Arts and Humanities Efforts in the US Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network: Understanding Perceived Values and Challenges - Earth Stewardship: Linking Ecology and Ethics in Theory and Practice - page 257

and Relationship Building . All fi ve of these responses were ranked 60 % relative

value by 17 of 24 sites. This level of response seems to confi rm that the arts and
humanities are perceived as having a meaningful role in contributing to LTER goals
and mission.

≥

16.5 Discussion

The survey illuminated several themes relevant to the relationship between ecologi-
cal science and ethics that will inform the future steps of this research. Two of the
most interesting themes relate to ethically-relevant perceived values of arts and
humanities inquiry.
More than half the participants, 14 of 24, ranked arts and humanities inquiry

≥ 80 % relative value because it Is good in and of itself , placing this response along-

side Fosters Outreach and Inspires Creative Thinking as the three highest ranked
perceived values of this work. This is a nod toward the intrinsic value of arts and
humanities inquiry, distinct from its contributions to science, outreach, or environ-
mental- or conservation problem-solving. Two of these three highest ranked val-
ues— Is good in and of itself and Inspires creative thinking —are intangible
outcomes, thus not easily observed products that directly serve the science or the
sites. As the LTER network guides future arts and humanities inquiry, there will be
opportunities to discuss how these kinds of outcomes might be assessed or honored,
so arts and humanities projects can best be nurtured in these ways and as integral
elements of the LTER program.
Another ethically-relevant theme is the participants' willingness to accept foster-
ing empathy, on some level, as relevant to LTER network goals and research.
Common defi nitions of empathy ( Oxford , Merriam-Webster ) include an imagina-
tive quality, emotion or feeling, understanding, awareness, sensitivity, experience,
and an other , whose feelings or experience are shared. Thus empathy is described
as an imaginative affective awareness of another's experience. This perspective,
scholars argue (Hoffman 2000 ; de Waal 2006 , 2009 ; Slote 2007 ) provides entrance
to moral judgments and agency. When we inhabit another's point of view we are
better able to understand the other's needs and act wisely on their behalf (see
Aguirre Sala 2015 in this volume [Chap. 15 ] ).
It is worth considering whether arts and humanities inquiry in the LTER network
can (or should) be doing the work of ethical refl ection and development, e.g. stimu-
lating qualities like empathy or relationship-building with the natural world, or if
this is perhaps a more desirable outcome than the consequentialist contributions of
outreach or education, which relegate arts and humanities inquiry to serving as a
means to an end in support of the science. These kinds of consequentialist roles
might even be at odds with the strong support for the value of art and humanities
inquiry as “good in and of itself.”