University of Texas at Austin
PHILOSOPHY 325C
Spring 1999
Environmental Philosophy
Paper Topics
The following are suggested paper topics for the course. This list will be updated
weekly, every Tuesday morning. You may also devise a topic of your own but these
must be cleared with me.
Most paper topics will involve some reading beyond the class. I will try to indicate the
most important readings along with the topic. However, after you have decided on a
topic, get in touch with me to get additional references.
Grading Policy:
(i) Topic appropriateness: 5 points. Guaranteed if you choose one of the topics
below. Otherwise: 5 points if your topic traverses 4 weekly subjects; 4
points if it traverses 3; 3 points if it traverses 2; 2 points if it traverses 1; 0
points if it has not been cleared by me;
(ii) Spelling and grammar: 5 points. I will deduct 1 point for each mistake. This
means that if you make 3 mistakes you get 2 points, if you make 4
mistakes you get 1 point and so on;
(iii) Clarity: 5 points. Can I understand what you are trying to say?;
(iv) Structure: 10 points. Say what you are going to do right at the beginning of
the paper and stick to it religiously;
(v) Reading: 10 points. Did you do the necessary reading? Did you understand
it?;
(vi) Content: 15 points. Have you successfully argued for the point that you are
trying to make? Have you really told the story you promised? This is the
most important consideration for grading the paper.
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1. Traditional Resource Modulation.
Take some traditional resource modulation scheme (say, one by any of the First
Nations) and try to answer the following questions: what was the value of the system?;
what type of value was it?; what was the target of conservation?; what was successfully
conserved?; what role (if any) does general biodiversity play in selecting targets?
2. Wilderness and Biodiversity.
Examine both sides of the question whether preserving wilderness helps conserve
biodiversity. From ecological theory, when is it likely that wilderness preservation is
necessary for biodiversity? Empirically, how often do such conditions hold? (This will
require some survey of conservation practices.
3. Economic Valuation of Biodiversity.
Why put a value on biodiversity? What are the philosophical problems with such
valuation? What are the practical problems with such valuation? What are some of the
values that have been suggested? How uncertain are these values? How good a
rationale for biodiversity conservation emerges from economic valuation?
4. The Declining Population Approach to Conservation.
Suppose that, instead of population viability analysis, we adopt the declining population
approach to conservation programs. What practices would change? Why? Which is
better? Why?
5. National Parks and Biodiversity Protection.
What is the national parks model for biodiversity protection? Where were national parks
first created? Why? What did it have to do with biodiversity? When did biodiversity
considerations enter into the selection of national parks? How successful has the
marriage been? (Use at least one case study.)
6. Conservation Biology as a Normative Science.
How is conservation biology different from ecology? Why is the former a "normative"
discipline? What are the various types of normativity in it? How does it affect practice?
Does the normativity percolate downwards into the conceptual structure of conservation
biology? If so, how?
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7. The State of Austin I.
Choose an environmental problem that affects Austin. How did it arise? What does that
reflect about ecological knowledge, and the ability/desire to use that knowledge in
framing policy? (What assumptions are you making about the “goodness” of scientific
knowledge?) Does the problem show that good scientific knowledge was not available
at the relevant time? Or, is it the case that such scientific knowledge was available but
not used in policy decisions? If the latter, why? What can be done to ameliorate the
problem? What kind of scientific data may be relevant? Can this data be collected with
sufficient reliability? If not, how should we make decisions?
8. The State of Austin II.
Alternatively, choose an environmental initiative that has emerged in the city. What
normative values does this initiative presume? What are the justifications for these
values? Is the initiative based on sound ecology? Why? If it is not, what type of studies
need to be done?
9. Hornsby Bend.
Reconstruct the history of Hornsby Bend. What does the bird diversity of Hornsby Bend
tell us about the relation of wilderness to biodiversity? In what way does Hornsby Bend
present an innovation in our ideas about conserving biodiversity? Discuss the
conservationist measures that are being implemented at Hornsby Bend. What values
are embodied in them? What are their justifications?
10. Island Biogeography and the Design of Nature Reserves.
What is a species-area curve? Why are islands appropriate as models for nature
reserves? How reliable is a species-area curve? Should these curves be used in the
design of a nature reserve system? Do the problems with species-area curves reflect a
general epistemological problem with ecology? What role should scientific ecology play
in conservation biology?
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