Biography

Karen J. Warren, Professor of Philosophy at Macalester College in St Paul, Minnesota has written extensively in the fields of ecofeminist philosophy, environmental philosophy, feminist philosophies, and critical thinking during a time span of more than thirty years. Her work in "ecofeminist philosophy" helped generate a new area of philosophical, environmental and feminist scholarship on the interconnections among women, people of color, children, the poor, colonized and (other so-called) Third World peoples, on the one hand, and nonhuman animals and “nature,” on the other hand. She has written extensively on various aspects of ecofeminist philosophy, including pubishing her single-authored book Ecofeminist Philosophy: A Western Perspective on What It Is and Why It Matters (Lanham , MD : Rowman & Littlefield, 2000), and editing/co-editing six anthologies tied to ecofeminist philosophy: Environmental Philosophy: From Animal Rights to Radical Ecology, 4 th Edition. eds. Michael E. Zimmerman, J. Baird Callicot, Karen J. Warren, Irene J. Klaver, John Clark (Prentice-Hall, 2004); Ecofeminism: Women, Culture, Nature (Indiana University Press, 1997); Bringing Peace Home: Women, Peace and Nature, co-edited with Duane Cady (Indiana University Press, 1996); Ecological Feminist Philosophies (Indiana University Press, 1996); Ecological Feminism, Environmental Philosophy Series (Routledge, 1994). Currently, Warren is finishing a ground-breaking anthology—the first of its kind in any language—entitled Gendering the History of Western Philosophy: Men and Women Philosophers from the 3th Century B.C.E. to the Present (Rowman & Littlefield, forthcoming 2007). This anthology will be the first book to include women philosophers with men philosophers in each of the four traditionally defined time periods in the history of Western philosophy. It also includes a General Introduction and Chapter Introductions and Commentaries on each "pair" of men and women philosophers. The commentaries are written by experts on their philosophical "pair," including scholars who pioneered "the recovery project" (the recovery of neglected, overlooked, or omitted women philosophers in the history of Western philosophy.

Warren's work has been honored in several ways. Most recently, her philosophical autobiography appears in, Singing in the Fire: Stories of Twelve Women Philosophers (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003) and her biography is included in Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1975, ed. Barbara J. Love with a foreword by Nancy F. Cott (The University of Illinois Press: 2006). She was the occupant of the Women's Chair in Humanistic Studies at Marquette University (2004) and the second Ecofeminist Scholar-in-Residence at Murdoch University (Perth, WA ) in 1995. Warren has received five teaching awards, including the First Place Gold Hugo Award in General Education from the International Video and Film Society; it was awarded for the video “Thinking Out Loud,” whicht shows Karen teaching 1st and 4 th graders (and their teachers) how to think critically about birds of prey (or, raptors). Warren 's essay, “Re-Writing the Malestream Curriculum,” was honored by the journal Feminist Teacher as one of the best 10 essays in the first 10 years of the journal's existence. In 1972, she helped established the second high school philosophy program in the United states, and, in 1991 Warren helped found and teach in a summer enrichment program called MACCESS—designed for high school students of color in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Warren considers herself both a teacher-scholar and a public philosopher. Her main teaching activities are in the areas of environmental and feminist philosophies, with many of her courses cross-listed with Environmental Studies and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Macalester College. Warren is also an adjunct faculty member at both the University of Minnesota and Hamline University (St. Paul, MN), where she teaches and advises masters theses and doctoral dissertations on ecofeminism. Her teaching and her scholarship are mutually reinforcing..

In addition to Warren's college and university teaching, she has engaged in a wide range of other activities as a public philosopher. For example, Warren has" taught philosophy in a prison; conducted workshops and classes in critical thinking to students, teachers, and administrators of grades K-12 since 1972; given presentations on a range of philosophical issues to business, civic, and environmental organizations; served as the critical thinking consultant to the Minnesota Science Museum on its work on raptorsm the Leopold Education Project (assisting with the development of curricular materials based on writings and ideas of the wildlife biologist Aldo Leopold, whose infamous essay "The Land Ethic" is a classic in environmental ethics. She also assisted The Wilderness Society (TWS) develop conceptually well-grounded materials on Leopold's Land Ethic for use by not only the staff of TWS and environmental organizations and grassroots organizers, but also by policy-makers, government personnel, city planners, members of various faith communities.