Environmental Ethics
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Course Description
Environmentalism is in many ways a byproduct of the industrial revolution. Over the second half
of the 20th century, the pollution, damage and destruction of natural habitats, including plant,
animal, and human communities, has led many to formulate an environmental ethics. In this
course, we will examine the major schools of environmental ethics, including biocentrism, deep
ecology, and ecofeminism and address questions such as the following: Do animals have rights?
Do natural beings have intrinsic value? What is humanity’s proper place in nature? Is the clash
between economic growth and ecological health a zero-sum game? In addition to these
questions, we will also explore the social, political, and economic dimensions of environmental
problems such as climate change, sustainable business, energy, and food. Our animating question
for the course will be: how can we reconcile our humanist and environmentalist intuitions?
Course Objectives:
 Cultivate critical thinking, reading and writing skills, all of which are honed in
one way: practice, practice, practice.
 Gain competence in identifying, evaluating, and eventually constructing
philosophical arguments.
 Acquire a basic and interdisciplinary grasp of environmental ethics and policy
 Discern how philosophy is at work in our own lives and today’s world
Texts
Michael E. Zimmerman, ed., et al., Environmental Philosophy: From Animal Rights to Radical
Ecology, 4th Edition (New York: Prentice Hall, 2004)
Holmes Rolston, III, A New Environmental Ethics: The Next Millennium for Life on Earth (New
York: Routledge, 2012)
Additional readings will be posted in pdf via email or Blackboard
Group Presentations: “Environmental Stakeholders”
Toward the end of the seminar, you will be responsible for a final presentation.
Tasks
Your group will be assigned a case study that exemplifies a broader environmental problem. The
group will analyze this case from four perspectives:
a) political/policy
-what is the history and status of the relevant regulations, legislation, and
policy?
-what is the policy debate over?
-what does the political lay of the land look like? What special interest
groups are involved? How does this issue relate to other political
issues vying for attention?
b) business/economics
-how does or would relevant regulations affect local, regional, national, or global
economies?
-how do economists of different ideological persuasions view the issue?
-how are various businesses/industries addressing/neglecting the issue?
-what relationship to, or influence on, political groups and policy makers
do relevant business interests have?
c) scientific/technology
-what do ecologists, environmental scientists, conservation biologists, etc.,
have to say on this issue?
-what are the extant technologies relevant to the issue? Are they problems
or solutions? What is the technological “forecast” regarding this
issue?
-what gaps or limitations plague the science/technology on this issue?
d) ethical
-which ethical theories that we have examined apply to this issue?
-what would these theories prescribe?
-which theory most adequately addresses the issue?
Each group member will play one of these roles. The questions above are just guidelines; you
need not address them all, nor need you confine yourself to them.
Presentations should be approximately 35 minutes long (25-30 presenting + 5-10 for questions)
The Primary Goal is to approach an INTEGRAL PERSPECTIVE on the issue—not just
analyzing it from these four perspectives, but trying to understand how they fit together.
Goals
1) to explore and debate ideas with your peers in a focused and team setting
2) apply the thinkers/themes covered in class to a real-world environmental issue
3) strive for an integral perspective on a complex issue
4) teach the rest of the class about it/them in an accessible way
5) to have a springboard for your final paper
Presentations will be evaluated on:
1) clarity/accuracy
2) compendiousness (the fusion of concision and comprehensiveness)
3) organization
4) engagement (is the material presented in an interesting, accessible way?)
5) integration (how well are the different perspectives synthesized, connected, etc.?)
Note: the group will receive ONE GRADE as a whole—your fates are bound!
Course Schedule
Primer
1-15:
Rolston, “The Environmental Turn”
1-18:
1-22:
Joseph R. Des Jardins, “Ethical Theory and the Environment” (online)
Donald VandeVeer, “Evaluating Ethical Theories” (online)
Des Jardins, “Science, Ethics, and the Environment” (online)
Steven Stoll, “U.S. Environmentalism since 1945” (online)
Humans: Anthropocentrism
1-25:
1-29:
2-1:
2-5:
2-8:
Rolston, “Humans: People on Their Landscapes”
White, “The Historical Roots of the Ecological Crisis” (online)
John Passmore, “Man as Despot” (online)
Callicott, “Introduction” (EP)
Sylan, “Is There a Need for a New, an Environmental Ethic?” (EP)
Norton, “Environmental Ethics and Weak Anthropocentrism”
Rosalind Hursthouse, “Environmental Virtue Ethics” (online)
Ronald Sandler, “A Virtue Ethics Perspective on Genetically Modified Crops”
(online)
GMO Case Study (online)
Film in class: The Future of Food
Report #1 Due
Animals: Zoocentrism
2-12:
2-15:
2-22:
2-26:
3-1:
Rolston, “Animals: Beasts in Flesh and Blood”
Singer, “All Animals Are Equal” (EP)
Regan, “Animal Rights, Human Wrongs” (EP)
Carl Cohen, “The Case for the Use of Animals in Biomedical Research” (online)
“Cosmetics Industry and the Draize Test” (online)
Roger Scruton, “Against Animal Rights” (online)
Report #2 Due
Donald VanDeVeer, “Interspecific Justice” (online)
Midterm Exam
Life: Biocentrism
3-5:
3-8:
3-19:
Rolston, “Organisms: Respect for Life”
Goodpaster, “On Being Morally Considerable” (EP)
Taylor, “The Ethics of Respect for Nature” (EP)
Callicott, “On the Intrinsic Value of Nonhuman Species” (online)
Rolston, “Species and Biodiversity: Lifelines in Jeopardy”
Report #3 Due
Land: Ecocentrism
3-22:
3-26:
4-2:
4-5:
Rolston, “Ecosystems: The Land Ethic”
Leopold, “The Land Ethic”
Callicott, “Holistic Environmental Ethics and the Problem of Ecofascism” (EP)
Callicott, “Animal Rights and Environmental Ethics: Back Together Again” (EP)
Bill Devall and George Sessions, “Deep Ecology” (online)
Arne Naess, Self-Realization: An Ecological Approach to Being in the World”
(online)
Report #4 Due
Earth: Green Politics, Business, and Economics
4-9:
4-12:
4-16:
4-19:
4-23:
4-26:
4-30:
DesJardins, “Ethics and Economics” (online)
Zimmerman, “A Strategic Direction for 21st Century Environmentalists: FreeMarket Environmentalism” (online)
Rolston, “Earth: Ethics on the Home Planet”
Baxter, “People or Penguins” (online)
Paul Hawken, “A Declaration of Sustainability”
Hardin, “Tragedy of the Commons” (online)
Stephen M. Gardiner, “The Perfect Moral Storm” (online)
IPCC 2007 Assessment (online)
Film in class: An Inconvenient Truth
Group Presentations
Final Paper First Draft Due
Group Presentations
Group Presentations
Final Paper Due