PHI 3682: Honors Environmental Philosophy
Daniel White
Email: dwhite@fau.edu; see my Web page for office
hours and other syllabi: http://wise.fau.edu/~dwhite.
(Please note: this syllabus
is subject to regular updates; you should check this online version weekly.)
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 enquiry 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 an important theme. 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 and lead 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, as
well as the Gordon Rule writing requirement.
Gordon Rule
writing requirement: 6,000 words
Course
Requirements and Grades:
1) Final
essay written outside of class, at least 1,500 words in length: 20% of the final grade.
2) A series of responses (500 words
apiece, written in and out of class), in essay form (totaling a minimum of 4000
words); = altogether 50% of final grade.
3) A group presentation or project,
including a 500 word outline and
bibliography: 20% of final grade.
4) An individual presentation in which you
lead class discussion regarding one of our assigned readings; handout with
summary of key points required: 10%.
5) Regular class attendance and participation
are required; repeated unexcused
absences will result in a reduction of grade.
6) Essays and dialogues written outside of class
will be graded for composition and content; in-class essays will be
graded holistically for composition and content.
7) Numerical and Letter Grades: these values
apply to all assignments listed in 1-6 above; your final grade for the semester
will be determined by the same criteria.
100-94= A
93-90 = A-
89-87 = B+
86-84 = B
83-80 = B-
79-77 = C+
76-74 = C
73-70 = C-
69-67 = D+
66-64 = D
63-60 = D-
59-0 = F
8) Check system of holistic grading when used:
√+++ = 100
√++ = 95
√+(+) = 90
√+ = 85
√(+) = 80
√ = 75
√- = 70
√-- = 65
Dr. Weisser’s Online Writing Handbook: http://wise.fau.edu/~weisser/handbook.htm
should be used as a reference guide for English composition.
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/academics_honor_code.htm.
Required Texts
and Sources:
1) Schmidtz,
David and Elizabeth Willott, eds., Environmental Ethics (Oxford UP) (EE)
2) WorldWatch, State of the World 2008
(WW)
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 $36.00): http://www.cep.unt.edu/
8) Films:
b) Waters of Destiny (on the Kissimmee River Restoration Project)
c) Bill Moyers, Earth on Edge. See the
PBS Website for the program: http://www.pbs.org/earthonedge/
d) Butterfly
e) In
Light of Reverence
f) Nova: The Gaia Hypothesis
g) Al Gore An
Inconvenient Truth
h) Frontline: Hot Politics
Links for Further
Reflection:
Union
of Concerned Scientists Periodic Table of Scientific Abuses
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
Exposed:
The long, cruel road to the slaughterhouse
1) Jan.
8-10
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.
2) Jan. 15-17
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,” WW 5, “Meat and Seafood: The Most Costly Ingredients in the
Global Diet”;The
true cost of cheap chicken; Film: Butterfly.
Recommended Reading: EE ch. 3, Extending
the Realm of Rights; “Stone, “Should
Trees Have Standing?”, Feinberg, “The Rights of Animals,” Attfield, “The Good
of Trees,” Midgley, “Duties Concerning Islands,” EE ch. 3; Beth Dixon, “Animal Emotion,” Ethics & the Environment, 6.2, Autumn 2001 (online, Project Muse);
Frank Chessa: “Endangered Species and the Right to Die,” Environmental
Ethics 27 (spring 2005).
3)
Jan. 22-24
Species Equality,
Respect for Nature and Consumer Society: “
Recommended: Frank
Schalow, “Who Speaks for the Animals? Heidegger and the Question of Animal
Welfare,” Environmental Ethics 22 (fall 2000); “Nietzsche's Environmental Philosophy:
A Trans-European Perspective” Environmental Ethics 27 (spring 2005).
4)
Jan. 29-31
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; WW, 9 “Banking on
Biodiversity.” Recommended Reading: Emily Brady, “Aesthetic Character and
Aesthetic Integrity in Environmental Conservation,” Environmental Ethics 24 (Spring 2002); Dana Anderson, “Ethical
Sight,” Environmentalism 29, no. 2
(Summer 2007).
