Education
Ph.D., Philosophy, Tulane University, 1974
M.A., Philosophy, Tulane University, 1972
B.A., Philosophy, Louisiana State University, 1968
Regional and Thematic Interests
Transnational/Comparative
Religion
Profile
Michael E. Zimmerman (PhD, Tulane, 1974) is Professor of Philosophy and former Director of the Center for Humanities and the Arts at CU Boulder. Since his undergraduate years, Michael has been concerned about anthropogenic environmental problems. His research examines the metaphysical, cultural, ethical, cognitive, political, and religious dimensions of such problems.
Like many others in the field of environmental studies, Michael maintains that a multi-disciplinary approach is needed both to comprehend and to propose effective solutions for environmental problems. Natural science is crucial for characterizing, making predictions about, and providing alternative scenarios regarding existing and emerging environmental problems. Anthropogenic environmental problems, however, arise from human activities that are usually best studied by researchers from the social sciences, humanities, and the arts.
Selected Publications
1981, Eclipse of the Self: The Development of Heidegger's Concept of Authenticity (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1981; second edition, 1986).
1990, Heidegger's Confrontation with Modernity: Technology, Politics, and Art (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990).
1994, Contesting Earth’s Future: Radical Ecology and Postmodernity (The University of California Press, 1994).
2009, Integral Ecology: Uniting Multiple Perspectives on the Natural World (with Sean Esbjörn Hargens) (Boston: Integral Publications:Shambhala, 2009).