PHIL 241 - Philosophy of the Environment

CR: 3
An examination of fundamental questions in environmental philosophy and environmental ethics. Examples of questions to be explored include: What is “natural?” What is the difference between nature and culture? Does nature have inherent ethical value? How should human beings relate to the natural world, and what moral obligations do we have to non-human animals and ecosystems? Possible topics include environmental justice and pollutions; global climate change; technology and the environment; environmental and social sustainability; population growth, resource use, and food production; ecological economics; ecofeminism and the critique of anthropocentrism; the philosophical concept of “place;” wilderness management and conservation; American transcendentalism; and environmental art and aesthetics. V.5, V.7