Description
If traditionally ethics asks questions about how human beings ought to relate to each
other, then what are our obligations to future generations, with regard to the
environment? How should we think about and treat the natural world, animals, and
other non-human parts of nature? How can ethics help in the environmental policymaking processes? This environmental ethics course urges answers to such
questions. It aims to raise students’ awareness about the fundamental role of ethical
attitudes towards the natural environment. The course starts with an examination of
original environmental ethics texts written by philosophers, progresses to analyses of
case studies, and finally challenges students to solve real life environmental problems.
Topics discussed include: alternatives to anthropocentric worldviews; animal rights
and welfare; economic approaches to the environment; access to and control over
natural resources; environmental justice; pollution and climate change; technolog