I Course Overview and Objectives: Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Weeks 5-7 Week 8 Weeks 8-10 Weeks Week II Graded Assignments:

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1 PHIL 355 (A1): Philosophy of the Environment Fall 2010 MWF (Education Building (ED) 128); 11:00-11:50 Edwin Etieyibo (3-55 Assiniboia Hall); Course website: Office Hours (Monday & Thursday 2:30-4pm, and by appointment) I Course Overview and Objectives: Today, one of the most important philosophical issues that can be raised with regards to nature or the environment is the ethics of our relationship with it. We are encouraged to be good stewards of nature. In general, stewards manage resources for the benefit of others as well as themselves. But this raises a number of questions: What does being good stewards of nature mean and involve? Who are the others whose interests we ought morally to take into account? Future generations? Sentient beings? Non-human animals? Eco-systems? Nature itself? And what if the interests of these various stakeholders should come into conflict? How do we adjudicate between them? And what should the aims of our stewardship be? The principal aims of this course are to (a) introduce students to the major philosophical/ethical issues that arise in the context of these questions and (b) develop the analytical tools necessary to understand and navigate through them. Week 1 Introduction September 8/10 Week 2 Moral Values September 13/15/17 Week 3 Western Religious/Cultural Perspectives on Environmentalism September 20/22/24 Week 4 Non-western Religious/Cultural Perspectives on Environmentalism Sept 27/29 & Oct 1 Weeks 5-7 Food and the Planet: The Omnivore s Dilemma October 4-8, & Week 8 Midterm Exam October 25 Weeks 8-10 Ethical Obligations, Environmentalism/Moral Object Oct 27-29, Nov 1-5 & 8/10 Weeks Equity, Population and Sustainability November & Week Wilderness, Environmental Restoration, and Rewilding Nov 29, Dec 1/3 & 6/8 II Graded Assignments: The university s 4-point system is used for marking all assignments and your grade will be based upon your scores in the following assignments. Assignment/Coursework Worth Due Date First Paper 15% October 8 Midterm 30% October 25 Participation 25% Throughout the term Second Paper 30% December 8 Total 100% The lengths of the first and second papers are 2-3 pages (double-spaced) and 4-6 pages respectively. The first paper is due on Friday October 8 and it is worth 15%. The second paper is worth 30% and is due the last day of class (December 8). Note that papers turned in late without prior arrangement with me may be marked down by 10% per day. Participation is worth 25% of the final grade. It is a combination of class attendance (55% of 20%) and class discussion (45% of 20%). 1

2 The midterm exam is worth 30% of the final grade and will take place on Monday October 25 in our in our usual classroom and time (ED 128, 11:00-11:50. The exam will be written in exam booklets and details about the format will be posted on the course website a few weeks after class begins. Grading pattern: No grading curve will be used or applied in the course. III Prerequisites There are no formal prerequisites for this class. IV Course Material 1. Donald VanDeVeer and Christine Pierce, The Environmental Ethics & Policy Book (Available in SUB Bookstore) 2. Selected Readings (Available online on the course website) V Course Website (URL: The course will be supported by a moodle course website. To gain access you must register with an enrolment key which you have to get from me. VI Academic Integrity Plagiarism is a violation of the University s Academic Integrity policies. The Calendar offers the following definition of plagiarism: The submission by a student of the words, ideas, images, or data of another person as the student's own in any academic writing, essay, thesis, research project, or assignment in a course or program of study. Please note that plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct are subject to serious penalties at the University of Alberta. The Calendar notes: The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour (online at and avoid any behaviour which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University. (GFC 29 SEP 2003) VII Readings Schedule This schedule is tentative and may be subject to change (with notice) as circumstances warrant, consistent with University s policies on course outlines. (See 23.4(2) of the University Calendar for policies on course outlines.) In the first two weeks of class we will examine some ethical theories and the theoretical resources they offer for dealing with issues on the environment. In particular, we will focus on the sort of values and moral conduct that these theories encourage us to cultivate with regards to nature. Following this, we will examine (for two weeks) two different standpoints on environmentalism: the Western and non-western religious and cultural perspectives. 1. Introduction (Week 1: September 8/10) What is environmental philosophy? What is environmental stewardship? 2

