Russell C Powell
Biographic Data
| ID | 3892467 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Russell C Powell |
| GIVEN NAMES | Russell C |
| FAMILY NAME | Powell |
| SIGNATURE | POWELL R C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Harvard Divinity School |
| ORCID | 0009-0001-0936-5968 |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 5 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 5 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Plant Intelligence and the Undoing of Human Mastery
This article examines the recent resurgence of interest in plant intelligence at the intersection of botany, philosophy, and religious studies, arguing that contemporary debates over vegetal cognition are best understood as historically situated responses to crises within modern regimes of knowledge and authority. Drawing on research in plant neurobiology, behavioral ecology, and studies of plant communication, the article situates current scient…
Environmental Justice, Tradition, and John Muir
The question of what to do with exemplary figures when their works contain morally offensive elements provides an opportunity to reflect on the role these figures have in their moral tradition’s historical formation, as well as their role in that tradition’s maintenance and continuation today. This article considers these roles in the case of John Muir, whose legacy has received new scrutiny since George Floyd’s murder and the reckoning on racial…
Transforming Genius into Practical Power
John Muir can be interpreted to have employed a similar strategy in his earliest conservation advocacy writings as the strategy Ralph Waldo Emerson employed to overcome the public futility of his personal ideals. Like Emerson, Muir came to offset the despair he felt at the political impotence of his conscience with a positive outlook on his potential to embody his subjective ideals both in his personal character and in his contributions to concre…
Shame, Moral Motivation, and Climate Change
An emotion like shame is endowed with special motivational force. Drawing on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s concept of shame, I develop an account of moral motivation that lends new perspective to the contemporary climate crisis. Whereas religious ethicists often engage the problem of climate change by re-imagining the metaphors, symbols, and values of problematic cosmologies, I focus on some specific moral tactics generated by religious communities who u…
John Muir and the Botanical Oversoul
The relation of influence between Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Muir helps to illuminate Muir's characteristic brand of nature religion, namely his mysticism. This relation is especially clear, I argue, in both Emerson and Muir's writing on their mystical affinities for plant life. Applying Harold Bloom's renowned theory of literary influence, I draw lessons from Emerson and Muir's mystical writings to highlight the ways in which Muir acquired fro…
Shame, Moral Motivation, and Climate Change
An emotion like shame is endowed with special motivational force. Drawing on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s concept of shame, I develop an account of moral motivation that lends new perspective to the contemporary climate crisis. Whereas religious ethicists often engage the problem of climate change by re-imagining the metaphors, symbols, and values of problematic cosmologies, I focus on some specific moral tactics generated by religious communities who u…
Shame, Moral Motivation, and Climate Change
An emotion like shame is endowed with special motivational force. Drawing on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s concept of shame, I develop an account of moral motivation that lends new perspective to the contemporary climate crisis. Whereas religious ethicists often engage the problem of climate change by re-imagining the metaphors, symbols, and values of problematic cosmologies, I focus on some specific moral tactics generated by religious communities who u…
John Muir and the Botanical Oversoul
The relation of influence between Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Muir helps to illuminate Muir's characteristic brand of nature religion, namely his mysticism. This relation is especially clear, I argue, in both Emerson and Muir's writing on their mystical affinities for plant life. Applying Harold Bloom's renowned theory of literary influence, I draw lessons from Emerson and Muir's mystical writings to highlight the ways in which Muir acquired fro…
Transforming Genius into Practical Power
John Muir can be interpreted to have employed a similar strategy in his earliest conservation advocacy writings as the strategy Ralph Waldo Emerson employed to overcome the public futility of his personal ideals. Like Emerson, Muir came to offset the despair he felt at the political impotence of his conscience with a positive outlook on his potential to embody his subjective ideals both in his personal character and in his contributions to concre…
Environmental Justice, Tradition, and John Muir
The question of what to do with exemplary figures when their works contain morally offensive elements provides an opportunity to reflect on the role these figures have in their moral tradition’s historical formation, as well as their role in that tradition’s maintenance and continuation today. This article considers these roles in the case of John Muir, whose legacy has received new scrutiny since George Floyd’s murder and the reckoning on racial…
Plant Intelligence and the Undoing of Human Mastery
This article examines the recent resurgence of interest in plant intelligence at the intersection of botany, philosophy, and religious studies, arguing that contemporary debates over vegetal cognition are best understood as historically situated responses to crises within modern regimes of knowledge and authority. Drawing on research in plant neurobiology, behavioral ecology, and studies of plant communication, the article situates current scient…
Epistemology (3 works) · Philosophy (3 works) · American Environmental and Regional History (2 works) · Art (2 works) · Consciousness (2 works) · Environmental ethics (2 works) · Environmental Philosophy and Ethics (2 works) · Literature (2 works) · Sociology (2 works) · Action (physics) (1 works)