Reasons to Enroll
- Develop critical thinking skills and improve your philosophical writing
- Learn how to identify major ethical concerns about the conservation, preservation, and general treatment of the environment, species, and individual members of an ecosystem
- Analyze different philosophical strategies for handling problems posed by increased population, pollution, limited resources, and new technologies
- Understand tactics and challenges for environmental activism
- Our class will be eco-friendly! You will not be required to purchase or print anything!
- Go to the White House for a special screening of a new documentary by Ken Burns!
Course Description
Environmental ethics is a branch of applied philosophy, and it spans over a number of issues. Do landscapes, trees, or animals have value? If so, what is the source of this value? How should human needs and wants be weighed? Philosophers disagree on the contours of our obligations and duties regarding nature and non-humans. Technological developments and increases in scientific knowledge have further complicated the picture.
This course will begin by helping to motivate moral concern for the environment. After briefly discussing the enterprise of applied ethics, we will look at some classic texts on different philosophical approaches to environmental ethics. Students will be asked to critically analyze these approaches so as to recognize the benefits and burdens of each position. From here we will delve into three topics: animal ethics, global justice, and climate change. The class concludes with a conversation about environmental activism. How can policy-makers responsibly balance the competing interests and values involved in any one of these issues? How should we, in our daily interactions with the environment, make these determinations and promote responsible behavior?
This course will begin by helping to motivate moral concern for the environment. After briefly discussing the enterprise of applied ethics, we will look at some classic texts on different philosophical approaches to environmental ethics. Students will be asked to critically analyze these approaches so as to recognize the benefits and burdens of each position. From here we will delve into three topics: animal ethics, global justice, and climate change. The class concludes with a conversation about environmental activism. How can policy-makers responsibly balance the competing interests and values involved in any one of these issues? How should we, in our daily interactions with the environment, make these determinations and promote responsible behavior?