3 2. Moral Values and Conduct (Week 2: September 13-17) Beneficence (Utilitarianism), Respect (Deontology, Immanuel Kant), Reciprocity (Contractarianism, Thomas Hobbes), and Virtue (Virtue Ethics) (Readings and notes on theses are available on the web) 3. Western Religious and Cultural Perspectives on Environmentalism (Week 3: Sep 20-24) (i) Andrew Linzey (Reverend Dr.) (For God So Loved the World, p.58-62) (ii) Robert Gordis (Judaism and the Environment, p.62-65) (iii) Robin Attfield (Stewardship versus Exploitation, p.66-70) 4. Non-western Religious/Cultural Perspectives on Environmentalism (Sept 27/29 & Oct 1) (i) R. Guha (Radical Environmentalism and Wilderness Preservation: A Third World Critique, p ) (ii) O.P. Dwivedi: Satyagraha for Conservation: A Hindu View (iii) Lily De Silva: The Buddhist Attitude Towards Nature (iv) Mawil Y. Izzi Deen (Samarrai): Islamic Environmental Ethics, Law, and Society (v) Segun Ogungbemi: An African Perspective on the Environmental Crisis 5. Food and the Planet: The Omnivore s Dilemma (Weeks 5-7: October 4-8, & 18-22) The subject of food or what to eat is a very interesting one. As humans we must eat to survive. However, our food choices have various implications on our planet; they harm the planet by exerting significant pressure on natural resources (i.e. threaten the planet s carrying capacity). Since some food choices cause more harm to the planet than others what are we morally obligated to do? Do we have a moral duty to pick food choices that cause less harm to the planet? What shall we eat I? Going hungry or eating less to save nature? (Week 5) (i) FOE Canada Green Box Program (ii) CBC (Climate Change Prompts Inuit to Reduce Hunt, Limit Healthy Foods) (iii) Holmes Rolston (Feeding People Versus Saving Nature) (iii) Robin Attfield (versus Rolston, Saving Nature, Feeding People and Ethics) (iv) Holmes Rolston (reply to Attfield, Saving Nature, Feeding People, and the Foundations of Ethics) What shall we eat II? Vegetarianism? (Week 6) (i) Tristram Coffin (The World Food Supply: The Damage Done by Cattle-Raising) (ii) Michael Allen Fox (Vegetarianism and Treading Lightly on the Earth) (iii) Noam Mohr (A New Global Warming Strategy: How Environmentalists are Overlooking Vegetarianism as the Most Effective Tool Against Climate Change in Our Lifetimes) (iv) Dan Piraro (Lightbulbs and Fastfood: Bizarro Cartoonist Wises Up) What shall we eat2? Frankenfood? (Week 7) (i) Stephen Palumbi (Brute-Force Genetic Engineering, pp ) (ii) Richard Lewontin (Genes in the Food! pp ) (iii) Kangaroo Farts (Quest to Make Cattle Fart Like Marsupials) (iv) Jonathan Rauch (Can Frankenfood Save the Planet?) 3

