Environmental EthicsPhilosophy 3640

Spring Semester 2010University of North Florida

W 12:00 - 2:45, Bldg. 45, Room 2403

Aldo Leopold’s “shack” from A Sand County Almanac.InstructorJason ZinserOffice: Room 2343 Building 10 Phone: 620-3744Email: jason.zinser@unf.eduOffice Hours: Thursday 12-3 and by appointment Website: blackboard.unf.edu

Course Description: This course will cover intrinsic and instrumental value approaches to environmental ethics, alternative environmental ethical approaches, and special environmentalethical issues. The goal of the course is to familiarize students with all the major approaches toenvironmental ethics and with a few particularly philosophically interesting environmentalethical issues. Students will appreciate and understand the complexity and intricacy of thearguments involved in adopting one approach or position over another.

Required Texts: Environmental Ethics: An Anthology. Edited by Andrew Light and Holmes Rolston III.

All other readings will be posted on the course blackboard site or available online. (BB)

Graded assignments will include:• (2) 1,000 word papers or book review• (2) exams• (10) quizzes

Quizzes/Short Assignments: All quizzes will be “pop” quizzes and can occur anytime during class. I promise to give at least (12) quizzes and only the best (10) will count. As a result of this policy, quizzes cannot be made-up for any reason (including sickness, etc. – I am assuming the average student will miss two classes). Please do not ask if there will be a quiz on any particular day. Short assignments may be given during class or assigned for the following day.

Papers: You will be required to write (2) 1,000 word papers. Writing assignments will be distributed at least a week before they are due. At that time I will also distribute requirements and guidelines for constructing a successful paper. For each paper, I will provide a choice of at least two topics to choose from. Paper due dates are listed on the schedule.

*Book Review Option – see handout for more information.

Exams: There will be three exams. Exams will consist of multiple-choice, true/false, short-answer and essay questions. Exams will, to a limited extent, be cumulative. Exam dates are listed on the schedule.

Graded assignments will be weighed as follows: (10) Quizzes 10% (total)(2) Papers 15% (each)(2) Exams 30% (each)

Final grades will be determined on the following scale:100-93 A <87-83 B <77-73 C <67-63 D<93-90 A- <83-80 B- <73-70 C- <63-60 D-<90-87 B+ <80-77 C+ <70-67 D+ <60-0 F

Late Policy: Papers will be counted 10% off per class late. When possible, I should be informed of lateness before the assigned work is due. When this condition is met, appropriate accommodations will be arranged with the student to finish the work. Exams cannot be made-up without a university approved absence notification (e.g. a note from a health care provider explaining why the student couldn’t be there). Furthermore, you need to contact me immediately in order to reschedule the exam as early as possible. If this condition is not met, you may not be able to re-take the exam.

Gordon Rule: This is a Gordon Rule course, meaning that students are required to write at last 3,000 words in the form of papers and exams. Students who do not write 3,000 words cannot receive a grade higher than D+. If you complete all papers, quizzes, and exams you will fulfill the requirement.

Honor Code: Students must uphold the UNF Academic Integrity Code which is published in the University of North Florida Student Handbook on page 40. The handbook can be found at: http://www.unf.edu/studentaffairs/pdf/Student%20Handbook%202006-07%20web.pdf

Students with Disabilities: Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with disabilities. All relevant documentation should be submitted within the first two weeks of classes or as soon as a disability is identified.

Attendance: Attendance is not mandatory and will not be recorded (with the exception of the first day). With that said, if you do not attend class on a regular basis, you will do

poorly. Furthermore, quizzes and assignments will be administered on a regular basis and schedule changes will be announced in class.

Course Objectives:

• To critically read and digest philosophical material, ask philosophical questions, and engage in philosophical debates.

• To develop the ability to recognize argument patterns and appropriate and illegitimate manners to attack arguments; i.e., to develop your critical reasoning skills.

• To become familiar with the core philosophical questions and historically influential treatments of those questions, including ethics, epistemology, philosophy of religion, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind.

• To demonstrate comprehension of the material in written, oral, and exam form.

General Educational Outcomes:

Skills 1) analyze arguments according to standard criteria

• assume and defend a position on a given topic• read and analyze complex texts, including the analysis of rhetorical devices and

modes of inference• write coherent analytical and persuasive papers using effective expression

Knowledge• demonstrate a general knowledge of current scientific understanding of the history

and nature of the universe, the earth, and general life forms• demonstrate a general knowledge of scholarly understanding of the range of

social, political, geopolitical, and economic organization• demonstrating a general knowledge of the nature, origins, and contributions of

major civilizations

Schedule (subject to change)Jan. 6

Syllabus and I

ntroduction Jan. 13

The Roots of Environmental Ethics Leopold,

“The Land Ethic,” “Thinking Like a Mountain,” “Good Oak

,” and “Marshland Elegy”Stone, “Should Trees Have Stand

ing” (BB)Sylvan, “Is there a Need for a New, Environmen

tal Ethic?” Jan. 20

Causes of Ecological CrisesWhite, “The Hist

orical Roots of Our Ecological Crises” (BB)Penn, “The E

volutionary Roots of Our Ecological Problems” (BB)Flann

ery, “A Great Jump to Disaster” (BB)Jan. 27

Climate ChangeGardi

ner, “Ethics and Global Climate Change” (BB)Jamieson, “

Ethics, Public Policy, and Global Warming”Hardin, “Trag

edy of the Commons”Feb. 3

Animal RightsPeter Singer, “Not For Humans Only

: The Place of Nonhumans in Environmental Issues”Tom Re

gan, “Animal Rights: What’s in a name?” Feb. 10

Animal Rights v

ersus Environmentalism Paul Taylor, “The Ethics of Resp

ect for Nature”Gary Varner, “Can Animal Rights Activist

s Be Environmentalists”

Feb. 17

EXAMMovie: Princess Mononoke Feb

Alt

. 24

ernative Approaches Warwick Fox, “Deep Ecology: A New P

hilosophy of our Time?”Arnie Naess, “The Deep Ecologica

l Movement”Karen Warren and Jim Cheney, “Ecological Feminism and Ecosystem Ecology”Mar. 3

Critiques of Environmental

ism and Environmental EthicsSober, ““Philosophical Prob

lems for Environmentalism” (BB)Guha, “Radical American

Environmentalism and Wilderness Preservation: A Third W

orld Critique” (BB)Tierney, “Betting on the Planet” (BB

)

Mar. 10

“Place” and EnvironmentalismTBAMar. 17

Spring Break ***No Clas

s***Mar. 24

Intrinsic Value John O’Neill, “The Varieties of Int

rinsic Nature”Bryan Norton, “Environmental Ethics and W

eak Anthropocentrism”Anthony Weston, “Beyond Intrinsic

Value: Pragmatism in Environmental Ethics”Mar. 31

Poverty and t

he EnvironmentPeter Singer, “Famine, Affluence and Mora

lity”(BB)Holmes Rolston III, “Feeding People versus Sav

ing Nature?”Apr. 7

WildernessMichael Nelson, “An Amalgamation of Wilderness Preservation Arguments”Baird Callicott, “A C

ritique of and an Alternative to the Wilderness Idea”ApFo

r. 14

od EthicsTBA

Apr. 21

Continued Final: TBA