PHIL 301L - Environmental Ethics

3 Credit(s)

Liberal Arts
This course will provide a comprehensive and systematic overview of the key philosophical issues and arguments within the field of environmental ethics. The questions that will guide our inquiry and analysis include: Do non-living beings and living beings other than humans have a value of their own, not reducible to their instrumental value to human beings? If so, what value do such beings have and why? If not, why not? Do nonhuman beings in our environment have moral standing or is the humanistic understanding that human life is the only value essentially correct? Can we determine the “right thing to do” to nature and nonhuman entities solely on the basis of considering the short- or long-term interests of humans of this and/or future generations? These questions and the diverse answers to them underlie competing views concerning a host of important issues. The development of a comprehensive worldview may be labeled an “environmental ethic.”

Offered When: According to faculty and student interest.
Prerequisite(s): PHIL 101L