PHI 3682: Honors Environmental Philosophy
http://wise.fau.edu/~dwhite/courses/PHI3682f06.htm
See my Web page
for Office Hours and Syllabi: http://wise.fau.edu/~dwhite
(Please note: this syllabus is subject to regular
updates; you should check this online version weekly.)
OFFICE HOURS: T & R 2-4 PM, W 2-4
Course
Description: This course
provides a study of contemporary environmental philosophy, including ethical
and practical issues related to the natural environment. As part of this inquiry the course focuses on
the history of ideas regarding nature, on the relevance of traditional ethical
standpoints to environmental issues, and the significance of both for current
scientific reportage regarding the ecological crisis. We will study
contributions of the European philosophical tradition as well as those of other
world cultures to the ideas of nature, humanity, community, and morality
underlying environmental issues. We will consider ecological ideas from an
interdisciplinary perspective, including the natural and social sciences as
well as the humanities. The contributions of ecological feminism to the study
of gender and the environment will also be our concern. Our discussion will be
both theoretical and practical, encouraging each class participant to explore
options for a viable ecological ethic. Each of you will be responsible for
developing your own point of view based on the study of primary and secondary
sources. Each will participate in class
discussion, write essays and dialogues, cooperate in a group presentation, and
explore the range of sources available in environmental studies. We will pay
special attention to the widening range of electronic media relevant to
ecological issues. Our study will be historical, thematic, multicultural and
interdisciplinary, as the character of environmental thinking requires. This
course has been approved for the Environmental Studies requirement in the HC
Core and for the Environmental Studies concentration.
This course
fulfills the Gordon Rule writing requirement of 6,000 words.
Course
Requirements and Grades:
1) Final
essay written outside of class, each at least 1,300 words in length: 20% of
the final grade.
2) A series of twelve responses
(assigned in class, 350 words apiece, written in and out of class), in essay
form (totaling a minimum of 4,200
words);
= altogether 60% of final grade.
3) A group presentation or project,
including a 500 word outline and
bibliography: 20% of final grade.
4) Regular class attendance and participation
are required; repeated unexcused
absences will result in a reduction of grade.
5) Essays and dialogues written outside of class
will be graded for composition and content; in-class essays will be
graded holistically.
You should purchase
a copy of Muriel Harris, Writer's
FAQ's, A Pocket Handbook, 2/e, 0-13-183125-9, available in the bookstore,
for guidance in writing.
Students enrolled in
this course agree to abide by the Honors College Honor Code. Please review this important document: http://www.fau.edu/divdept/honcol/students/honorcode.html.
Required Texts
and Sources:
1) Schmidtz,
David and Elizabeth Willott, eds., Environmental Ethics (Oxford UP) abbr. EE
2) Planet
in Peril: Atlas of Current Threats to People and the Environment
3) Worldwatch CD
ROM, in
4)
5) Online sources
(please see syllabus below)
6) Environmental
Ethics. Leading journal in the titular field, available in our library. You
may either read the issues available in the library or, for your convenience,
order them online (one year, 4 issues, is $25.00): http://www.cep.unt.edu/
8) Films:
a) Waters of Destiny (on the
b) Bill Moyers, Earth on Edge. See the
PBS Website for the program: http://www.pbs.org/earthonedge/
c) Butterfly
d) In
Light of Reverence
e) Nova: The Gaia Hypothesis
f) Burke, After the Warming and/or, if available, Al Gore
An Inconvenient Truth
Links for Further
Reflection:
Living on Earth Public Radio Environmental
Journalism
Wangari
Maathai: A Watering Can, Some Seedlings, and the Greening of a Nation /
Ingrid Lobet
Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment 2005
Nova: World in the Balance 2005
The Online
NewsHour: Rebuilding the Gulf Coast | PBS
Holistic
Darwinism by Peter A Corning
Enemy
of the Planet - New York Times
Ecological Footprints of
China, India, Japan, Europe, and US
Arundhati
Roy on Politics and Environment
United States
Supreme Court Ruling on Wetlands 2006
"Earth
Faces 'Catastrophic Loss of Species'"
Climate
change and global justice: a letter to Al Gore by Camilla Toulmin -
openDemocracy
Europe's
Underwater Chemical Dump--Der Spiegel
President Bush's UN
speech: Full text
Chavez
Calls Bush 'Devil,' Assails U.S. Policies
Global
Warming Update: Siberia is Melting
The Politics of
Climate Change
Environmentalists
Reconsider Nuclear Energy
Wars Hamper
Social Progress Across Africa
Forsaken
Mermaids: the Manatees from Living on Earth
BBC:
Climate Costs, the Global Picture
1)
August 23
Introductory perspectives:
Schmidtz and Willott, “Why Environmental Ethics?” EE xi—xxi; Easterbrook, “A Moment on the Earth,” Leopold, “Thinking
Like a Mountain,” White: “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis”[1]
in EE, ch. 1. Film and discussion: Waters of Destiny (on the Kissimmee
River Project). Recommended reading: Manussos
Marangudakis: The Medieval Roots of Our Environmental Crisis,” Environmental
Ethics 23 (Fall 2001), on reserve; Planet in Peril, preface.
