Heresy: Andrew Linzey’s Animal Gnosticism

Nathan Kowalsky

God, Nimrod, and the World: Exploring Christian Perspectives on Sport Hunting. 2017 October; ed. Bracy V. Hill, II and John B. White (Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press):312-332


Nathan Kowalsky

Environmental Philosophy. 2016 January; 13 (2):239-267


Nathan Kowalsky, Randolph Haluza-DeLay

Environmental Ethics. 2015 January; 37 (1):75-97


Nathan Kowalsky

Indigenous Perspectives of North America: A Collection of Studies. 2014 January; ed. E. Sepsi, J. Nagy, M. Vassanyi & J. Kenyeres (Cambridge Scholars Publishing):2-31


Nathan Kowalsky

Found in Alberta: Environmental Themes for the Anthropocene. 2014 January; ed. R. Boschman and Mario Trono (Wilfrid Laurier University Press):281-302


Nathan Kowalsky

Old World and New World Perspectives in Environmental Philosophy: Transatlantic Conversations. 2014 January; ed. M. Drenthen & J. Keulartz (Springer):209-227