Degrees

• Ph.D. Binghamton University, Philosophy, Literature, and Theories of Criticism (2010)
• M.A. Boston College, Philosophy (2005)
• B.A. Bennington College, Philosophy (2003)

Areas of Research

• Phenomenology and Hermeneutics
• Environmental Philosophy
• Philosophy of Technology
• Ethics
• Aesthetics
• History of Philosophy
• Modernist Literature

Description of Research

Dr. Mahoney’s research focuses on ethical and aesthetic questions at the intersection of environmental philosophy and the philosophy of technology. Although his work is grounded primarily in 20th century Continental philosophy, his research is pluralistic and engages with Anglo-American philosophy—especially virtue ethics. He currently has a book under review that examines the influence of our status as linguistic beings on the moral consideration we give to the nonhuman environment. Drawing on Wittgenstein and Heidegger’s critiques of representationalist accounts of language, he argues that since language is our principal mode of engaging with the environment, an analysis of it offers a framework for our ethical comportment toward nonhuman entities. To develop the basic principles of that framework, he utilizes Thoreau’s environmental virtue ethics.

In addition to the book, he has published a number of articles on environmental ethics and aesthetics: 1) an analysis of the potential for emerging cultured meat technologies to exacerbate global inequity, 2) an argument for ethical vegetarianism grounded in Hume’s theory of moral sentiment, and 3) a critique of anthropocentricism in concepts of the environmental sublime. He has also published a series of articles that examine the relevance of Heidegger’s philosophies of technology and art for sustainable energy, environmental restoration, and environmental virtue ethics. Finally, he has written articles on the poetry of Wallace Stevens and the work of Thoreau. His current research explores how the temporal dimension of climate change poses significant challenges to deeply held assumptions about moral responsibility and moral considerability.

Professional Teaching Background

• Lecturer in Writing and Critical Inquiry, University at Albany (2013-2015)
• Coordinator of the Independent Undergraduate Research in Humanities Program, Binghamton University (2011-2013)
• Adjunct Lecturer, State University of New York at Oneonta (2012-2013)
• Adjunct Instructor of Humanities, Broome Community College (2011-2013)

Peer Reviewed Publications

• Beholden to Things: Nature and Language in Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and Thoreau (Book manuscript currently under review)
• “Let Them Eat Cultured Meat: Diagnosing the Potential for Meat Alternatives to Increase Inequity.” Food Ethics Vol. 7, no.2 (2022).
• “An Alternative to Technological Instrumentalism: Considering the Aesthetic Dimension of Sustainable Energy.” In Sustainability in the Anthropocene: Philosophical Essays on Renewable Technologies, ed. Roisin Lally. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019.
• “Vegetarianism, Moral Sentiment, and the Aesthetics of Disgust: Reconfiguring the Trajectory in the Ethics of Eating.” English Language Notes: Environmental Trajectories Vol. 55, nos.1-2 (2017).
• “Engaging the Sublime without Distance: Environmental Ethics and Aesthetic Experience.” Environmental Ethics Vol. 38, no.4 (2016).
• “The Virtue of Burden and the Limits of Gelassenheit: The Complex Case for Heideggerian Environmental Ethics.” Environmental Philosophy Vol. 13, no.2 (2016).
• “Heidegger and the Art of Technology: A Response to Eric Katz.” Environmental Philosophy Vol. 11, no.2 (Fall 2014).
• “The Echoes of Walden: Reading Thoreau’s Inverted Scripture after Cavell.” The Concord Saunterer: A Journal of Thoreau Studies Vol 21 (2013).
• “Like a New Knowledge of Reality: Stevens’ Poetry at the End of the Mind.” The Wallace Stevens Journal Vol 36, no. 2 (2012).

Selected Conference Presentations

• “Building a Sustainable Dwelling on the Earth: Heidegger, Thoreau, and Environmental Virtue Ethics.” 55th Heidegger Circle Annual Meeting, Gonzaga University, May 7-8 & 14-15, 2021. (Virtual Conference due to COVID)
• “A Thing Among Things: Uncovering Non-Anthropocentrism in Heidegger’s Philosophy.” 22nd Annual Meeting of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy, Pennsylvania State University, October 20-22, 2018.
• “The Coarsest or Noblest of Humanity: A Virtue Ethics Analysis of Thoreau’s Ambivalence towards Hunting.” Thoreau Society Bicentennial Gathering, Concord, MA, July 11-16, 2017.
• “Learning to Dwell Freely in the Technological Landscape: Heidegger and Burtynsky on Art and Environmental Ethics.” 51st Heidegger Circle Annual Meeting, Whitman College, March 30-April 2, 2017.
• “Leaving the Gun and Fish-Pole Behind: Thoreau’s Aesthetic Vegetarianism and Moral Sentiment.” 75th Annual Gathering of the Thoreau Society, Concord, MA, July 6-10, 2016.
• “The Displeasure in Meat: Vegetarianism, Moral Sentimentalism, and the Aesthetics of Disgust.” 199h Annual Meeting of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy, Atlanta, GA, October 10-12, 2015.
• “The Fleshy Texture of Things: A Phenomenological Response to Timothy Morton.” 18th Annual Meeting of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy, New Orleans, LA, October 25-27, 2014.
• “Reading Walden by Moonlight: Thoreau’s ‘Moon’ Lectures and the Other Side of Awakening.” Thoreau Society Annual Gathering, Concord, MA, July 10-13, 2014.
• “Here was no man’s garden: Thoreau, Environmental Ethics, and the Sublime.” 8th John Burroughs Nature Writing Conference and Seminar, SUNY Oneonta, June 2-5, 2014.
• “Belonging to Things: Language, Aesthetics, and the Ethics of the Invisible.” American Comparative Literature Association Annual Meeting, New York University, March 20-23, 2014.
• “Am I Not Partly Leaves and Vegetable Mould Myself?: Thoreau’s Earthly Mysticism.” Thoreau Society Annual Gathering, Concord, MA, July 11-14, 2013.
• “A Path to the Fourfold: Heidegger and the Non-metaphysical Doctrine of the Four Causes.” 47th Heidegger Circle Annual Meeting, Southern Connecticut State University, May 2-5, 2013.
• "Lingering in Echoes: Nature and Language in Thoreau’s Walden.” American Comparative Literature Association Annual Meeting, University of Toronto, April 4-7, 2013.
• “The Scripture of Place: Reading Thoreau’s Walden after Cavell.” American Literature Association 22nd Annual Conference, Boston, MA, May 26-29, 2011.
• “Da-sein’s Earthly Body: Ethos as Eco-logic.” 43rd Heidegger Circle Annual Meeting, Xavier University, May 8-10, 2009.
• “Gathering an Eco-Ethics: The Thing in Heidegger and Stevens.” 40th Northeast Modern Language Association Annual Convention, Boston University, February 26-March 1, 2009.
• “Dwelling Like a Mountain: The Ethics of Heeding Silence.” 42nd North American Heidegger Conference, Northern Illinois University, May 2-4, 2008.