Philosophy 224

Environmental Ethics

Fall, 2011

Professor: Paul Thagard

Office hours (HH368): TTh 1-2, and by appointment.

Email: pthagard@uwaterloo.ca. Phone: extension 33594.

Web page: http://cogsci.uwaterloo.ca/courses/phil224.html.

Time: TTh, 11:30-12:50, HH 1101.

Textbook: A. Wellington, A. Greenbaum, and W. Cragg, Canadian Issues in Environmental Ethics, 1997.

Marks will be based on:

 

Description: This course will examine ethical issues related to the environment, including climate change, resource use, nature preservation, and environmental justice.

 Week  Dates  Topic

Reading

 1 Sept.13-15 Introduction

Text, Introduction (not ch. 1)

 2 Sept. 20-22 Animals Text, ch. 10, ch. 9
 3 Sept. 27-29 Animals, Assignment 1 Text, ch. 11-12
 4 Oct. 4-6 Nature, Exam 1

Text, ch. 13

 5 Oct. 11-13 Nature

Text, chs. 14-16

 6 Oct.18-20 Justice Text, chs. 17-20
 7 Oct. 25-27 Justice, Assignment 2 Text, chs. 21-22
 8 Nov. 1-3 Justice, Exam 2 Text, ch. 24
 9 Nov. 8-10 Resources Text, chs. 1-3
 10 Nov. 15-17 Resources Text, chs. 4-5
11 Nov. 22-24 Resources, Assignment 3 Text, chs. 6-7
12 Nov. 29-Dec. 1 Climate, Exam 3 Gardiner

From the Faculty of Arts:

All students registered in the courses of the Faculty of Arts are expected to know what constitutes an academic offense, to avoid committing academic offenses, and to take responsibility for their academic actions.  When the commission of an offense is established, disciplinary penalties will be imposed in accord with Policy #71 (Student Academic Discipline).  For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students are directed to consult the summary of Policy #71 (Student Academic Discipline) which is supplied in the Undergraduate Calendar.  If you need help in learning how to avoid offenses such as plagiarism, cheating, and double submission, or if you need clarification of aspects of the discipline policy, ask your course instructor for guidance.  Other resources regarding the discipline policy are your academic advisor and the Undergraduate Associate Dean.

Faculty of Arts information on plagiarism and other offences.

Lecture notes (to be added on Mondays; may be revised on Wednesdays)

Week 1, Introduction to enviromental ethics.

Week 2, Ethics of animals

Week 3, Ethics of animals

Week 4,Wild nature

Week 5, Preserving nature

Week 6, Environmental justice for aboriginals

Week 7, Ecofeminism

Week8, International environmental justice

Week 9, Forestries

Week 10, Fisheries and mining

Week 11, New organisms and nuclear wastes

Week 12, Ethics of climate change

Assignments

Assignment 1.

Assignment 2.

Assignment 3.


Paul Thagard

Computational Epistemology Laboratory.

This page updated Nov. 29, 2011