Course Summary | Course Objectives | Required Texts | Suggested Texts | Lesson Board

Environmental Philosophies & Ethics

EVR 3020

CRN 11395

http://ruby.fgcu.edu/courses/twimberley/EnviroPhilo/EnviroPhiloMain.htm

Division of Marine and Ecological Sciences

College of Arts & Sciences

Fort Myers, FL


Thursday Mornings: 9:30 a.m. -  12:15 p.m.

 

Room 125 Merwin Hall

Instructor:

 Edward T. "Terry" Wimberley, Ph.D.

Professor, Ecological Studies

259 Whitaker Hall

239.590.7752 (FGCU)

239.405-4164 (Cell)

twimber@fgcu.edu

 

twimber@comcast.net

 


Office Hours: Thursdays, 1:00p.m. - 4:00 p.m. & By Appointment

Plagiarism Warning

APA Citations and References

 

Course Summary

Over the past three decades a new area of philosophical study has emerged — environmental philosophy. Philosophers have turned to the environment in practical response to the multitude of ecological problems modern industrial society has spawned. This course will examine several such pressing environmental issues, principally employing pragmatic philosophical methodologies. After having pragmatic approaches to environmental philosophy and policy we will survey the major approaches philosophers and theoreticians have adopted to address a range of environmental problems. This will take us through an inquiry regading anthropocentrism and the concept of “moral community,” i.e., the realm of objects (human “persons”, members of other species, places, things) entitled to moral consideration. We will also examine several so-called ‘radical’ ecological movements whose proponents maintain that the only way to resolve the current spate of environmental problems is by fundamentally transforming modern society and revising how we look at the human-nature relationship. Finally, the course will also explore the impact of two key economic philosophers (A.F. Hayek and John Maynard Keynes) upon our modern attitudes toward sustaining the environment.

Course Objectives

  1. Acquaint students with the "history" of ideas from which historical and modern environmental philosophies and ethics emanate. 

  1. Equip students with critical thinking skills required to analyze complex environmental / ecological issues and to make informed ethical decisions.

  1. Provide students with systematic tools for pragmatically analyzing and comparing various options for action in terms of their ethical implications and consequences.

  1. Enable students to more consistently replace uncritical bias with reflective consideration in weighing issues of ethical concern.

  1. Familiarize the students with economic theory and philosophy as they relate to our modern attitudes toward sustaining the environment.

  1. Enable students to utilize the APA documentation method to reflect where they draw the material that they incorporate into their written assignments

 

Required Texts:

Minteer, Ben (2012) Refounding Environmental Ethics: Pragmatics, Principle and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. ISBN-10: 1439900841

Wimberley, Edward T. (2009) Nested Ecology: The Place of Humans in the Ecological Hierarchy. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN-10: 0801892899

Wimberley, Edward T. and Pellegrino, Scott (2012) Ecopragmatics: Environmental

Philosophy and Policy Derived from the Work of William James.

Dictionary of Philosophy (Online) Theological Dictionary (Online) 

 

Suggested Texts:

Yergin, Daniel and Stanislaw, Joseph (2002) The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy. New York, NY: Free Press (ISBN-10: 068483569X) 

Yergin & Stanislaw's Commanding Heights video on PBS.

Using the Lesson Board:

In using the course "Lesson Board" which is found in the university's ANGEL distance learning software, notice that the Lesson Board consists of a series of Drop Box" folders. The "Drop" box folders are for the use of students. Use the "Drop" box that matches the class session that the homework is assigned. Put your exam into Drop 13 and your class essay into Drop 14.

 

Class Sessions