HON/HPS 377
Spring 2004
DonBeggs@asu.edu
Irish-A 212; 965-8970
office hours:
Mon 8:15-9:15
Tue 1:30-2:30
or by appointment
NATURE IN CONTEXT
Description
The objective of this course is to enable students to begin to form their own
interdisciplinary orientations to nature and to our more immediate environment(s).
All such orientations are concerned with how we can know nature, how we can
aesthetically appreciate nature, and why we should care about nature. Course
readings draw mostly upon philosophy and the science and history of ecology.
Requirements and Grading
 Participation (includes preparation for and quality of discussion; classes
missed without good reason count as negative participation), 10%.
 Two 1000-word essays, 20% each; due February 18 and March 24.
 Final 2000-word essay, 50%; due May 7.
 Letter grades will be assigned as follows: 100-90% = A, 89-80% = B, etc.
Texts
 Allen Carlson, Aesthetics and the Environment (Routledge 2002); 0-41530105-X
 Freeman Dyson, Origins of Life (Cambridge University Press 1999, 2nd
edition); 0-521-62668-4
 The Philosophy of Ecology (University of Georgia Press 2000), David R.
Keller and Frank B. Golley, eds.; 0-8203-2220-2
 Paul Taylor, Respect for Nature: A Theory of Environmental Ethics
(Princeton University Press 1986); 0-691-02250-X
 Donald Worster, Nature's Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas
(Cambridge University Press 2nd ed., 1994); 0-521-46834-5
 Course Reader. Available at Alternative Copy Shop, 204 E. Forest Ave.,
602-829-7992 (just north of University Ave.).
Reading and Discussion Schedule
I. Introductory Problems
and Concepts
Mar.3
Ford 279-290, 305-308
Apr.19
Taylor 41-98
Mar.8
PE 204-225
Apr.21
Taylor 99-168
Jan.28
Hawking “The Arrow of
Time”; Mill “Nature” 3-31
Mar.10
PE 226-231
Apr.26
Taylor 169-218
Feb.2
Mill 31-65
Mar 15,17
spring break
Apr.28
Taylor 219-255
Feb.4
Nagel “Panpsychism”
III. Aesthetics of Nature
May 3
Taylor 256-313
Jan.26
Worster 2-111
II. Knowledge of Nature
Mar.22
Worster 190-253
Feb.9
Dyson 1-47
Mar.24
Carlson 3-27
Feb.11
Dyson 49-91
Mar.29
Carlson 28-101
Feb.16
Worster 113-187
PE (The Philosophy of
Ecology) 71-80
Mar.31
Carlson 102-137
Apr.5
Carlson 194-215
Feb.18
PE 115-123, 288-303
IV. Ethics of Nature
Feb.23
PE 133-152
Apr.7
Worster 256-315
Feb.25
PE 152-179
Apr.12
Worster 316-433
Mar.1
Ford 235-257
Apr.14
Taylor 3-41