Phev 3109

Office Hours: Tuesdays 2-4 and Wednesdays 4-5 PM. Thursday afternoons I'm at Rose Hill.

Précis of the Seminar:

This course will focus on familiar themes in environmental ethics, providing students with a broad overview of a number of topics, including not only the notion of human beings as stewards of an global ecosystem that can be destroyed by pollution, deforestation, and the loss of animal species, but also questions about the intrinsic value of biodiversity, human population growth, the problem of political management of the environment, fair ways of holding different nation-states responsible for the world environment, and the ethics of funding scientific research on topics such as global warming. Unlike a regular seminar in philosophy, we will cover a wide range of issues and approach them from interdisciplinary perspectives. In particular, the seminar will encourage students to see how and why each of these problems involves not only philosophical but also scientific, political, and historical dimensions as well.

(1) Analysis of each of our main topics will raise basic ethical questions about the relation of human persons to the rest of their world and their status in the cosmos. Different religious faiths, as well as different ways of understanding individual rights and responsibility for the common good, may have different implications for our main topics. These implications may in turn reflect back on the acceptability of the ethical frameworks from which they derive. For example, the implications of utilitarian ethics for our responsibilities towards the environment may suggest that utilitarianism is problematic as a method of moral evaluation.

(2) Many particular debates concerning pollution and biodiversity depend on interpreting scientific data in responsible ways, which are often undermined by the influence of for-profit corporations through their grant funding (in a fashion analogous to the influence of special interests in political fundraising). Students in this seminar will be asked to assess for themselves how real the threats of various kinds of environmental catastrophes may be during the 21st century.

(3) Environmental issues provide a vital case study for reexamining basic questions about political justice, since they cannot be adequately resolved without rethinking our entire customary way of determining public policy on the basis of the short-term economic interests of separate nation-states.

(4) During the course of the semester, we'll develop a basic understanding of how debates concerning responsibility for the environment and its potential degradation evolved and expanded during the 20th century. We'll look at the shift from anthropocentric approaches to animals and the enviroment towards more biocentric or deep-ecological views, and the radical suspicion of technology these sometimes involve. In economic analysis, we find a different development. Economists began in the mid-twentieth century to include pollution and other public costs or "externalities" in the assessment of industrial contributions to GNP. This approach stimulated a much broader set of initiatives to preserve the integrity of ecosystems, open spaces, and biodiversity. A range of groups with different sorts of political agendas and policy initiatives have fostered today's widespread public concern for the environment in general, including (e.g.):

-- The 19th century wilderness movement and Leopold's "land ethic," which helped create public support for federal initiatives creating the national parks, and continues to be represented today by groups like the Sierra Club.

-- The creation of the endangered species list and the debates over hunting of game;

-- The development of 19th century "natural ecology" into the contemporary conception of the world ecosystem as an organic set of interrelations of mutual dependency;

-- The anti-nuke movement in the 1970s, Greenpeace and the protection of oceans and lands from industrial pollution, and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

-- Initiatives to replace fossil fuels, why they have largely stalled, and the emergence of the new debates over deforestation and global warming.

-- Changes in the debates about world population growth, its control through contraception and/or economic development, and the struggle between developed and developing nations.

-- The beginning of radical ecofeminist theories that link degradation of the environment to the oppression of women.

Although our class discussion will be focused largely on the philosophical merits of different possible solutions to the main problems raised in environmental ethics, some attention to the points mentioned under (4) will help give students a sense of how these abstract debates have played out in real-world politics, and how the divisions and different styles of approach found within enviromental ethics reflect a diverse and sometimes conflicting set of historical sources.

Personal Reflection:

This seminar is designed to provoke you to face the large set of troubling questions concerning the environment that are likely to play a dominate role in public policy debates well into the next century. In particular I hope to challenge you not just to understand the issues, but to think about what your religious and ethical tradition(s) may have to say on these questions, and to reconsider political convictions on other matters in the light of the problem of responsibility for the environment. My aim will not be to push one particular set of environmental policies, but to get students to see the magnitude and structure of the problems, and to use these to help form the sense of responsibility for the common good that we want in an enlightened citizen. The set of issues our topic comprises provide a very fruitful arena for getting students to think about such basic questions as:

-- whether our only political responsibilities as citizens are to obey the laws and defend our nation, or whether we have a responsibility to the global community;

-- whether responsibility is only for one's individual actions or whether we have collective or group responsibilities;

-- whether such group responsibilities might be only to the current generation, or how we can understand responsibility to future generations.

