| Course Title: Environmental Ethics |
| Start Date: 01/27/2026 End Date: 05/12/2026 |
| Term: Spring Semester 2026 |
| Description: What moral obligations -- if any -- do we have towards non-human entities? Do non-human animals have rights? Do trees and rivers? What about entire ecosystems? What might be the basis for such rights and obligations? We will discuss how traditional ethical theories have approached questions about moral obligations towards non-humans, and see whether these views can be extended to include some or all of the non-human natural entities mentioned above. Students will read and critically analyze philosophical positions and will learn to articulate arguments on several different sides of the issues. |
| Distribution(s): I - Humanities |
| Academic Level Of Course: Undergraduate | Credits:4.00 |
| Faculty | Phone | Email address |
| Arden Ali | ardenali@mtholyoke.edu |
| Meeting Dates | Method | Meeting days | Meeting times | Building name | Room | Frequency |
| 01/27/2026 - 05/12/2026 | Discussion | Monday and Wednesday | 01:45PM - 03:00PM | TBA | TBA | Weekly |
| Requisite Courses | ||
| None |
| Comments |
| Additional Comments |
| Course Tags | ||
| PHIL0002 | PHIL-ET: Ethics and Value Theory | This course has been approved to count towards the Philosophy major in the Ethics and Value Theory area. |
| Cross-listed Sections |
| None |
| Course Availability | ||||
| Section status: Open | Capacity: 28 | Enrollment: 14 | Available: 14 | Waitlist: 0 |
BOOK INFORMATION
| Book List | Required | Publisher Full Price |
| To be determined. |
| Additional Book Comments |
| This is NOT the complete book list for this class. |