More-than-Human Ethics: Rethinking Nature, Dwelling, and Responsibility

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, “More-than-Human Ethics: Rethinking Nature, Dwelling, and Responsibility”, aims to rethink our ethical approach in the context of environmental philosophy, drawing on the concepts of responsibility (Jonas 1984) and dwelling (e.g., Ingold 2000; Young 2000; Botha 2003). In fact, if our dwelling in the age of ecological crisis is essentially co-dwelling (Harrison 2007) with other living beings (and not only with other human beings), ethics should be reconfigured (Rozzi 2012; 2018). So, the starting point for this Special Issue is that it is possible to conceive of a “more-than-human” ethic and responsibility (Ginn 2023). Such ethics and responsibility are “more-than-human” (e.g., Braun 2005; Franklin 2023), on the one hand, because they have, as their ultimate reference point, Nature as a whole (and no longer human beings); on the other hand, because they arise within the relationship with human and non-human otherness at once. The fundamental concern of this Special Issue, therefore, is not so much to understand how to resolve certain ethical dilemmas in the ecological sphere by applying pre-established principles (Valera et al. 2021) but, rather, to understand how to dwell on the Earth with other living beings (Gildersleeve & Crowden 2022). The ethical question thus essentially turns into the issue of dwelling: our ethos is the way we dwell our oikos (home) (e.g., Malpas 1999; Valera 2025). In this sense, the focus of this Special Issue will not primarily be ethical but, rather, ontological, cosmological, anthropological, and cultural. The various papers should help the reader understand the basis for developing an environmental ethics oriented toward otherness (Rozzi et al. 2023).

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Co-dwelling, ecology, and (sub)cultures;
• What is a home in the age of the ecological crisis?;
• Respect, love, or responsibility towards other living beings?;
• Ethical paradigms consistent with more-than-human ethics;
• Worldviews consistent with a more-than-human ethics;
• Eco-theology and eco-religions as a basis for a more-than-human ethics;
• Anthropologies (philosophies) consistent with an ethics oriented towards ecological otherness.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of about 200 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor (luca.valera@uva.es) or to the Philosophies Editorial Office (philosophies@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

We look forward to receiving your insightful contributions and to advancing the dialogue on more-than-human ethics together.

References

Botha, C. F. (2003). Heidegger, technology and ecology. South African Journal of Philosophy, 22(2), 157–171.

Braun, B. (2005). Environmental issues: writing a more-than-human urban geography. Progress in Human Geography 29(5), 635–650.

Franklin, A. (ed.) (2023). The Routledge International Handbook of More-than-Human Studies. London & New York: Routledge.

Gildersleeve, M., Crowden, A. (eds.) (2022). Philosophy of place: finding place and self in the world. New York: Peter Lang.

Ginn, F. (2023). More-than-Human Ethics. In: Franklin, A. (ed.) (2023). The Routledge International Handbook of More-than-Human Studies. London & New York: Routledge.

Harrison, P. (2007). The space between us: opening remarks on the concept of dwelling. Environment and planning D: society and space, 25(4), 625–647.

Ingold, T. (2000). The Perception of the Environment Essays on livelihood, dwelling and skill. London & New York: Routledge.

Jonas, H. (1984). The imperative of responsibility. In search of an ethics in the technological age. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Malpas, J. E. (1999). Place and Experience. A Philosophical Topography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rozzi, R. (2012). Biocultural ethics: Recovering the vital links between the inhabitants, their habits, and habitats. Environmental Ethics, 34(1), 27–50.

Rozzi, R. (2018). Biocultural Homogenization: A Wicked Problem in the Anthropocene. In Rozzi, R. et al. (eds.). From Biocultural Homogenization to Biocultural Conservation. Dordrecht: Springer.

Rozzi, R. et al. (eds.) (2023). Field Environmental Philosophy: Education for Biocultural Conservation. Dordrecht: Springer.

Valera, L., Leal, Y., Vidal, G. (2021). Beyond Application. The Case of Environmental Ethics. Tópicos (México) 60: 437–459.

Valera, L. (2025). Earth Stewardship: Oikophilia and Philanthropy. Salmanticensis 72(1): 127-147.

Young, J. (2000). What is Dwelling? The Homelessness of Modernity and the Worlding of the World. In: Wrathall, M.A., Malpas, J. (eds.). Essays in Honor of Hubert L. Dreyfus: Heidegger, authenticity, and modernity. Cambridge & London: The MIT Press.

Dr. Luca Valera
Guest Editor

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• environmental philosophy
• responsibility
• ecological crisis
• dwelling
• ethics