Texts: These texts are all required. The books are available in the bookstore and the course packet will be available through the instructor:

1. Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac (Oxford University Press, 1999 reprint)

2. Joseph Des Jardins, Environmental Ethics (Wadsworth, 1997)

3. Louis Pojman, Environmental Ethics: Readings in Theory and Application, Second Edition

(Wadsworth, 1998)

4. Course packet for all other readings, including news articles on different environmental policy issues, literature from and on different environmental groups, and perhaps websites. Students will pay for the course packet with a $15 money order.

Requirements:

1 paper on readings 15%

2 tests on readings (15% each) 30%

1 oral report 15%

Class participation 20%

1 policy/position paper 20%

Class Participation: This grade depends on two factors:

-- The quality of your questions and contributions in class, including your answers in class to assigned study questions for the day. Be an active contributor, not just a passive listener, and you'll get more out of this material! Philosophy should be fun. Someone who never talks the entire semester cannot score better than 50% on this component, which means losing 5% on your overall class score.

-- Your attendance. If you are absent more than one night, you will lose points. Three absences is likely to lower you a whole grade. No illness is excused without a doctor's note. No absence is excused for flights or travel made during class days, or family events other than a wedding or funeral (proof required). Since we meet only once a week, missing one session is equivalent to missing two regular classes. You will be responsible for any readings covered in a session that you miss.

Tests: Your knowledge of the readings will be evaluated in two take-home tests. They will consist of multiple choice questions along with some short-answer questions and a short essay. Attending to class discussion will help a lot here, since test questions will emphasize the material we focus on during class.

Oral Report: Each student will sign up to do an oral report on one of the readings for the day to start class discussion. You should prepare a written report, perhaps 2-3 pages double-spaced, explaining the material, evaluating it (why do you agree or disagree), and raising further questions to be addressed. Take this seriously; it counts as much as a test. Don't be scared of speaking in class. We'll help you out if you stumble, and this isn't a test in public speaking. The key is: be organized.

Essays: The first essay, due before mid-semester, will be a comparison/contrast paper related to our readings, and you will be able to choose among a short list of assigned questions. For the second paper, I want each student to select and research a topic I approve related to current environmental policies and problems. For this you will most likely use EPA reports or other reports from various environmental organizations. I must approve the topic and the main sources you will use.

Webpage: I hope to build a course webpage with two parts. One will include handouts and notes on readings, and email addresses of students. Written versions of some oral reports may be posted here as well. Another will feature links to some of the most interesting environmental sites on the net. I will ask for your submissions in building the second part. There will also be links to help you with the policy/position paper.

Other Policies

Computer Disks: You should never plead that the computer ate your disk. Especially at this campus, you should always save any paper, at every stage of drafting, on more than one disk!! They are only $1 for Pete's sake. Also try using zipdisks (they rarely go bad). Backup is the most basic principle in using computers for college work. If your disk goes bad, I'll say, "where's your backup?"

Honesty and Citation: I take this very seriously; cheating is the one unforgivable sin. All your work for this class must be original, must be your own, and you must cite your sources, both when you quote text, and when you paraphrase. Examples of cheating:

(1) Handing in work you did for another class without clearing it with me.

(2) Copying another student's work on a test or paper, with or without their permission.

(3) Handing in an essay downloaded from the internet, copied from an uncited website, or copied from an encyclopedia, book, or article without citation is plagiarism. This holds true even if if the wording has been significantly changed. I am personally in favor of making this a misdemeanour criminal offense, so that tells you what I think of it.

If I judge that a student has cheated in any of these ways, or in any comparably serious fashion, that student will fail the entire course and it will go on his/her permanent record here. If there are any prior offenses on record, suspension is possible. A very minor infraction results in an F for the entire assignment, usually dropping your final grade by a whole letter.

Secondary Sources: You do not really need secondary sources for this course. Just do the primary readings. However, if you want more information, go to the new Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy first. Never depend on the Encarta Encylopedia, which is very unreliable. There are other much better online guides to Philosophy (see the department website).

If you bring in ideas and quotes from secondary sources, but you must cite them either by footnotes or parenthetical references referring to a bibliography at the end of the paper. Even if you acknowledge an internet site, for example, you can't just lift large sections of its text wholesale: only take short quotations, clearly indicated as such in your paper.

--This includes paraphrases: even if you reword what the author said, cite the page number.

--It also includes websites: give the full URL of the page you cite. Note that webpages

should never be the only source you cite in college essays.

Tentative Schedule

Part I: Basic Philosophical Issues within Environmental Ethics

1/16: Introduction

(1) Ethical theories (see Des Jardins chapters 1-2).

(2) Anthropocentric, ecocentric, and biocentric approaches to the environment.

(3) Discussion of poems (class handout). Discussion of Genesis (class handout).

(4) Pojman's Introduction from Global Environmental Ethics (class handout).

(5) Start Leopold's A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There, Introduction.

