SYLLABUS COURSE: ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

PHIL/THEO 311

SPRING 1997

INSTRUCTOR: FR. BUD GRANT

LC 113

333-6419

bgrant@saunix.sau.edu

OFFICE HOURS: tba

REQUIRED READINGS (see below)

copies of each text are held on limited reserve in the library.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

regular attendance, participation that

advances and supports the curriculum, generosity and graciousness

with those of divergent perspectives.

OUTCOMES:

THROUGHOUT THE SEMESTER, EACH STUDENT WILL COMPLETE A

"WORKSHEET" FOR EACH OF THE ASSIGNED READINGS. due dates to be negotiated

BY THE END OF THE SEMESTER, THESE 17 WORKSHEETS WILL BE ORGANIZED

INTO A TYPOLOGY OF ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS. EACH STUDENT WILL THEN

JUSTIFY THE TYPOLOGY, PRODUCE A SYNTHETIC ETHIC, AND APPLY IT TO A

SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE. due at end of scheduled exam period

You will be assessed on your grasp of the issues, of the ethical responses and the quality of your own judgement. Quality is measured in the following terms:

1. did you express yourself clearly and concisely, succinctly and completely?
2. did you make adequate, responsible and respectful use of existing resources, including views from various perspectives?
3. did you succeed in communicating: appropriate grammar, neatness etc.?

GRADE:

EACH OF THE WORKSHEETS WILL BE ASSESSED 1-6 POINTS.

THE FINAL ASSESSMENT WILL BE ASSESSED 1-18 POINTS.

A = 109-120 pt.s

B+ = 99-108

B = 89-98

C+ = 79-88

C = 69-78

D = 59-68

• Week 1: introduction, questions, exposing the issues What is wrong with the environment? Universal Almanac, Carson, The news..."A Very Brief Overview..."

• Week 2: an overview of some recent responses to the issues McTheories of the environment. Thomas Barry, Brian Swimme, (2nd Nature)

• Week 3: the historical roots of Western philosophy/theology applied to the issues effecting the environment Brief overview of the dominant philosophical schools, from natural law, through existentialism to process philosophy and their implicit ethical regard for the environment. A critique of Bible-based religions as "anti-environmental." Aristotle, Aquinas (Kant, Hegel, Fichte, Marx, Cobb,Van Dyke et al)

• Week 4: status questionis: contemporary debate over environmental ethics Covering a broad range of approaches from "Christian Humanism" to an ethic of equality & an aesthetics of the environ. Derr, Nash (Cobb, Westra, Berleant)

• Week 5-6: implicit env. ethics of Catholic social teachings What is being said? Why? By Whom? To Whom? "Strangers and Guests", Michael & Kenneth Himes ("Renewing the Earth" Vatican's Position Paper at the Rio Earth Summit)

• Week 7-8: implicit env. ethics of the Lakota People What can be gleaned from the "traditional" and contemporary experiences of a Plains People? What of this may be reconciled to the plow? Vine Deloria, George Tinker (Cronon, Johansen, Worldwatch)

• Week 9-10:feminist contributions to a new environmental ethic Feminist, Womanist and Mujerista theologians have long argued for a non-white non-euro-male approach to ethics. What are their alternatives? How do they support/challenge one another? Can there be said to be a unified feminist environmental ethic? McFague, Radford Reuther

• Week 11-12: narrative methodology: towards an environmental spirituality Certain authors use story to communicate that which analytical philosophy/theology leave alone: personal conversion. Black Elk, A. Leopold, (Ricoeur, J.E. Brown, W. Barry, 2nd Nature)

• Week 13: practical solutions can we begin to answer the question: "What ought be done?" Matthews, Rasmussen, (Barry Commoner)

• Week 14: a typology of env. ethics an attempt to organize the divergent approaches based on their different responses to a set of common questions. Apply to a specific case.

Required Reading List:

• Aquinas, Thomas. The Summa Theologica. Trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province. New York: Benziger Brothers. 1947. Vol. 1. I.II.93-95. Pp 1003-1017.
• Aristotle. The Nicomachean Ethics. Trans. J.A.K. Thomson. Baltimore, Maryland: Penguin Books. 1961. I.1,2,7 II.6,9. Pp 25-27, 35-40, 66, 74-75.
• Berry, Thomas. "Ecological Geography." Worldviews and Ecology: Religion, Philosophy, and the Environment. Ed.s Mary Evelyn Tucker and John A. Grim. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books. 1994 Pp228-237.
• Black Elk. "Wiwanyag Wachipi; the Sun Dance." The Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment. Ed. Roger S.Gottlieb. New York: Routledge. 1996. Pp 470-479.
• Carson, Rachel. "The Obligation to Endure." Readings in Ecology and Feminist Theology. Ed.s Mary Heather MacKinnon and Moni McIntyre. Kansas City: Sheed & Ward. Pp 19-24.
• Deloria, Vine Jr. God Is Red. Golden, Colorado: Fulcrum Press. 1994. Ch.5 "The Problem of Creation." Pp 78-97.
• Derr, Thomas Sieger. Environmental Ethics and Christian Humanism. Nashville: Abingdon Press. 1996. Ch. 2 "In Flagrant Dissent: An Environmentalist's Contentions". James A. Nash. Pp 105-124. Ch. 4 "In Response". Thomas Sieger Derr. Pp 139-146.
• Himes, Michael J. & Kenneth R. "The Sacrament of Creation: Toward an Environmental Theology." Readings in Ecology and Feminist Theology. Ed.s Mary Heather MacKinnon and Moni McIntyre.Kansas City: Sheed & Ward. Pp 270-283.
• Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac. New York: Ballantine Books.1966. "The Land Ethic" Pp 237-264.
• Matthews, Annie. Where the Buffalo Roam. New York: Grove Press.1992. Pp
• McFague, Sallie. "An Earthly Theological Agenda." Readings in Ecology and Feminist Theology. Ed.s Mary Heather MacKinnon and Moni McIntyre. Kansas City: Sheed & Ward. Pp 327-333.
• Radford Ruether, Rosemary. "Ecofeminism: Symbolic and Social Connections of the Oppression of Women and the Domination of Nature." The Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment. Ed. Roger S.Gottlieb. New York: Routledge. 1996. 322-331.
• Rasmussen, Larry L. Earth Community Earth Ethics. Maryknoll N.Y.: Orbis Books. 1996. "Earth Community" Pp 322-343. "The Moral Frame" Pp 344-348.
• "Strangers and Guests." Regional Catholic Bishop's Statement on Land Issues. Des Moines, Iowa: Heartland Project. 1980.
• Swimme, Brian. "Cosmogenesis". Worldviews and Ecology: Religion, Philosophy, and the Environment. Ed.s Mary Evelyn Tucker and John A. Grim. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books. 1994. Pp238-241.
• Tinker, George. "An American Indian Theological Response to Ecojustice." Defending Mother Earth. Ed. Jace Weaver. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books. 1996. Pp 153-176.

