PHIL 224, Week 7

Assignment 2 is due Oct. 27. Instructions.

Guest lectures:

Exam 2 is Nov. 3, in class.

Structure: same as exam 1, 4 short answers and short essay.

How to do well:

  1. Come to class and pay attention.
  2. Do not use laptops or other electronics, for these reasons.
  3. Read the text carefully and critically.
  4. Prepare detailed answers to review questions (note updates to reviewe questions for weeks 5 and 6).

Ecofeminism

What is Feminism? Christine Overall's view:

  1. Women have been discriminated against because of their sex.
  2. This discrimination is wrong.
  3. Actions are needed to prevent discrimination.

Feminist ethics: Care

What is Environmentalism?

Anthropocentric view: Human needs require the preservation and restoration of the natural environment.

Radical view: biocentrism, ecological egalitarianism, deep ecology. Ecomysticism?

Moderate ecofeminism:

Environmental discrimination against women:

  1. Toxic waste leading to women's illness, e.g. breast cancer.
  2. Women not given access to natural resources.

Radical Ecofeminism (Annie Booth)

Beliefs

  1. Women have different ways of seeing and relating.
  2. Female insights have been ignored and devalued.
  3. The domination of women and the natural world are intimately connected.
  4. Re-valuing female ways of seeing and relating can lead to more positive ways of interacting with the natural world.

Patriarchy

The view that men, and male experiences and activities, are superior.

Ecological consequences: hierarchy of human over animals.

Alternatives: biospheric egalitarianism, holism, witches, spirituality, goddesses, Gaia.

Question: is science patriarchal?

Farm Women (Karen Krug)

Vulnerability of farm women:

  1. Gender stereotypes
  2. Knowledge not acknowledged
  3. Overwork
  4. Organizations are male dominated

Problems of intensive agriculture (high technology, fertilizers, pesticides):

  1. Health issues
  2. Farmers' poverty
  3. Economic degradation
  4. Loss of family farm

Alternative: organic farming

Review Questions for Week 7

  1. According to Booth, what are the 4 central beliefs of ecofeminists? Give examples.
  2. What are 4 ways in which radical ecofeminism differs from moderate ecofeminism?
  3. According to Krug, what are 4 ways in which farm women are vulnerable to discrimination? Give examples.
  4. Essay: From the ethical perspectives of consequences and rights, compare intensive and organic approaches to farming.
    1. statement of at least two alternatives
    2. consequences pro and con, and evaluation
    3. rights and duties, pro and con, and evaluation
    4. overall evaluation.

Phil 224

Paul Thagard

Computational Epistemology Laboratory.

This page updated Oct. 24, 2011