2) August 30
Animal Liberation and the Land Ethic Singer, All Animals are Equal,” Leopold,
“The Land Ethic,” Rolston III, “Values in and Duties to the Natural World,”
Sagoff, “Animal Liberation and Environmental Ethics,” EE ch. 2; Planet in
Peril, begin reading and bring to class. Extending the Realm of Rights: Film: Butterfly. “Stone, “Should Trees Have Standing?”, Feinberg,
“The Rights of Animals,” “Attfield, “The Good of Trees,” Midgley, “Duties
Concerning
3)
September 6
Species Equality,
Respect for Nature and Consumer Society: “
4)
September 13
Environmental Holism: Film: Nova: The Gaia Hypothesis. Regan, “How to Worry About Endangered
Species”, “Varner, “Biocentric Individualism,” Devall and Sessions, “Deep
Ecology,” Sober, “Philosophical Problems for Environmentalism”, EE ch. 5; Recommended
5)
September 20
How Wild Does Nature Have to Be?—How are we to interact with ecosystems? Krieger, “What’s Wrong with Plastic Trees?”, Katz, “The Call of the
Wild,” Light, “Ecological Restoration and the Culture of Nature,” EE ch. 6..
Recommended: Clare Palmer: “Taming the Wild Profusion of Existing
Things’? A Study of Foucault, Power, and Human/Animal Relationships,” Environmental Ethics 23 (Winter 2001).
6)
September 27
Ecofeminism in Theory and Practice: Response 7
Hessler and Willott, “Feminism and Ecofeminism,”
7)
October 4
Multicultural
Perspectives: Response 5
Film: In Light of Reverence. Cultural conflict between Native and Euro
8)
October 11 Environmentalism,
Multiculturalism, Religion, Tradition: In Light of Reverence, Continued.
Bookchin, “Social Ecology vs. Deep Ecology,” EE, pp. 126-136;
Midgley revisited, EE, pp. 71-81. Recommended: A confrontation: McPherson et al.,
“Indigenous Worlds and Callicott’s Land Ethic.” Environmental Ethics 22
(Fall 2000); Anthony Weston, “Multicentrism: A Manifesto” EnvironmentalEthics 26 (Spring 2004); Bailey, “Approximate
Optimality of Aboriginal Property Rights,” EE,
ch. 11; Planet in Peril
9) October 18
Rethinking the Good Life: Film: Earth on Edge; Hill, “Ideals of Human Excellence and Preserving Natural Environments,”
Milbrath, “Redefining the Good Life in a Sustainable Society,” Sagoff, “Do We
Consume Too Much?”, Matthews, “Letting the World Grow Old”, EE ch. 7.
Recommended: Cassandra Y.
Johnson and J. M. Bowker,
African-American Wildland Memories,” Environmental
Ethics 26 (Spring 2004); Planet
in Peril.
10)
October 25
Film: After the Warming; Global Warming
Update. Film: Al Gore: An Inconvenient Truth (if DVD is
available); Human Population and Environmental Preservation: Feinberg, “Future
Generations,” Wolf, “Population, Development, and the Environment,” Guha:
“Radical American Environmentalism and Wilderness Preservation: A Third World
Critique,” Raymond Bonner, “At the Hand of Man: Peril and Hope for
11) November 1
Sustainable
Use, Institutional Structure, and Poverty:
Hardin, “The Tragedy of the
Commons,” and “Living in a Lifeboat”; Singer, “Famine, Affluence, and
Morality,” Shue, “Global Environment and International Inequality,” Schmidtz,
“Natural Enemies: Anatomy of an Environmental Conflict,” EE 11-12. Recommended:
Robert Kirkman, “Reasons to Dwell on (if Not Necessarily in) the Suburbs,” Environmental Ethics 26 (Spring 2004);
Christopher J. Preston and Steven H. Corey: “Public Health and
Environmentalism: Adding Garbage to the History of Environmental Ethics,” Environmental
Ethics 27 (spring 2005); Planet
in Peril
12)
November 8
Vanishing
Resources, Cost-Benefit Analysis, and Environmental Policy: Response 12
Wolliams, “Designing Cities as if They Were Ethical Choices,” Kelman, “Cost-Benefit Analysis: An
Ethical Critique,” Leonard and Zeckhauser, “Cost-Benefit Analysis Defended,”
Brennan, “Moral Pluralism and the Environment”, EE, chs. 13-14. Recommended: Daniel White, Modernity/Post-Modern
Environmentalism,” The Encyclopedia of Global Environmental Change. Volume 4 (in our library). Stephen Vogel,
“Environmental Philosophy after the End of Nature,” Environmental Ethics
24 (Spring 2002); Planet in Peril
13) November 15: Group Presentations:
Group 2 (Joann, Carrie, Katharine, Mark, Jenna)
Environmentalism in Practice: Recommended
Norton, “The
Environmentalists’ Dilemma” and “Fragile Freedoms,” Rawles, “The Missing Shade
of Green,” Light, “Taking Environmental Ethics Public.” Bookchin, “Social Ecology
versus Deep Ecology,” EE 126-136.
Recommended: Eileen Crist, “Against the Social Construction of Nature and
Wilderness” Environmental Ethics 26,
spring 2004; Planet in Peril
14) November
22 Group Presentations:
No presentations
15) November 29 FINAL ESSAY DUE,
Group Presentations,
Group 4 (Ashley, Dani, Erin, Misty); Independent Report: Abigail
November
30: Reading Day
16) Final Exam Period: Dec. 6, Group Presentations,
Group 1 presents (Jeff, Erik, Daniel);
Group 3
(Amber, Christy, Elizabeth, Dana)
[1] Lynn
White’s “Historical Roots of the Ecological Crisis” was originally published in
the journal Science; it may currently locate under the database JSTOR in
FAU’s Electronic Collection. The full
citation is Lynn White, Jr., “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic
Crisis,” Science, New Series,
Vol. 155, No. 3767. (