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ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

Philosophy 1116

Professor: Eva Maria Raepple

Office: IC 2011d

Web site:

http://www.cod.edu/people/faculty/raepple/index.htm

THE HAVES The richest fifth of the world's people consumes 86 percent of all goods and services while the poorest fifth consumes just 1.3 percent. Indeed, the richest fifth consumes 45 percent of all meat and fish, 58 percent of all energy used and 84 percent of all paper, has 74 percent of all telephone lines and owns 87 percent of all vehicles.

NATURAL RESOURCES Since 1970, the world's forests have declined from 4.4 square miles per 1,000 people to 2.8 square miles per 1,000 people. In addition, a quarter of the world's fish stocks have been depleted or are in danger of being depleted and another 44 percent are being fished at their biological limit. (B. Crossette. Kofi Anan's Astonishing Facts. New York Times. September, 27. 1989)

“On our crowded planet there are no longer any internal affairs!” (Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Prize Laureate)

Look at the date for publication of the above "facts." The imbalances between "Haves" and "Have Nots" and the exploitation of resources have likely increased! Yet as Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Nobel Prize Laureate, argued: "On our crowded planet there are no longer any internal affairs!" Living in a global environment, will require imaginative, creative, and reflective abilities of all of us to deal with global environmental challenges on this "crowded planet." What has historically shaped ways in which human beings act in relation with each other and the environment? What might be necessary action today or in the future? Questions like these are raised in many discussions throughout the world from New York to Kyoto. They will also be in the center of class-discussion and occasional lectures during this course. We will critically analyze these concerns, in order to try to develop a conceptual framework that can be applied to local, national, and international issues. To be able to articulate one's own position in a complex argument should become a first step on a path to responsible environmental citizenship.

Course Objectives

1. Upon successful completion of the course the student should be able to do the following:

•  Demonstrate understanding of the major ways in which human kind has tried to think about and understand moral/ethical questions, issues and problems regarding human values and actions, specifically regarding environmental concerns from philosophical and religious perspectives

•  Describe the major elements, theories, and principles involved in ethics

•  Describe philosophical and religious approaches to moral/ethical decision-making

•  Recognize environmental ethics as an instance of applied ethics and gain a better perspective on what environmental ethics is and what its study can provide

•  Recognize and understand some of the major issues within environmental ethics, articulate the moral/ethical dilemmas involved, and apply the elements of ethics to the decision-making process

•  Recognize issues of domination in current concrete manifestations in the areas of environmental ethical concern

Requirements

Participation in this class is vital for a grade A or B. It is worth 30% of the grade. Discussing theories of ethics as well as moral issues requires the diverse perspectives of all students to make this an interesting and most productive course. There are several ways to show your contribution:

a) Read the texts, underline key passages, take notes, and, if necessary, read again. It is very hard to talk about a topic if students are not informed about it. Thorough preparations of the sometimes-complex texts will also be your most valuable preparation for the written essays.

b) You are required to keep a notebook with the questions for each reading. My suggestion is to use the journal in MYCOD. Please include the topic of the reading and the date. Since your thoughtful and critical contribution in these discussions accounts for 30% of your grade, please participate regularly! Missing more than two classes during the semester will negatively influence your participation grade.

c) Bring current materials, for examples newspaper articles, to be discussed in the context of the class.

Assignments - 40% of the accumulative grade will be determined by a number of essays written during class sessions in the computer-lab. Please check the calendar for MyCOD regarding place and times. The assignment will require a brief summary of a philosophical theory or argument as well as a critical response. Usually, an assignment should be 1-2 pages; double spaced 12 point font. The goal is to develop argumentative skills. The assignments need to be turned in after 75 minutes. Make sure that you do not miss any class assignments.

Please do not plagiarize. Keep in mind that this class follows the COD Student Code of Conduct http://www.cod.edu/resources/studentaffairs/conduct.pdf . The assignments must be your own work. The following website offers a comprehensive insight and examples how to acknowledge your sources: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~sources/. Proven plagiarism will earn you an F for the class, possibly a meeting with the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs, including a formal report and/or an appearance before a Judicial Board.

Project - During the second half of the quarter, all students will be required to discuss as a group a moral issue in the class. Please begin start early considering which issue you might be interested in. Section VI in your textbook provides you with initial readings regarding ethical problems in environmental studies. Find people with whom you will prepare the topic. Marianne Berger will offer an introduction for research material and techniques for the project in the COD library. With your project, you will be required to hand in an outline of your argument, a bibliography with descriptive abstracts of your sources as well as materials used to prepare your topic for the class discussion. This list should contain:

a) Names of the people in your group and planned date for your presentation
b) Abstracts of at least three academic sources (about 150 words each). If you would like to achieve a good grade, a Goggle search on your topic, one night before the project is due, will not be sufficient!
c) Abstracts of other materials (video, newspaper articles)

Please submit:

a) Your ethical argument (3 pages for each student). A brief overview on the structure of arguments is available at: http://www.cod.edu/people/faculty/raepple/philosophy/Structure%20of%20an%20argument.htm

b) Abstracts of all your bibliographic academic sources (minimum three). A Goggle search on your topic one night before the project is due will not be sufficient! Here is a guide to Writing Abstracts .

d) Abstracts of other materials (video, newspaper articles)

Please use MLA style documentation. The following Web sites are very helpful tools for the documentation of your sources:

Sources: Their Use and Acknowledgment http://www.dartmouth.edu/~sources/

The grading will particularly consider the following aspects: a) the scope of preparation for the project (readings) and the quality of the abstracts; b) whether the presentations and questions initiated lively discussion in the classroom. Therefore, please be creative in your approach to present your topic in an interesting way and prepare questions that engage the students in a debate about the topic.

Attendance - In case a class is missed, it is the student's responsibility to keep up with the material, in particular the computer sessions and assignments. Please be on time for class. Respect for others will make this class a much more enjoyable and productive environment for, thinking, and learning. In case a student will not be able to participate in the course any longer, he/she is responsible for withdrawing from the course.

Grading

Course Material:

Dale Jamieson ed. A Companion to Environmental Philosophy. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2003.

(Available in the bookstore)

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Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. "Environmental Ethics" 06/01/07 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-environmental/

Readings (tentative)