Class #4, 9/20/10

Roster, etc.
----->Questions about project, etc.  Remember that the preliminary report is due next week, 9/27.
----->Due tonight:  Writing:  Briefly summarize Arne Naess' position (hint:  he's radical).  Then, what is your case for agreeing or disagreeing with what he's saying.  [About a Page].


**Here's an article about genetically-modified salmon.  Would you buy it?  Would you feed it to your family?  "Frankenfish!"



**Tonight's discussion/presentation:

• Visuals.
• John Stuart Mill, "Nature," pp 123ff.
• Albert Schweitzer, "Reverence for Life," pp 131ff.
• A very short feature.
• Aldo Leopold, "Ecocentrism:  The Land Ethic," pp 163ff
• A short bio, "Green Fire."
• J. Baird Callicott, "The Conceptual Foundations of the Land Ethic," pp 173ff
• Arne Naess, "The Shallow and the Deep," pp 215ff
• Arne Naess, "Ecosophy T," pp 219ff.
• A video testimony from Arne Naess.

**For 9/27:  A survey of the world's nature-values--Chapter 5.

• Read:
• O.P. Dwivedi,  "Satyagraha for Conservation," pp 310ff
• Lily de Silva, "The Buddhist Attitude Towards Nature," pp 319ff
• M. Y. Izzi Deen, "Islamic Environmental Ethics," pp 323ff
• S. Ogungbemi, "An African Perspective," pp 330ff.
• Write:  Which of our writers do you find expresses a position closest to your own?  Summarize that position and state what there is about it that you agree with.

Class #3, 9/13/10

**Roster, etc.

**Handout and discussion:  The Project.

**Due tonight:  A page on your evaluation of Jamieson's "Against Zoos".

**A question for discussion:  What is the most important factor in the way that humans have adapted to and learned to manipulate their environment?  Is it genetic (innate factors) or is it cultural (a learned/shared response)?
----->See here for one view.

**Discussion of 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.  

**For 9/20:

----->From Chapter 3, "Philosophical positions on Nature"
----->----->John Stuart Mill, "Nature," pp 123ff.
----->----->Albert Schweitzer, "Reverence for Life," pp 131ff.
----->----->Aldo Leopold, "Ecocentrism:  The Land Ethic," pp 163ff
----->----->J. Baird Callicott, "The Conceptual Foundations of the Land Ethic," pp 173ff
----->----->Arne Naess, "The Shallow and the Deep," pp 215ff
----->----->Arne Naess, "Ecosophy T," pp 219ff.


----->Writing:  Briefly summarize Arne Naess' position (hint:  he's radical).  Then, what is your case for agreeing or disagreeing with what he's saying.  [About a Page].

A new couple on the dance floor: Hermine and Gaston

And remember, we don't meet until the 13th.  See previous entry for the assignment.

Meanwhile, it will be wet in Houston for a couple of days, with Gulf-grown TS Hermine now scheduled to pass just west of here.  She's predicted to drag some serious showers along with her.  Here's the Sunday morning update.  And old Gaston continues to shuffle on to the Caribbean, due westward.  This track has nothing good on it for us.

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?

Welcome! Class #1, 8/23/10

Agenda for tonight:

1. Welcome/General Orientation/Roster Check.
2. Textbook and materials.
3. Course overview, syllabus and calendar.
4. Finding Things.
5. Philosophy, Philosophical Method, and Applied Fields of Philosophy.
6. Environmental Ethics.
7. Handouts and assignment for 8/30.
8. Complete info sheet and survey.

Resources:

• The text for this class is an anthology. Here are the specs:
  Environmental Ethics: Readings in Theory and Application
  Louis P. Pojman and Paul Pojman
  Wadsworth Publishing, 5th Edition, 2007
  ISBN-13: 978-0495095033
• Syllabus/Course Description. 
• Course Calendar.

Next Class:  8/30/10.

• Do:  Reflection #1--Basic Definitions.
• Read:  
• Introduction, pp. 1-3.
• What is Ethics, pp. 4-7; be prepared to discuss the questions.
• Reading #1, from Genesis.
• Reading #2, Lynn White, "The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis;" please decide whether you agree or disagree with Prof. White.  On what grounds?
• Reading #3, Patrick Dobel, "The Judaeo-Christian Stewardship Attitude to Nature."

For Next Semester, Spring '10.

For those of you who want a head start on buying your texts for either or both of the classes for next semester, here's the book information:

For the Philosophy of Religion class, PHIL 3323:

Peterson, Hasker, Reichenbach and Bassinger, editors, Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings, 2007, Fourth Edition, Oxford University Press, ISBN-13: 978-0195393590. Please note: this is a new edition. For the coming semester, if you are buying someone's used Third edition, that will also be adequate. If you order online, however, get the new one.

For the Moral Issues class, PHIL 3301:

DiLeo, Jeffrey R., Morality Matters: Race, Class and Gender in Applied Ethics, McGraw-Hill, 2002, ISBN: 978-0-7674-1236-0.

India won't sign...

We've discussed this issue more than once during the semester--people do want their fair opportunity at what the West has.

India will not sign binding emission cuts-minister.