Students participating in this class session will prepare their homework assignments and post their responses in Drop box 10 on the course lesson board by 5:00 p.m. on the Sunday evening immediately following each on-campus class meeting. However, all class readings must be completed prior to class convening to insure students can participate in class discussion. Remember you are required to know the answers to each and every one of these questions for the Comprehensive Exam.

Viewing Assignment:

Michael Ayers on Locke and Berkeley (View Parts 1-4)

Reading Assignments:

Ecological Ethics, Chapters 9 &10; John Locke Of the State of Nature. p. 106-112

Text Discussion Questions

Pick six questions to answer between questions 1-11. Students participating in this class session will prepare their homework assignments and post their responses in Drop box 10 on the course lesson board by 5:00 p.m. on the Sunday evening immediately following each on-campus class meeting. However, all class readings must be completed prior to class convening to insure students can participate in class discussion. Remember you are required to know the answers to each and every one of these questions for the Comprehensive Exam.

1. Deep Green Theory rejects religion with its “reverence” for nature and embraces a more secular “respect for nature.“ Curry sees this move as an improvement over historical religious approaches to nature. Do you agree? Please explain.

2. On what grounds does Curry believe the replacement of reverence with respect may be a problem?

3. How pervasive is this new secular approach to the environment. Explain your response.

4. Explain Benson’s naturalistic approach to nature.

5. What is meant by “resacralization” of nature and what to its proponents cite as the benefits from so doing?

6. The text utilizes the terms “pluralist,” “local,” “sensuous particulars,” and “social” in regard to what concepts? Please explain.

7. What does the term “homo economicus” mean?

8. What is monism and why does Curry believe it is an impoverished ecological approach?

9. What are the ecological consequences of pluralism?

10. What does Curry point out as being the “paradox” of pluralism?

11. Describe three burdens the “paradox” of pluralism serves to relieve.

Viewing Questions:

Pick six questions to answer between questions 1-21. Students participating in this class session will prepare their homework assignments and post their responses in Drop box 10 on the course lesson board by 5:00 p.m. on the Sunday evening immediately following each on-campus class meeting. However, all class readings must be completed prior to class convening to insure students can participate in class discussion. Remember you are required to know the answers to each and every one of these questions for the Comprehensive Exam.

1. What role did experience play in Locke’s philosophy?

2. What were some of the implications of Locke’s ideas during his lifetime?

3. How did Berkley’s ideas compare to those of Locke?

4. How was Locke’s philosophy mechanistic in form?

5. How did Locke define knowledge?

6. How were his ideas similar to those of Descartes?

7. In what ways were his ideas dissimilar to those of Descartes?

8. In Locke’s mind do the senses of human beings require knowledge? Please explain.

9. How did Locke’s conception of an “idea” differ from that of Descartes?

10. Did Locke believe that human senses could fully comprehend the nature of things in the world? Please explain.

11. Images and sensations of the external world for Locke were all representations of those external objects as perceived in the mind. All contact with the world occurred in this way and humans really didn’t full encounter the objects of the external world. Yet he believed that there was a true correlation between these mental perceptions and reality. On what basis or for what reason did Locke embrace this perspective?

12. Was Locke optimistic that humans could fully know the nature of things? Please explain.

13. How did Locke view the nature of mathematical science and how did his view differ from Descartes?

14. What did Locke mean by the primary qualities of things differ from the qualitative qualities of things?

15. How do the concepts of “mind” and “material objects” have meaning in Locke’s philosophy?

16. How did Locke construe the importance of language in understanding the world?

17. Why did Locke consider our very bodies as being mysterious to us?

18. What view did Locke take of personal identity?

19. Locke’s political philosophy involves a call for tolerance. How does Locke go about making this argument?

20. In what ways did Locke’s philosophy embrace individualism?

21. Was Locke a realist or idealist? Please explain.