PST 4176: Environmental Ethics

Fall, 2004

Class: T&Th, 4:35-5:55. DM Smith Bldg, Rm 304

Instructor: Bryan Norton

Office: Rm 300, D.M. Smith Bldg.

Office Hours: T&Th, 3:15-4:15, or by appointment

OBJECTIVES: This course explores the moral bases of concern for the environment and examines Western attitudes toward nature. Applications will be made to environmental policy in the areas of population and resource use and on questions of fair access to resources in a world facing globalization. We will examine the foundations of the idea of private property and survey basic approaches to interpreting human obligations to the natural world, including rights of animals, ecofeminism, the land ethic, and sustainable development.

Environmental ethics has traditionally focused on two important theoretical distinctions: (a) between anthropocentric values and biocentric or ecocentric values and (b) between individualism and holism. After exploring these distinctions we will also explore (c) problems of scale and value as they bear upon theories of sustainable use of environment and resources. Students should work to master theoretical concepts and to apply them to actual environmental problems.

Writing Assignments:

Writing assignments will be of two types:

I. There will be six unannounced, in-class quizzes during the term. Missed quizzes cannot be made up. DON’T EVEN ASK!!! These unannounced quizzes will consist of two questions, one taken from the previous class discussion, and one taken from the readings for that day. Of these six quizzes, the lowest two scores (or absences) will be dropped, and the total score on the remaining four quizzes will count 40 per cent of the course grade.

II. There will be two essay exercises. A take-home midterm exam will be due on October 8. And there will be an in-class final examination. Question(s) on the final exam will be announced in advance. Questions on both the midterm and final will deal with an environmental problem (as outlined in a news story from a newspaper) and students will be graded on their ability to apply concepts and arguments from the class to develop solutions to, or viewpoints on, the problem.

The Mid-term and the Final will each count 30 per cent of the grade.

TEXTS:

Donald VanDeVeer & Christine Pierce, The Environmental Ethics and Policy Book, Third Edition

Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

Daniel Quinn, Ishmael

There will be occasional hand-outs from newspapers and magazines, and some readings not in the texts will be available in pdf files on library reserve (ER). A few additional pieces, marked, "hand-out," will be distributed in class.

Weekly Assignments (please read by Tuesday of the week in question) It is suggested that students read Ishmael at leisure during the first portion of the course.

Week 1 (Aug.17&19): Traditional Western Attitudes Toward Nature

The Bible, Genesis, Ch. 1,2 (handout)

V&P: pp. 43-58; 66-71

Week 1 (Aug.17&19): Ethics: The Standard Theories

V&P: pp. 1-42,

Immanuel Kant, "The Categorical Imperative," ER

John Stuart Mill, "Utilitarianism," ER

Week 3: (Aug. 31& September 2) The Economic View of Environmental Values

V&P: pp. 311-350

Week 4 (Sept. 7&9): Should We Be Optimists or Pessimists?

V&P, 389-401; 408-413

Week 5 (Sept. 14&16): The Population Problem

V&P: pp. 402-408; 414-419;

Quinn, Ishmael, 1^st half

Week 6 (Sept. 21 & 23): Ishmael

Quinn, Ishmael, remainder

Week 7 (Sept. 28&30): Private Property, Pollution, and the Environment

V&P, pp. 359-378

V&P, pp. 555-578; 587-598

Russell, handout, "Technology, Science, Risk, and the Environment"

Week 8 (October 5&7): Extending Human Ethical Concepts to Animals

V&P, 114-149; 174-201

October 5: Take-home midterm exam due

Week 9 (Oct. 12&14): Deep Ecology and Ecofeminism

V&P: pp. 259-277; 521-529;279-296; 303-310

Week 10 (Oct. 21—Fall Recess on 19th): Biodiversity

V&P, pp. 451-469; 476-483; 529-534

Norton, "Defining Biodiversity" ER

Week 11 (October 26&28): The Land Ethic

Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, “Foreword”, “Wisconsin”, “Arizona and New Mexico”, and all of “The Upshot” (including: “Conservation Esthetic”, “Wildlife in American Culture”, “Wilderness,” and the “Land Ethic”) (Note: different editions have sections of this book in different order near the end; be sure you understand the assignment).

Suggested: remainder of A Sand County Almanac.

Week 12 (Novemeber 2&4): Interpreting the Land Ethic

V&P: pp. 224-238;

Leopold, "Some Fundamentals of Conservation in the Southwest," ER

Norton, excerpts from Norton, Sustainability, sections 2.3 and 6.2

Suggested: V&P, 240-258

Week 13 (November 9&11): A New Start: Sustainability as the Goal of Environmentalism

V&P, 419-436; 438-443

William Rees, "The Ecology of Sustainable Development" ER

Norton, “The Ignorance Argument” ER

Week 14: (Nov. 18—No class on Nov. 16): Scale and Environmental Policy

V&P, pp. 364-374

Review “Marshland Elegy” and “Thinking Like A Mountain,” in Leopold, A Sand Almanac.

Norton, "Context and Hierarchy in Aldo Leopold's Land Ethic," ER

Week 15: (Nov. 24—Nov. 26=Thanksgiving): Global Environmentalism, I

V&P, pp. Xxvii-xxx; 598-607; 620-622;

Week16: (Nov. 30&Dec. 2): Global Environmentalism and wrap-up

V&P, pp. 521-529; 550-559