PHIL249-16SU1 (C) Summer Jan 2016 start

Environmental Ethics

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 4 January 2016
End Date: Sunday, 14 February 2016
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 8 January 2016
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 29 January 2016

Description

Humanity faces threatening environmental problems, not least climate change. Can science, technology and free markets provide the solutions - or must we reconsider our values and priorities? Is nature inherently valuable? What should be protected for future generations? Do we have moral duties to non-human animals, including endangered species? PHIL249 examines recent philosophical responses to these and other questions in environmental ethics. This course is for students in Arts, Science, Engineering, Business and Law; no background in philosophy is required.

Not only is philosophy one of the most interesting and challenging subjects, it teaches skills that employers want: thinking outside the box, logic, ethics, and excellent writing and communication skills. At UC you can do either a BA or a BSc in Philosophy, or combine a Philosophy major with the LLB, BCom, or another degree.

BA or BSc students who major in philosophy must normally take at least two 100-level PHIL courses, plus at least three 200-level PHIL courses (including PHIL233), plus at least 60-points from 300-level PHIL courses (including at least one course from this list: PHIL305; PHIL310; PHIL311; and PHIL317). For more information see the BA regulations and/or the BSc regulations.

Learning Outcomes

  • In this course you will:
  • Understand the main characteristics and causes of environmental problems.
  • Be able to analyse environmental issues and policy debates by identifying and evaluating underlying ethical issues.
  • Understand and critically evaluate the main ethical theories and philosophical frameworks that have been proposed to help resolve environmental problems.
  • Develop skills in evaluating and constructing arguments, and be able to apply these skills in oral and written discussions about environmental ethics.

Prerequisites

15 points in PHIL or 30 points in any subject/s. RP: 15 points of 100 level Philosophy, or
30 points or more of humanities, social science, science, engineering, economics, or
commerce studies and an interest in reflective critical debate.

Recommended Preparation

15 points of 100 level Philosophy, or 30 points or more of humanities, social science, science, engineering, economics, or commerce studies and an interest in reflective critical debate.

Course Coordinator

For further information see Humanities Head of Department

Contact John for further information.

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Participation exercises 20% Four sets of brief written exercises due weeks 1-4.
Essay 1 20% 1200 words, due 20 January.
Essay 2 30% 1500 words, due 5 February.
In-class test 30% 2 hours on 11 February.

Textbooks / Resources

Nolt, J 2015, Environmental ethics for the long term : an introduction, Routledge, New York. (To be available from UBS)

Additional readings will be made available on the course Learn site.

Course links

Library portal
Philosophy Essay Writing Guide (available to all enrolled Philosophy students)

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $717.00

International fee $2,913.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Humanities .

All PHIL249 Occurrences

Next year