Humans, Animals, and Nature
PHIL 215
Spring 2008
| Section:
01
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| Certificates: Environmental Studies |
Due to unprecedented ecological degradation and enormous inequalities in the distribution of the means of flourishing, human beings all over the world are being forced to reconsider their relationships to each other and the nonhuman world. In this course we will explore the character, conditions, and concerns that shape these troubled relationships. By reading philosophical, literary, rhetorical, and popular writings, we will attempt to get a clearer understanding of why we are where we are and how we might go about altering our relations to the nonhuman world. Though a variety of important issues are central to understanding the complexity of relationships between humans, nonhumans, and the rest of nature, this year the course will focus primarily on human relations to nonhuman animals - in captivity, in agribusiness, and in the wild. The goals of the course are to help you to think critically, to read carefully, to argue well, and to defend your own reasoned views about the moral relations between humans, animals, and nature. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Ethical Reasoning
This course examines a variety of ethical arguments about our ethical obligations, if any, to non-humans, to humans in developing countries and the underprivileged in developed countries, as well as to nature itself.
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS PHIL |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (ANST-MN)(ENVS-MN)(ENVS)(FGSS)(PHIL)(PHIL-Philosophy)(PHIL-Social Jus)(STS) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
TBA
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Examinations and Assignments:
Two papers and a final project (possibly a group project). |
| Instructor(s): Gruen,Lori Times: .M.W... 01:10PM-02:30PM; Location: FISK404; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 25 | | SR major: 4 | JR major: 4 | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: 0 | SR non-major: 4 | JR non-major: 4 | SO: 5 | FR: 4 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 2 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 1 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 1 |
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