University of Texas at Austin
PHILOSOPHY 325C
Spring 1999
Environmental Philosophy
Instructor: Sahotra Sarkar.
Office Hours: W. 3 –5 p.m.,
but students are welcome any time I’m in.
E-mail: <sarkar@mail.utexas.edu>.
Office: 309 Waggener.
Phone: (512) 471 –5293.
FAX: (512) 471 -4806.
Teaching Assistant: Ariela Tubert.
Office Hours: TBA.
E-mail: <atubert@mail.utexas.edu>.
Office: 414 Waggener.
Phone: (512) 475 -9195.
This is a course on environmental philosophy that focuses primarily on philosophical
problems posed by the accelerated extinction of biological species and the efforts to halt
these extinctions. It is broader than a conventional course on environmental ethics,
paying as much attention to the methodological and epistemological problems
associated with biological conservation as to the reasons for promoting that goal. The
semester will begin with a short introduction of the evolutionary processes (adaptation,
speciation and extinction) that frame the production and depletion of biological diversity.
The basics of ecology, with an emphasis on habitat, will then be discussed. The role of
biogeography in the development of evolutionary theory and ecology will be discussed.
This will be followed by an exploration of the difficulty of establishing that there
genuinely is a biodiversity crisis, that is, that extinctions of species are taking place at
an unacceptable rate. This will be followed by a careful analysis of possible reasons for
acting to halt extinctions (environmental ethics). Options considered will range from
purely economic arguments to claims that all species have intrinsic value. The nature of
cultural (aesthetic, religious, etc.) reasons for biodiversity conservation will also be
discussed. This discussion of normative reasons for conservation will be followed by
one of the foundations of the science that is supposed to provide a basis for designing
policies for conservation: conservation biology. After a discussion of historical attempts
at resource conservation, attention will shift to how conservation biology emerged as an
identifiable discipline in the US in the 1980s. The differences between US-style
conservation biology and alternative cultural traditions for conserving natural resources
will be discussed in detail. The role of ecology in each of these traditions will be
reviewed with the aim of determining to what extent (if any) scientific ecology can
contribute to biological conservation, and to what extent it is a socio-political problem.
The course will end with a discussion of the possible aims of a social ecology directed
to the conservation of biological species and ecosystems.
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Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this course.
Texts: (i) Packets of readings are being made available at “Paradigm” (482 -7986); the
first packet, which contains the readings for the first 4 weeks is already available. These
readings are also being put on the web at <www.coursepackets.com> and may be
printed from that source. The readings for each week are described in the syllabus
below; those marked “*” are recommended but not required;
(ii) lecture notes describing each week’s topics will also be put on the web at the end of
each week. Details will be announced later in class. These notes should not be
regarded as an alternative way of accessing material presented in class. Full
attendance is expected and the examination (see below) will test all materials presented
in class or present in the readings assigned in the course packets. Reading these notes
is not a requirement for the course. These notes are part of a book-in-progress.
Sometimes they will discuss more advanced topics than what are presented in class.
These topics will not be broached in the examination.
Requirements: Grades will be assigned on the basis of two requirements: (i) an openbook mid-term examination which will consist of multiple-choice and short-answer
questions (worth 50 % of the grade); and (ii) a 3000-word (roughly 10 double-spaced
pages) paper due at the end of the semester (worth 50 % of the grade). The paper topic
will have to be selected from a set of alternatives that will be provided in class.
Discussion Session: The TA will conduct a discussion session every Monday, 6 -7
p.m. (though the schedule may change, and there may be an alternative
session). Attendance is expected. The location will be announced later.
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