(6) Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, pp.1-52: "January - August"

1/23: Wilderness Conservation and the History of Environmentalism

(1) Leopold, Sketches Here and There: pp.95-115 (WI); pp.122-36 (AZ & NM)

(2) Leopold, "The Upshot" [Essays on the Land Ethic]: pp.165-226.

1/30: The Land Ethic continued

(1) J.B. Callicott, "The Conceptual Foundations of the Land Ethic," in Pojman #19.

(2) Des Jardins, Chapters 8 and 9 on Wilderness and the Land Ethic (pp.145-195).

(3) Recommended: Edward Wilson, Biophilia selections (course packet).

2/6: Ecocentricism vs Animal Rights

(1) Peter Singer, "A Utilitarian Defense of Animal Liberation," in Pojman #7.

(2) M.A. Warren, "The Rights of the Non-Human World," from Sterba (in course packet).

(3) Recommended: Des Jardins, Chapter 6 on Animal Rights, pp.108-120.

2/13: Deep Ecology

(1) Arne Naess, "The Shallow and the Deep" and "Ecosophy T," in Pojman #21 & #22.

(2) B. Devall and G. Sessions, "Deep Ecology," Pojman #23.

(3) Richard Watson, "A Critique of Anti-Anthropocentric Ethics," in Pojman #24.

(4) Des Jardins, Chapter 10 on Deep Ecology (pp.198-217).

(5) First paper due in class on 2/13 or in my box by noon on 2/14.

2/20: Biocentricism and the Intrinsic Value of Nature and Species

(1) Holmes Rolston III: "Naturalizing Values: Organisms and Species," in Pojman #12.

(2) Ned Hettinger: "Comments on Holmes Ralston's 'Naturalizing Values'," in Pojman #13.

(3) P.W. Taylor, "Biocentric Egalitarianism," in Pojman #16.

(4) Recommended: Des Jardins Chapter 8 on Biocentric Ethics.

Part II: Particular Environmental Issues in Philosophical and Political Context

2/27: Species and Biodiversity

(1) Donella Meadows, "Biodiversity," in Pojman #30

(2) Niles Eldridge, Life in the Balance selection on Biodiversity (in course packet)

(3) Holmes Rolston III, "Duties to Endangered Species," from Sterba (course packet).

(4) Recommended: Takacs, The Idea of Biodiversity, selection on Edward Wilson (packet)

3/6: Rainforests and Deforestation

(1) N. Peritore, Third World Environmentalism, selection on Brazil (course packet)

(2) Stuart Pimm chapter on deforestation.

(3) First take-home test on readings due in class March 6 or in my box by noon on March 7.

3/13: Focus issue: Global Warming and the Need for Objectivity in Science

(1) Christopher Flaven, "The Heat is On: The Greenhouse Effect," in Pojman # 64.

(2) G.T. Miller, "Global Warming: How Serious in the Threat?" from Sterba (course packet)

(3) News articles on global warming (see back section of course packet).

(4) Special interest corruption of scientific research: articles in back of course packet.

3/20: World Population and Responsibilities to the Future

(1) Bill McKibben, "A Special Moment in History," in Pojman #45.

(2) Des Jardins, Chapter 4 on Ethics, Energy, and Responsibilities to Future Generations.

3/27 Spring Break and Easter Break (unfortunately combined!)

4/3: Political Principles for Environmental Decisions

(1) Kristin Shrader-Frechette: "A Defense of Risk-Cost-Benefit Analysis," in Pojman #70.

(2) Mark Sagoff, "At the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima," in Pojman #69.

(3) Des Jardins, Chapter 3 parts 3.5-3.9 on sustainable economic growth, pp.49-61.

(4) Policy/Position papers due in class April 3 or in my box by noon on April 4.

4/10:

4/17: Sustainability

(1) William Rees, "Sustainable Development" in Pojman #67.

(2) Goodland and Ledec, "Neoclassical Economics and the Principles of Sustainable Development," in Pojman #71.

(3) Herman Daly, "Sustainable Growth: An Impossibility Theorm" (course packet).

(4) Brown, Flavin, and Postel, "Vision of a Sustainable World," in Pojman #81.

4/24: Environmental Politics and Global Responsibility.

(1) The Rio Declaration, in Pojman #72.

(2) Louis Pojman "From Dysfunctional to Sustainable Society" in Global Environmental Ethics (course packet)

(3) Recommended: Al Gore, "A Global Marshall Plan," from Earth in the Balance (course packet).

5/1: The Need for Global Government

(1) Laura Westra, "Environmental Risks, Rights, and the Failure of Liberal Democracy,"

in Pojman #76.

(2) Eugene Hargrove, "Environmental Ethics and Democracy: A Response to Westra," in

Pojman #77.

(3) Final take-home test due in class on May 1 or in my box by noon on May 2.

5/8 Final class in lieu of exam (for overflow).

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