Jessica Pierce | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1965-10-21)October 21, 1965 (age 59)[1] |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia |
Main interests | Bioethics,environmental studies,animal studies,animal ethics,environmental ethics |
| Website | jessicapierce |
Jessica Pierce (born October 21, 1965) is an Americanbioethicist,philosopher, and writer. She currently has a loose affiliation with the Center for Bioethics and Humanities,University of Colorado Denver, but is mostly independent, focussing on writing. Early in her career, her research primarily addressedethical questions abouthealthcare andthe environment. Since the 2000s, however, much of her work has focused onanimal ethics. She has published twelve books, including multiple collaborations with the ecologistMarc Bekoff.
Pierce completed herBachelor of Arts atScripps College, before studying for aMaster of Divinity atDivinity School ofHarvard University. She then received aPhD inreligious studies (specialising inreligious ethics) at theUniversity of Virginia.[2][3] In the late 1980s, Pierce became a "major advocate" ofenvironmental sustainability in healthcare, epitomising (in the words of the philosopher Cristina Richie) a "'second generation' of environmental bioethicists", after a first generation epitomised byVan Rensselaer Potter.[4]
In 1993, Pierce briefly worked as an assistant professor in theRandolph-Macon Women's College Department of Religion. From 1993 to 2000, she was an assistant professor at theUniversity of Nebraska Medical Center in the Humanities and Law section of the Department of Preventive and Societal Medicine.[2] Her first book,Environmentalism and the New Logic of Business, co-written withR. Edward Freeman and Richard H. Dodd, was published in 2000.[5]
Pierce was avisiting fellow at theUniversity of Pittsburgh Center for Bioethics and Health Law from 1999 to 2000, and then, from 2001 to 2006, shelectured at theUniversity of Colorado Boulder, working in departments focused respectively on philosophy, religious studies andenvironmental studies.[2]The Ethics of Environmentally Responsible Health Care, which Pierce cowrote with Andrew Jameton, was published in 2004,[6] and Pierce'scase bookMorality Play followed in 2005.[7]
After leaving Boulder in 2006, Pierce became affiliated with the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at theUniversity of Colorado Denver (later theAnschutz Medical Campus).[2][8] However, this connection is a loose one; she no longer teaches, and considers herself an "independent entity", focusing on writing instead of the administration and bureaucracy of university work.[9] She publishedContemporary Bioethics, a reader co-edited with George Randals, in 2009.[10]
Having previously focused her research on human health, including her early research interests in the connections between health and the environment, Pierce began to focus her research on animals in the 2000s.[3] She co-authoredWild Justice with theecologist andethologistMarc Bekoff in 2010,[11] and two sole-authored books followed:The Last Walk in 2012[12] andRun, Spot, Run in 2016.[13] She subsequently collaborated with Bekoff on 2007'sThe Animals' Agenda,[14] which was published the same year as Pierce's second collection,Hospice and Palliative Care for Companion Animals, co-edited with Amir Shanan and Tamara Shearer.[15] Again writing with Bekoff, she publishedUnleashing Your Dog in 2019[16] andA Dog's World in 2021.[17] Her sole-authored monographWho's a Good Dog? followed in 2023.[18]
InEnvironmentalism and the New Logic of Business, Freeman, Dodd, and Pierce argue that businesses should lead on environmental issues rather than merely meeting state-mandated standards.[5] InThe Ethics of Environmentally Responsible Health Care, Pierce and Jameton explore the environmental impact of the health sector.[6]
Bekoff and Pierce argue inWild Justice that animals display evidence ofconsciousness,cooperation,empathy,justice, andmorality.[11] InThe Animals' Agenda, Pierce's second book with Bekoff, the authors argue that the science ofanimal welfare should be replaced by a science of animal well-being.[14] InUnleashing Your Dog they argue that people who live with dogs need to become adept at seeing the world from dogs' point of view to give their dogs a good life.[16] InA Dog's World, the authors challenge assumptions about dogs by offering an extendedthought experiment of a world in which dogs live without humans.[17]
The Last Walk explores the ethics of companion animal death.[9][12]Run, Spot, Run explores the ethical ambiguity of pet ownership in general,[13] whileWho's a Good Dog? looks at the ethics of dog-human relationships.[18]
Pierce has authored or co-authored over 50 articles inpeer reviewedjournals and chapters inscholarly edited collections.[19]
