Readings:
- Lynn White, Jr. "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis," in Schmitz and Willott,
- David Schmidtz and Elizabeth Willott, "Respect for Nature: Introduction: The Last Man and the Search for Objective Value," in
Schmidtz and Willow, 42-47.
- J. Baird Callicott, "Environmental Philosophy Is EnvironmentalActivism: The Most Radical and Effective Kind," in Schmidtz and Willott,
- Andrew Light, " Taking Environmental Ethics Public," in Schmidtz and Willott,
- Peter Singer, "All Animals Are Equal," in Schmidtz and Willott, 49-59.
- Mark Sagoff, "Animal Liberation and Environmental Ethics: Bad Marriage, Quick Divorce," in Schmidtz and Willott, 59-65.
- Paul Taylor, "The Ethics of Respect for Nature," in Schmidtz and Willott,
To be able to compare the articles to each other, it would help to choose articles that discuss a specific common point. You can think of your own focal point or use one of the suggestions below:
a) respect for nonhuman nature
b) worldview
c) levels of analysis
d) nature of environmental ethics
e) egalitarian vs. hierarchical view of nature
f) purpose of philosophy
g) narrative as a form of philosophical argument
Examples of possible pairs, PURELY FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES, might be: Callicott and Light, Singer and Sagoff (first reading),Taylor and Schmidtz, and Varner and Taylor.
Answer the below in detail:
1. What is the work's main environmental ethical position or conclusion?
2. What supporting evidence does the author offer for this philosophical conclusion?
Now, for the most important questions of this mental exercise and, as I see it, the most important aspects of philosophical discourse.
3. Which work of the two pairs selected offers the MOST SOUND OR SUPERIOR environmental ethical position? For example, following the suggestions give above, you might decide that Callicott is superior to Light, or Singer is superior to Sagoff, Schmidtz superior to Taylor, and Varner superior to Taylor.
The answer to this question could be as short as one sentence stating your position.
4. What reasons can you offer to support your assessment in response to Question 3? In short, offer a reasoned argument to support your answer regarding which article is superior to the two pairs you selected.
5. How might the authors of the articles NOT judged superior(Light, Sagoff, or Taylor in my examples) reply to the reasoned defense expressed in That is, how can the judged inferior articles'
What would Light, Sagoff (first reading), or Taylor, say in defense of their view that you judged inferior to their other paired article?
Do you have a rejoinder or response to the replies in to your NOT assessing these authors superior to their paired article?