PHIL 365 - Seminar in Environmental Ethics

(ENV 365) Credits: 3 This course examines selected topics in environmental ethics. Topics may vary from year to year, and include the proper meanings and goals of environmentalism; the goals and methods of conservation biology; major environmental issues in current political debates; and balancing the ethical concerns of environmental justice and our responsibilities to future generations. This course may be taken only one for degree credit.

Fall 2020, PHIL 365-01: Seminar in Environmental Ethics: Exploration of Fundamental Values (3). We tend to justify our environmental decisions in terms of a narrow set of fundamental values. These values include humanistic values such as sustainability, environmental justice and economic growth and more ecologically oriented values such as biodiversity, ecosystem resilience, and ecological integrity. Unfortunately, these values are often understood at a very superficial level that undermines the justifications that appeal to them. Our ability to navigate the necessary trade-offs among these values is also impaired. This course addresses these issues by pursuing a deeper understanding of these fundamental values. (HU) FDR: HU Cooper.