Environmental
Ethics
A Leadership Studies Designated
Course
|
Dr. Bill Myers Office phone: 226-4868 Class and time: HC 004, TTH Office Hours: M |
PL307, Spring 2006 Office: HC 222 Email: bmyers@bsc.edu |
Required Texts:
Environmental Ethics: An Introduction to Environmental Philosophy, 4th
edition, by Joseph R. Des Jardins.
Watersheds 3: Ten Cases in Environmental Ethics, by Lisa Newton and
Catherine Dillingham.
When Corporations Rule the World, 2nd edition, by David Korten. Kumarian Press, 2001.
Course Description:
While it is certainly true that thinkers and writers have been concerned with some kinds of environmental issues since at least biblical times, environmental ethics as a discipline is really quite young. Many in the field point to Rachel Carson’s 1962 Silent Spring as marking the beginning of modern environmental ethics. Prior to Carson’s book, the discipline was not very well defined, with much of the discourse focusing strictly on the proper use of property. After Carson’s book, however, environmental ethics began to take shape, and today there are a number of paradigms available to help us understand our place in our world, and what, if any, our obligations to the environment consist of. In this course, we're going to explore just these obligations. We'll consider some general issues, a variety of paradigmatic approaches, some specific issues and some case studies.
This course is a Leadership Studies designated course, and is an elective for the Environmental Studies minor. It also fulfills the Religion/Philosophy requirement for general education.
Methods and Structure:
Our classes will be a blend of lecture, discussion, case studies and class presentations. As a community of inquiry, we'll be learning from each other. As such, it is imperative that for each meeting, you read carefully the materials for that day. This kind of course only works well when all are prepared.
Assignments:
1.Through the course of the semester, you will be required to do two short papers, one on one of the cases from Watersheds and the other on Korten's When Corporations Rule the World. These papers should be 4-6 standard pages (12 point with reasonable margins), word-processed and double spaced. These papers will be presented in class on the day they are due. You may simply read the paper should you choose, but a more informal presentation is also acceptable. The point of the presentation is to encourage and provoke class discussion. Don't be afraid to take a stand. Also, if you are new to writing philosophy papers, check out my handout, complete with tips, guidelines, etc.
2. For our unit on the theories of environmental ethics, each of you will sign up to write a response to one of the discussion questions at the end of the chapter (I will choose the questions). Since we have five theories, three of you will respond to each. These questions will serve as a focus for at least part of the class discussion. These should be about two pages long.
3. A final, individual paper of about 8-12 pages will be required. For this paper, there is a great deal of latitude in regard to the subject matter. The issues(s) you address, though, must deal with some ethical question concerning the environment. While you need not limit yourselves to topics actually covered in class, you must demonstrate a command of the relevant tools of analysis derived from the class. Your topics may well come from one of the two following varieties (these are not exhaustive):
(a) A case of your own choosing, from your own experience, research, etc. If you choose this option, you should give enough details of the situation to make the case meaningful to an outsider. Then you analyze the case as we have been doing all semester, making certain that you bring the relevant theoretical considerations to bear.
(b) An issue which arises in the readings and/or discussion which you would like to explore without the apparatus of a case analysis. You might wish to explore, for example, the more abstract topics of economic justice, the nature of moral standing, our duty to trees or animals, our duty to future generations, etc.
The final paper will be due at our scheduled final exam time (Friday, May 12).
4. Your attendance and informed participation is assumed. Your are expected to have read carefully the materials for the week. I will have no hesitancy in calling on anyone, whether a hand is raised or not. Each student is expected to attend all of the class meetings and to be an active participant in those meetings. If you are not able to attend class or you are not able to be prepared, you should let me know. To encourage preparation, I will give each of you two (2) "unprepareds." If you come to class unprepared, you should let me know, and I will not call on you that day. You may do this twice without penalty. If you do not tell me that you are unprepared, I will assume that I can call on you at any time. As for attendance, more than 4 absences will carry a letter grade penalty for the final grade. More than 6 will result in failing the class.
5. Check the web syllabus frequently. I'll be putting up course handouts and web links throughout the course of the semester. A number of our readings will come from web links and will not be handed out in class. You are just as responsible for that stuff as you are for what is printed on the original course syllabus.
6. And, of course, abide by the Honor Code. Blatant violations of the Honor Code will result in class failure.
Distinction in Leadership Studies:
This course fulfills a requirement for the Distinction in Leadership Studies Program. Given that effective leaders are not always ethical leaders, the study of ethics in general is essential for understanding ethical leadership. Furthermore, the issues we discuss involving the environment are a natural fit for applying and exploring the concept of leadership.
If you are taking this course to meet a requirement for the Leadership Program, then some of your writing must deal with the issues from a leadership perspective, including some utilization of the theories covered in LS 200. You will have numerous opportunities to explore these issues, ranging from Abbey's "monkey-wrenching" techniques to the leaders involved in our case studies to the activism analyzed in Korten, etc.
Grading:
The two short presentation papers will each count for 20% of the final grade, for a total of 40%. The final paper will count for 40%. Class attendance and participation (including your writing on the theories and on Abbey) will count for 20%.
Tentative Course Schedule
Background:
2/7 Introduction, syllabus and questions.
2/9 Ethics, Science and the Environment; Ethical Theory.
2/14 Continued, then Property and Natural Law
Applied Issues and Cases:
2/16 Ethics and Economics: Managing Public Lands.
2/21 Pesticides and Birds; Nuclear Weapons Cleanup
2/23 Responsibilities to Future Generations: Sustainable Development
2/28 The Population Problem
3/2 Global Climate Change
3/7 Conserving for Future Generations—the death of the fisheries
Reading: Watersheds, Ch 8. See also “Aquaculture's Troubled Harvest”
3/9 No Class—I’m out of town.
3/14 Responsibilities to the Natural World: From Anthropocentric to Nonanthropocentric Ethics.
Reading: Des Jardins, 94-122
3/16 Trees
Theories of Environmental Ethics:
3/21 Biocentric Ethics and the Inherent Value of Life
Reading: Des Jardins, Chapter 6 (Questions: 1 or 2)
3/23 Wilderness, Ecology, and Ethics; and The Land Ethic
Reading: Des Jardins, Chapter 7 (Questions: 1 or 4) and Chapter 8 (Questions: 1 or 6)
4/4 Deep Ecology
Reading: Des Jardins, Chapter 9 (Questions: 2 or 3)
4/6 Environmental Justice and Social Ecology
4/11 Ecofeminism; and Pluralism, Pragmatism, and Sustainability
Reading: Des Jardins, Chapter 11 (Questions: 2 or 3) and Chapter 12.
When Corporations Rule the World: Environmentalism and Globalism:
4/13 Korten, Chapters 1-3
4/18 Korten, Chapters 4-7
4/20 Korten, Chapters 8-12
4/25 Korten, Chapters 13-15
4/27 No Class: Honors Day
5/2 Korten, Chapters 16-18
5/4 Korten, Chapters 19-21
5/9 Korten, Chapters 22-23 and Epilogue
Sometime while reading Korten, you should check out: “Living in Candlestick Park” and also: “A Special Moment in History”