Overview of Course

Traditional ethics is a branch of moral philosophy that gives consideration to right and wrong conduct among human interactions. It attempts to define virtue in human life and responsibilities toward other people. Today we are living in a world characterized by growing environmental challenges. Recognizing this with increasing urgency, environmental ethics is a branch of environmental philosophy that extends the boundaries of ethical concerns to include the other-than-human or natural world. How might we think of the value and rights of nonhuman beings or natural entities and our responsibilities toward them? This course considers from a global perspective such ethical issues as climate change, pollution of the oceans, deforestation, current population and consumption levels, animal rights, mass extinction, and duties to future generations. Special consideration will be given to the ethical approach of the environmental philosophy know as deep ecology.