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PHIL 375: Philosophy of the Environment (Rev. C2) Report a Broken Link

Philosophy 375 addresses core issues in philosophy of the environment and environmental ethics. The course is designed to familiarize students with issues concerning world view (cosmology), value conflicts, epistemology (ways of knowing) and principles involved in conflicts over our relationship with the environment. Policy issues such as sustainability and conservation are addressed in this light. Central issues addressed are anthropocentrism vs. ecocentrism, the intrinsic vs. the instrumental value of the environment, historical shifts and cross-cultural tensions involving world view, to name a few. The breadth of issues examined is indicative of the introductory nature of the course. But, as a senior-level course, a certain degree of understanding argument structures and principles and an ability to develop arguments is expected; the pedagogical focus is on developing principled arguments in support of a position on some issue addressed in the course. Students are strongly advised to take a junior-level philosophy course before registering in Philosophy 375.

Required Readings

Unit 1

Sylvan, Richard. 2001. Is there a need for a new, an environmental, ethic? In Environmental philosophy: From animal rights to racial ecology. 3rd ed. Edited by Michael Zimmerman. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. First published in Proceedings of the XV World Congress of Philosophy 1 (Varna, Bulgaria 1973) 205-210.
Naess, Arne. 1995. The shallow and the deep, long-range ecology movement: A summary. In The deep ecology movement: An introductory anthology, edited by Alan Drengson and Yuichi Inoue. Berkely, CA: North Atlantic Books.
Singer, Peter. 2001. A utilitarian defense of animal liberation. In Environmental ethics: Readings in theory and application. 3rd ed. Edited by Louis P. Pojman. Belmon, CA: Wadsworth. First published in Animal rights and human obligation. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1976.

Unit 2

White, Lynn, Jr. 2002. The historical roots of our ecological crisis. In Environmental ethics: What really matters, what really works, edited by David Schmidtz and Elizabeth Willott. New York: Oxford University Press. First publised in Science 155 (1967): 1203-1207.
Moncrief, Lewis W. 2002. The cultural basis of our environmental crisis. In Environmental ethics: Readings in theory and application. 3rd ed. Edited by Louis P. Pojman. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. First published in Science 170 (1970): 508–512.
Hughes, J. Donald. 1998. The ancient roots of our ecological crisis. In Environmental ethics: Divergence and convergence. 2nd ed. Edited by Richard Botzler and Susan Armstrong. Boston: McGraw Hill.

Unit 3

Aquinas, St. Thomas. 1993. Differences between rational and other creatures. In Environmental ethics: Divergence and convergence, edited by Susan Armstrong and Richard Botzler. Boston: McGraw Hill.
Baird, Forrest E., ed. 1994. Francis Bacon: 1561–1626 (excerpt from: Novum organum; Discourse on method and meditations, 1620). In Philosophic classics. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice–Hall.
Descartes, René. 1993. Animals are machines. In Environmental ethics: Divergence and convergence, edited by Susan Armstrong and Richard Botzler. Boston: McGraw Hill.
Kant, Immanuel. 1993. Duties to animals. In Environmental ethics: Divergence and convergence, edited by Susan Armstrong and Richard Botzler. Boston: McGraw Hill.

Unit 4

Naess, Arne. 1993. The deep ecological movement: Some philosophical aspects. In Environmental philosophy. 3rd ed. Edited by Michael Zimmerman. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. First published in Philosophical Inquiry 8 no. 1–2 (1986): 10–31.
de Silva, Lily. 1993. The Buddhist attitude towards nature. In Environmental ethics: Divergence and convergence, edited by Susan Armstrong and Richard Botzler. Boston: McGraw Hill.
Ip, Po–Keung. 1993. Taoism and the foundations of environmental ethics. In Environmental ethics: Divergence and convergence, edited by Susan Armstrong and Richard Botzler. Boston: McGraw Hill.
Booth, Annie, and Harvey Jacobs. 1990. Ties that bind: Native American beliefs as a foundation for environmental consciousness. Environmental Ethics 12 (spring): 27–43.
Leopold, Aldo. 2000. A land ethic: Conservation as a moral issue; Thinking like a mountain. In Earth ethics: Introductory readings on animal rights and environmental ethics. 2nd ed. Edited by James P. Sterba. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Unit 5

