PHIL 243: Global Environmental Ethics

PHIL 243-001: Global Environmental Ethics
(Spring 2018)

01:30 PM to 02:45 PM TR

Buchanan Hall D003

Section Information for Spring 2018

Has the history of philosophy, especially ethics, contributed to the creation of our current global environmental problems? If so, how can philosophical tools of analysis be used to mitigate or resolve those problems?

This class will offer a foundation for discussion of these issues with a focus on the contemporary field of environmental ethics. In the first part of the class we will discuss a variety of philosophical debates that have evolved over the past thirty years (primarily in North America, Australia, and Europe) among philosophers answering the call to develop a new, environmental, ethic. In the second part of the class we will examine critiques of the dominant schools of thought in environmental ethics, including ecofeminism and environmental pragmatism.

Finally, we will look at several specific environmental issues and examine what various environmental ethicists have to offer to debates regarding environmental policy, including the questions of whether we should try to restore the nature we have damaged, whether it makes sense any more to attempt to preserve areas as “wilderness,” and how we can best respond to concerns over humanly caused climate change.

Tags:

Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 3

Examines the global dimensions of environmental problems. Although environmental problems are global in reach, because different societies make different philosophical and ethical assumptions, they are understood in different ways. Examines several environmental problems, including climate change, population growth, and resource depletion, from a variety of scientific, policy, and cross-cultural perspectives. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Global Understanding, Encore: Sustainability, Encore: Well-Being
Specialized Designation: Green Leaf Related Course, Mason Impact.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.

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