4 (v) Mae-Wan Ho (The Unholy Alliance) (vi) MJ Petersen (Ethical Evaluation of Using Genetically Modified Organisms and Plants) (vii) Jeffery Burkhardt (Agricultural Biotechnology and The Future Benefits Argument) (viii) Sarah Schmidt (This Frankenpiggy May go to Market) (ix) David Suzuki (Science Matters: Better than Nature?) Optional Readings (x) Ronald Sandler (An Aretaic Objection to Agricultural Biotechnology) (xi) Genetically Modified Crops (GM Crops: Effects on Farmland Wildlife) 6. Ethical Obligations, Environmentalism and the Moral Object (Oct 27-29, Nov 1-5 & 8/10) Many environmental policy decisions have significant impact not only on wildlife (considered either as individuals or as species) and wildlife habitat, but on nature as a whole. In this section we will examine the questions of what ethical obligations, if any, we have and to whom/what (humans, sentient beings, non-human animals, nature itself, eco-systems, future generations). We shall also consider the question of whom/what should be the object of our moral consideration. Stakeholders1: Future Generations? (Week 8) (i) Ernest Partridge (Future Generations, pp ) (ii) Joel Feinberg (Future Generations) (iii) United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (iv) Robert Heilbroner (What Has Posterity Ever Done for Me?) (v) Garrett Hardin (Who Cares for Posterity?) (vi) Martin Golding (Limited Obligations to Future Generations) (vii) Jennifer Welchman (Virtue Ethics on the Future Generations and the Last Generation Problems) (viii) Derek Parfit (Energy Policy and the Further Future: The Identity Problem Stakeholders 2: Sentient Animals? (Week 9) (i) Peter Singer (Animal Liberation, pp ) (ii) Tom Reagan (The Case for Animal Rights, pp ) (iii) Immanuel Kant (Rational Beings Alone Have Moral Worth) (iv) Immanuel Kant (Indirect Duties to Nonhumans) (v) Holly Wilson (The Green Kant: Kant s Treatment of Animals) (vi) Mary Anne Warren (A Critique of Regan s Animal Rights Theory) (vii) Associated Press (Deformed Frogs Results From Farm Runoff) (viii) Hanneke Brooymans (Wells Threaten Rare Woodland Caribou: Group) Stakeholders 3: Biota? (Biocentrism) & Ecosystems? (Ecocentrism) (Week 10) (i) Kenneth Goodpaster (On Being Morally Considerable, pp ) (ii) Paul Taylor (The Ethics of Respect for Nature, pp ) (iii) Aldo Leopold (The Land Ethic, pp ) (iv) J. Baird Callicott (The Conceptual Foundations of the Land Ethic, pp ) 4

5 7. Equity, Population and Sustainability (Weeks 11-12: November & 22-26) Many environmental problems arise from the depletion of various natural resources. Policies that aim to regulate resource utilization face a basic ethical issue: How do we adjudicate competing claims on scarce natural resources? What counts as a just distribution of these resources? Here we ll examine property a bit, then we ll focus on the debate on overpopulation and depletion of resources. The Population Debate (Week 11) (i) Thomas Robert Malthus (An Essay on the Principle of Population, pp ) (ii) Garret Hardin (Lifeboat Ethics, pp ) (iii) Julian Simon (Can the Supply of Natural Resources Really Be Infinite? Yes!, pp ) (iv) Clark Wolf (Population, Development, and the Environmental) (v) Paul R. Ehrlich and John P. Holdren (Impact of Population Growth) (vi) Elizabeth Willott (Recent Population Trends) (vii) Joel Cohen (Population Growth and Earth s Human Carrying Capacity) Tragedies of the Commons and Enclosure, and Property Rights (Week 12) (i) Garret Hardin (The Tragedy of the Commons, pp ) (ii) George Monbiot (The Tragedy of Enclosure, pp (iii) John Locke (The Creation of Property, pp ) (iv) Kristin Shrader-Fréchette (Property Rights in Natural Resources, pp ) (v) Mark Sagoff (Takings, Just Compensation, and the Environment, pp ) 8. The Wilderness Debate, Environmental Restoration/Rewilding (Nov 29, Dec 1/3 & 6/8) We are told that the wilderness is being destroyed at an alarming rate. But what precisely is wilderness, and why does it matter to preserve it? In this section we will examine the debate about wilderness and efforts aimed at preserving or enhancing it, i.e. restoration and re-wilding. The Wilderness Debate (Week 13) (i) AWA (Definition of Wilderness) (ii) Callicott (The Wilderness Idea Revisited: The Sustainable Development Alternative) (iii) Holmes Rolston (The Wilderness Idea Reaffirmed) (iv) Robert Chapman (Ecological Restoration Restored) Environmental Restoration and Rewilding (Week 14) (i) The Rewilding Institute (Definition of Rewilding) (ii) Alan McQuillan (Defending the Ethics of Ecological Restoration) (iii) David Pitcher and Jennifer Welchman (Can an Environmental Paradise be Regained? The Hetch Hetchy Valley Question) (iv) Josh Donlan (Re-wilding North America) (v) TNB Ackroyd (Holland Goes Wild A Message for Britain s Landscape?) (vi) Frans W.M. Vera (Large-Scale Nature Development the Oostvaardersplassen) (vii) Emma Marris (Reflecting the Past) (viii) Hanneke Brooymans (Reclaimed Oilsands Site Receives Provincial Blessing) 5