Hargrove, Eugene C. 1980. Anglo–American land use attitudes. Environmental Ethics 2 (summer): 121–148.
Norton, Bryan G. 1984. Environmental ethics and weak anthropocentrism. Environmental Ethics 6 (summer): 131–148.
Baxter, William. 1995. People or penguins. In People, penguins, and plastic trees: Basic issues in environmental ethics. 2nd ed. Edited by Christine Pierce and Donald Van DeVeer. Belmont, CA: ITP Thompson. First published in People or penguins: The case for optimal pollution. New York: Columbia University Press, 1974.
Leonard, Herman B., and Richard J. Zeckhauser. 2002. Cost–benefit analysis defended. In Environmental ethics: What really matters, what really works, edited by David Schmidtz and Elizabeth Willott. New York: Oxford University Press. First published in Report from the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy 3 (summer 1983).
Sagoff, Mark. 2001. At the shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, or why political questions are not all economic. In Environmental ethics: Readings in theory and application. 3rd edition. Edited by Louis P. Pojman. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. First published in Arizona Law Review 23 (1981): 1283–1298.

Unit 6

Naess, Arne. 1995. Self–realization: An ecological approach to being in the world. In The deep ecology movement: An introductory anthology, edited by Alan Drengson and Yuichi Inoue. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
Warren, Karen J. 2002. The power and the promise of ecological feminism. In Environmental ethics: What really matters, what really works, edited by David Schmidtz and Elizabeth Willott. New York: Oxford University Press. First published in Environmental Ethics 12 (2002): 125–146.
Bookchin, Murray. 1995. What is social ecology? In Earth ethics: Environmental ethics, animal rights, and practical applications, edited by James P. Sterba. Toronto: Prentice–Hall.
Please link to this article from the course website.
Rolston, Holmes, III. 2001. Naturalizing values: Organisms and species. In Environmental ethics: Readings in theory and application. 3rd edition. Edited by Louis P. Pojman. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Unit 7

Regan, Tom. 2001. The radical egalitarian case for animal rights. In Environmental ethics: Readings in theory and application. 3rd edition. Edited by Louis P. Pojman. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. First published in Peter Singer, ed., In defense of animals. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985.
Singer, Peter. 2000. All animals are equal. In Earth ethics: Introductory readings on animal rights and environmental ethics. 2nd ed. Edited by James P. Sterba. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice–Hall.
Goodpaster, Kenneth E. 1978. On being morally considerable. The Journal of Philosophy 75(6): 308–325.
Birch, Thomas H. 1998. Moral considerability and universal consideration. In Environmental ethics: Divergence and convergence, edited by Susan Armstrong and Richard Botzler. Boston: McGraw Hill.
Please link to this article from the course website.
Taylor, Paul W. 2000. The ethics of respect for nature. In Earth ethics: Introductory readings on animal rights and environmental ethics. 2nd ed. Edited by James P. Sterba. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice–Hall.
Marietta, Don E., Jr. 1993. Environmental holism and individuals. In Environmental ethics: Divergence and convergence. 2nd ed. Edited by Susan Armstrong and Richard Botzler. Boston: McGraw Hill.

Unit 8

World Commission on Environment and Development. 1987. From one Earth to one world: An overview by the World Commission on Environment and Development. In Our common future. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rees, William E. 2001. Sustainable development: Economic myths and ecological realities. In Environmental ethics: Readings in theory and application. 3rd edition. Edited by Louis P. Pojman. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. First published in the Trumpeter 5 no. 4 (1988).
Shiva, Vandana. 1993. The greening of the global reach. In Global ecology: A new arena of political conflict, edited by Wolfgang Sachs. Halifax, NS: Fernwood Books.