The arts, languages, and philosophy 2019-2020 speaker series will continue at 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15, in room 121 of Butler-Carlton Civil Engineering Hall.

Samantha Noll, assistant professor of philosophy at Washington State University, will present a lecture titled “The Invasive Species Diet: The Ethics of Hunting Lionsifh for Consumption.”

The abstract is:

“Ethical concerns about consuming animals have led ethicists to express concern about suffering and/or violating the rights of food animals and advocate vegetarianism. However, the environmental ethics of Aldo Leopold (1968) and Gary Varner (2011) suggest there are times when killing animals for food is the most ethical choice. Consider the case of lionfish (Pterois volitans and P. miles), an invasive species found in the western Atlantic, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico. Their presence has fueled management strategies which rely predominantly on promoting human predation and consumption. Concerted efforts are undertaken to promote the capture of lionfish, raise awareness about their existence and deleterious effects, and showcase their appetizing qualities, all while removing thousands of lionfish from the area’s waters. Ecologically, such removals are beneficial as they reduce lionfish biomass and allow for the recovery of native fish populations. The ethics of these targeted removals and whether lionfish have rights which are violated by them has not yet been examined. This talk will explore the ethical dimensions of lionfish removal and provide an ethical argument supporting hunting lionfish for consumption.”

All lectures in the series will be held at S&T and are free and open to the public. For more information, contact the arts, languages and philosophy department at 341-4869 or alp@mst.edu.