5)
Feb. 5-7
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. WW, 2 “A New Bottom Line for Progress”;
Recommended: Colette
Palamar, “Wild, Women, and Wolves: An Ecological Feminist Examination of Wolf
Introduction,” Environmental Ethics 29, no. 1 (Spring 2007).
6)
Feb. 12-14
Ecofeminism in Theory and Practice: Response 7
Hessler and Willott, “Feminism and Ecofeminism,”
Recommended Reading: Vrinda Dalmiya, “Cows and Others: Toward
Constructing Ecofeminist Selves,” Environmental
Ethics 24 (Summer 2002); Mark
Twine, “Ma(r)king Essence-Ecofeminism and Embodiment”; Chaone Mallory, “Acts of
Objectification and the Repudiation of Dominance: Leopold, Ecofeminism, and the
Ecological Narrative,” both in Ethics and
the Environment 6.2 (Autumn 2001) online, Project Muse. Mary Jo Deegan and
Christopher W. Podeschi, “The Ecofeminist Pragmatism of Charlotte Perkins
Gilman” Environmental Ethics” 23 (Spring 2001).
7)
Feb. 19-21
Multicultural
Perspectives: Response 5
Film: In Light of Reverence. Cultural conflict between Native and Euro America over the significance
and use of the land: http://www.pbs.org/pov/inthelightofreverence/thefilm.html.
Thompson: “Environment as Cultural Heritage,” Environmental Ethics 22
(fall 2000); Foltz: “Is There an Islamic Environmentalism?” Environmental
Ethics 22 (spring 2000); John Mizzoni, “St. Francis, Paul Taylor, and
Franciscan Biocentrism,” Environmental
Ethics 26 (Spring 2004); WW 4. “Sustainable Lifestyles: Dreams and
Realities.”
8)
Feb. 26-28
Environmentalism, Multiculturalism,
Religion, Tradition
Bookchin,
“Social Ecology vs. Deep Ecology,” EE, pp. 126-136;
WW, 8. “Water in a Sustainable Economy.” Lloyd Steffen, “What Religion Contributes to
Environmental Ethics,” Environmental
Ethics 29, no. 2 (Summer 2007).
Recommended: Bailey, “Approximate Optimality of Aboriginal
Property Rights,” EE, ch. 11.
Spring Break,
March 4-6
9) March 11-13
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. WW, 6 “Building a Low-Carbon Economy.”
Recommended: Cassandra Y. Johnson and J. M. Bowker, African-American Wildland Memories,” Environmental Ethics 26 (Spring 2004);
Sudhir Chella Rajan, “Automobility, Liberalism, and the Ethics of Driving,” Environmental Ethics 29, no. 1 (Spring
2007).
10)
March18-20
Global Warming
Update. Film: Al Gore: An
Inconvenient Truth. 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 Africa’s Wildlife”, EE chs. 9-10. WW, 7. “Harnessing Carbon Markets.”
Recommended Reading: “Environmental
Anamnesis: Walter Benjamin and the Ethics of Extinction” (Winter 2001);
11) March 25-27
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. WW 11. “Building
Sustainable Communities.”
Recommended
Reading: 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).
1
April 1-3
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; WW 12 “Development from the
Ground Up”: NOW
Learn about one town's plan to make all
of its buildings energy-efficient: Save Energy, Save Money,
Save the Planet .
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).
13) April 8-10
Group Presentations:
Group 2 (Joann, Carrie, Katharine, Mark, Jenna)
Environmentalism in Practice: 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; WW 13“Investing in Sustainability.”
Recommended: Eileen Crist, “Against the Social
Construction of Nature and Wilderness” Environmental
Ethics 26, spring 2004; Richard
J. Evanoff, “Communicative Ethics and Moral Considerability,” Environmental Ethics 29, no. 3 (Fall
2007).
14) April 15-17
Group Presentations
& Discussion
15) April 22 FINAL ESSAY DUE,
Group Presentations
& Discussion
April 24: Reading Day, no class
16) Final Exam Period (TBA), Group Presentations
as needed, return and discussion of final essay.
[1] Lynn
White’s “Historical Roots of the Ecological Crisis” was originally published in
the journal Science; it may be located 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. (