Class #2, 8/30/10

**Roster, etc.
----->Note:  No class next week, 9/6.  It's Labor Day.

**Due:  Assignment on definitions:  environment, ecology, nature.

**Discussion over definitions--
----->environment
----->ecology
----->nature

**Discussion over Exhibit A--influential examples of Western nature poetry:
----->The Bible:  Genesis 1--the first creation story;
----->----->other key passages:  Psalms 8 & 29, Romans 10 (handout);
----->----->three poems from G.M. Hopkins (handout);
----->----->by contrast:  Millay, Shelley (handout).

**Exhibit B:  Nature in the roots of Western philosophy:
----->"Nature" in Platonist and Stoic thought (handout).

**The debate--Is civilization or religion to blame for the destruction of the natural environment?
----->Lynn White;
----->Patrick Dobel.

**For 9/13: 
----->Begin reading Chapter 2, "Animal Rights:"
----->----->Immanuel Kant, Rational Beings Alone Have Moral Worth, pp 62ff.
----->----->Peter Singer, A Utilitarian Defense of Animal Liberation, pp 73ff.
----->Read Dale Jamieson's "Against Zoos," pp 97ff. 
----->----->Write a page:  Do you agree with Jamieson's argument?  What is your experience with zoos?  Should they be closed?