Environmental Ethics
PHIL/ENVS-260-01
TTh 9:30-10:50
Jonathan Maskit
Office: Knapp 410
Office Hours: TTh 11:00-12:30
Phone: 587-6506
e-mail: maskit@denison.edu
Required Texts:
Evaluation:
You must complete all of the assigned work in order to receive credit for the course.
No late work will be accepted without prior permission of the instructor.
All of your work must be typed and double-spaced in a 12 point font with one inch margins.
You will write three one-page summaries of assigned reading during the first five weeks of the semester. These should tell the reader, as clearly as possible, what the assigned reading is about. These summaries are due before the class in which the assignment summarized will be discussed. Only your two best summary grades will count.
Schedule of readings and assignments:
| week | date | topic | reading | assignment |
| 1 T | Jan. 14 | Nature, environment, philosophy. | None. | |
Th |
Jan. 16 | Nature's Moral Standing | Holmes Rolston III, "Values Gone Wild" (EE, 56-65) | |
| 2 T | Jan. 21 | J. Baird Callicott, "On the Intrinsic Value of Nonhuman Species" (EE, 66-70) | ||
Th |
Jan. 23 | Christopher D. Stone,
"Moral Pluralism and the Course of Environmental Ethics" (EE, 76-85) |
Last date for summary one. | |
| 3 T | Jan.. 28 | Kenneth Goodpaster, "On Being Morally Considerable" (EE, 346-52) | ||
Th |
Jan. 30 | Paul Taylor, "Respect for Nature" (EE, 353-66) | ||
| 4 T | Feb. 4 | Anthony Weston, "Before Environmental Ethics" (EE, 96-102) | Last date for summary two. | |
Th |
Feb. 6 | Ecocentrism & Radical Ecology | Aldo Leopold, "The Land Ethic" (EE, 373-81) | |
| 5 T | Feb. 11 | J. Baird Callicott, "The Conceptual Foundations of the Land Ethic" (EE, 386-97); James D. Heffernan, "The Land Ethic: A Critical Appraisal" (EE, 398-404) | Last date for summary three. | |
Th |
Feb. 13 | Arne Naess, "The
Deep Ecological Movement: Some Philosophical Aspects" (EE, 411-21) |
||
| 6 T | Feb. 18 | Arne Naess, "Intrinsic Value: Will the Defenders of Nature Please Rise" (CP) | midterm one due. | |
Th |
Feb. 20 | Class meets in evening | Andrew Light, "Callicott and Naess on Pluralism". | |
| 7 T | Feb. 25 | Anthropocentrism | Bryan G. Norton, "Environmental Ethics and Weak Anthropocentrism" (EE, 286-88); W. J. McGee, "The Conservation Mentality of Natural Resources" (EE, 289-91) | |
Th |
Feb. 27 | R. D. Guthrie,
"The Ethical Relationship between Humans and Other Organisms" (EE, 292-7) |
||
| 8 T | Mar. 4 | F. Fraser Darling, "Man's Responsibility for the Environment" (EE, 298-301); W. H. Murdy, "Anthropocentrism: A Modern View" (EE, 302-309) | ||
| Mar. 6 | Stephen Jay Gould,
"The Golden Rule—A Proper Scale for Our Environmental Crisis" (EE, 310-14) |
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| Mar. 11-13 | Spring Break. | No | class. | |
| 9 T | Mar. 18 | Ecofeminism | Karen J. Warren, "The Power and Promise of Ecological Feminism" (EE, 434-43) | |
Th |
Mar. 20 | Vandana Shiva, "Women in Nature" (EE, 458-65) | ||
| 10 T | Mar. 25 | Karen J. Warren & Jim Cheney, "Ecological Feminism and Ecosystem Ecology" (CP) | paper topic due. | |
Th |
Mar. 27 | Patsy Hallen, "Making Peace with Nature: Why Ecology Needs Feminism" (CP) | ||
| 11 T | Apr. 1 | Law and Politics | Garrett Hardin, "The Tragedy of the Commons" (EE, 224-6); Gary Snyder, "Understanding the Commons" (EE, 227-30) | midterm two due. |
Th |
Apr. 3 | Christopher D. Stone, "Should Trees Have Standing?" (EE, 255-64) | ||
| 12 T | Apr. 8 | Robert Paehlke &
Douglas Torgerson, "Environmental Politics and the Administrative State" (EE, 265-71) |
||
Th |
Apr. 11 | Gary E. Varner, "Environmental Law and the Eclipse of Land as Private Property" (CP) | ||
| 13 T | Apr. 15 | Putting it all together | Thomas H Birch, "The Incarceration of Wildness: Wilderness Areas as Prisons" (CP) | |
Th |
Apr. 17 | Robin Attfield, "Rehabilitating Nature and Making Nature Habitable" (CP) | paper due. | |
| 14 T | Apr. 22 | Jan E. Dizard, "Going Wild: The Contested Terrain of Nature" (CP) | ||
Th |
Apr. 24 | Keekok Lee, "Awe and Humility: Intrinsic Value in Nature. Beyond an Earthbound Environmental Ethics" (CP) |
Several special events during the semester:
| week | date | time | event | reading |
| 5 T | Feb. 11 | 6:30-8:00 | Goodspeed lecture: Carolyn Merchant, "Reinventing Eden: Women, Nature, and Narrative" | |
| 6 Th. | Feb. 20 | 6:30-7:30 | Class meets in evening | Andrew Light |
Fr. |
Feb. 21 | 3:30-5:30 | Philosophy Colloquium: Andrew Light, "What Kind of Good is Environmental Quality?" | none. |