Supplimentary Source List:

• Agenda 21: The EarthSummit Strategy to Save Our Planet. Ed. Daniel Sitarz. Boulder: EarthPress. 1994.
• Alexie, Sherman. The First Indian on the Moon. Brooklyn: Hanging Loose Press. 1993.
• Berleant, Arnold. The Aesthetics of Environment. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 1992.
• Berry, Thomas. Befriending the Earth. Mystic: Twenty-Third Publications. 1991.
• Berry, Wendell. The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture. San Francisco: Sierra Club. 1977.
• Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Toronto: Bantam Books.1972.
• Brown, Joseph Epes. The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian. New York: Crossroad. 1987.
• Brown, Lester et al. State of the World 1996. New York: Worldwatch Institute.
• Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de. Building the Earth.
• ---The Divine Milieu
• ---The Heart of the Matter
• ---Toward the Future
• Commoner, Barry. Making Peace With the Planet. New York: Pantheon Books. 1990.
• Cronon, William. Changes in the Land. New York: Hilland Wang. 1983.
• Deloria, Vine Jr. Custer Died For Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto. New York: Avon Press. 1970.
• Edwards, Denis. Jesus and the Cosmos.
• Fuchs, Josef S.J. Natural Law: A Theological Investigation.
• Gore, Al. Earth in the Balance. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 1992.
• Johnson, Lawrence E. A Morally Deep World: An Essay on Moral Significance and Environmental Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1991.
• Maritain, Jacques. La Loi Naturelle, Ou Loi non Ecrite.
• Neihardt, John G. Black Elk Speaks. University of Nebraska: Bison Book. 1961.
• Preserving the Creation: Environmental Theology and Ethics. Ed.s Kevin W. Irwin and Edmund D. Pellegrion. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press. 1994.
• Rolston, Holmes III. Philosophy Gone Wild: Essays in Environmental Ethics.
• Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Gaia & God: An Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing. San Francisco: Harper. 1992.
• Simon, Yves R. The Tradition of Natural Law: A Philosopher's Reflections. Ed. Vukan Kuic. New York: Fordham University Press. 1967.
• Schlutheis, Michael, Ed P. DeBerri, Peter Henriot. Our Best Kept Secret: The Rich Heritage of Catholic Social Teaching. Washington D.C.: Center for Concern.
• Socccio, Douglas J. Archetypes of Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Co. 1995.
• Teachings From the American Earth. Ed.s Dennis and Barbara Tedlock. New York: Liveright. 1975.
• Thoreau, Henry David. Waldon and Other Writings. Ed. Brooks Atkinson. New York: The Modern Library. 1992.
• ---Faith In A Seed
• Westra, Laura. An Environmental Proposal for Ethics: The Principle of Integrity. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 1994.
• journal articles:
• Byers, David M. "Religion and Science: The Emerging Dialogue" America. April 20, 1996. Vol 174. NO.13 8-15.
• Clifford, Richard J. S.J. "Genesis 1-3: Permission to Exploit Nature?" The Bible Today. May, 1988. 26.3 133-137.
• Durning, Alan Thein. "Gurardians of the Land: Indigenous Peoples and the Health of the Earth" Worldwatch Paper 112. Dec. 1992.
• Griffin, Susan. "The Earth Is My Sister" in Weaving the Visions. Ed.s J. Plaskow & C. Christ. 105-110.
• Malone, James. "Environmental Degradation and Social Injustice" Origins. March 18, 1993. Vol. 22. NO.40. 685-692.
• ---"What St. Francis Would Do in These Times" Origins. June 11, 1992. Vol.22. NO. 5. 65-70.
• Pilla, Anthony. "Christian Faith and the Environment" Origins. Nov. 1, 1990. Vol. 20. NO.21. 333-338.
• Toolan, David S. "At Home in the Cosmos: The Poetics of Matter=Energy" America. Feb. 24, 1996. Vol.174. NO. 6. 8 -14.
• ---"Nature Is a Heraclitean Fire" Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits. Nov. 1991. 23/5.
• U.S. Bishop's Meeting. "Renewing the Earth" Origins. Dec. 12, 1991. Vol. 21. NO.27. 424-468.
• Vatican Position Paper "Earth Summit: Environment, Development and Population. Origins. June 11, 1992. Vol. 22. NO.5. 70-72.