Food Ethics: Phil 232
1
Food Ethics: Phil 232
Spring 2018 - Lubar Hall S195 - MW 12:30pm - 1:45pm
Instructor: Dr. Agust Magnusson
Office: Curtin Hall 622
Office hours: Thursdays11am to 1pm and by appointment
Email:
COURSE DESCRIPTON: We have all heardthe phrase "you are what you eat." Food is one of the central activities of the human person and it reveals complex layers of our identity and personhood.This course provides a philosophical dialogue centered on the consumption and production of food. The course will be divided into three main areas of inquiry: 1) The social and cultural dimensions of food, including how food relates to our identity; 2) the ethics and politics of food, including activism, economic considerations of food consumption and production, and issues related to vegetarianism and veganism; and 3) the spiritual dimension of food, including a discussion of how specific religious traditions view food in relation to the spiritual life.
REQUIRED TEXTS: 1) Leslie Leyland Fields, The Spirit of Food: 34 Writers on Feasting and Fasting Toward God, Cascade Books, ISBN: 1608995925, 2) Peter Singer and Jim Mason, The Ethics of What we Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter, Rodale Books, ISBN:1594866872, 3) Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Penguin Books, ISBN: 1594200823, 4) David M. Kaplan, The Philosophy of Food, University of California Press, ISBN:0520269330, 5) other readings made available on D2L.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
GENERAL GUIDELINES: No private conversation, and no reading of material unrelated to the class during the lectures. No cell phones are allowed during class. Students must be in class punctually with the assigned reading material with them.
ATTENDANCE IN LECTURES: Attendance is required during all class sessions. Students can miss four (4) classes without repercussions. Each subsequent missed lecture will lower the student’s final point total by 5 points (effectively a half-letter grade). There is, in general, no distinction made between “excused” or “unexcused” absences, barring major medical emergencies, religious obligations, or University-sanctioned activities. If you arrive late it is your responsibility to notify the instructor at the end of class. Students who arrive more than 10 minutes late for class may be marked absent from the class.
Participation (15 points): This class will place special emphasis on in-class discussions and class participation. Participation primarily consists of attentive listening, being physically and spiritually present, having read the material, and regularly contributing to class discussions with questions and comments. I know that some people are more comfortable than others speaking up in class but the particular form of philosophy we will engage in demands active and engaged participation. If you have any anxiety about speaking up in class, please come talk to me and we will address those issues together.
Reflection papers and special projects (40 points): There will 4 projects that directly address our relationship to food in a variety of different ways. This is where we will eat food, think about food, and play with our food (which is sometimes very important!). Students will write reflection papers, 3-4 pages in length, where they will give an overview of the project and how they were able to meditate more deeply on ethical and philosophical issues related to food consumption and production. The projects will include keeping a record of our food waste, a field trip to an urban farm, an interview with a family or community member about our food heritage, and participating in an in-class potluck where we will share dishes from our various ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
Mid-term paper (30 points): This paper will be 5-7 pages in length and will focus on your ability to philosophically analyze a food item, a dish, a meal, or cuisine. The scope of the project is, therefore, in the hands of the student. You can go into a micro-level analysis of a particular food item (e.g. feta cheese, the McNugget, Kentucky bourbon whiskey - if you are legally old enough to taste it) or a more macro-level analysis of a particular cuisine and its relationship to our understanding of food consumption and production. The student will have to incorporate a minimum of 2 sources in this paper, which will help ground the philosophical analysis in question.
Final paper (40 points): This paper, which will be 10-12 pages in length and will provide an in-depth analysis on a topic and thesis of the student’s choice, developed in dialogue with the instructor. The student can focus on any of the major philosophical topics and concerns that have been discussed throughout the semester. The student will have to incorporate a minimum of 3 sources in this paper. A full grading rubric along with additional instructions will be provided.
COURSE GRADE SUMMARY:
Participation: 15 points
Reflection papers and projects: 40 points
Short paper: 30 points
Final paper: 40 points
TOTAL: 125 points
Percentage Grading Scale
1
93-100%: A
90-92%: A-
87-89%: B+
83-86%: B
80-82%: B-
77-79%: C+
73-76%: C
70-72%: C-
67-69%: D+
63-66%: D
60-62%: D-
59% and lower: F
1
EXPECTED WORKLOAD (HOURS): This three-credit course meets twice weekly for 75 minutes, for a total of 35 hours of required lecture time. Reading the textbook and other required readings should take at least 60 hours over the course of the semester. Doing the four food projects and writing the reflection papers should take around 20 hours of work (approximately 5 hours each). Studying for and writing the short paper should take between 10 and 15 hours. Writing the longer paper should take approximately 25 hours. All times are estimates and all grades are based on the outcome of the student’s work and not on time invested in the work.
1
Lecture: 35
Required reading: 60
Projects and reflection papers: 20
Papers: 40
APPROXIMATE TOTAL: 155
COMMUNICATION: Please check your UWM email account daily and check D2L for required readings. Please note my office hours at the top of the syllabus. I am also available to meet by appointment. Please do not hesitate to contact me at any point if you need any help or assistance with the course material or if you need help preparing for exams (or if you just want to chat about philosophy).
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY: Academic misconduct will not be tolerated. The University’s academic misconduct policies and procedures will be fully enforced in any case of cheating or plagiarism. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the academic integrity policy and to understand the implications of violating the policy. Any violation of the academic honor code may result in failing the course, suspension, or dismissal from the University. For more information, please see: http://uwm.edu/academicaffairs/facultystaff/policies/academic-misconduct/
INCOMPLETES: Please see: http://www4.uwm.edu/secu/docs/other/S_31_INCOMPLETE_GRADES.pdf
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: Students with physical or learning disabilities wishing to have special accommodations should contact the instructor as soon as possible.
UNIVERSITY POLICIES: Available at: http://www.4uwm.edu/secu/SyllabusLinks.pdf
GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS AND UWM SHARED LEARNING GOALS
GER Statement: Learning Outcomes for this Course: This course meets the UWM General Education Requirements in the division of the Humanities. All Humanities courses have the following learning outcome: 1) “Students will be able to identify the formation, traditions, and ideas essential to major bodies of historical, cultural, literary, or philosophical knowledge.” This course satisfies this outcome by presenting a philosophical inquiry into our relationship with food production and consumption as well as a critical analysis of the way in which food shapes our historical, cultural, and ethnic identities.
In addition, this course addresses the following two learning outcome: 2) ”Students will be able to respond coherently and persuasively to the materials of humanities study through logical analysis and argumentation”; 3) “Students will be able to apply diverse humanistic theories or perspectives to other branches of knowledge or to issues of universal human concern.”
The course satisfies outcome no. 2 by requiring students to analyze philosophical concepts and theories and to compare and contrast competing metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical theories. The course satisfies outcome no. 3 through analysis of various philosophical theories relating to food consumption and production and by relating philosophical theories and analyses related to food to various other disciplines and concerns, such as food engineering, urban farming, food justice, and environmental concerns.
GER Assessment: Assignment(s) Used to Measure Learning Outcomes: Outcome no. 1 will be assessed via in-class discussion and the four reflection papers and projects. Outcome no. 2 will be assessed through both the short paper and the final paper. Outcome no. 3 will be assessed through in-class discussion and the two paper projects.
UW Shared Learning Goal: The aforementioned assignments also assess the student’s ability to accomplish the second of the UW System’s Shared Learning Goal for all student’s: “Critical and creative thinking skills including inquiry, problem solving, and higher order qualitative reasoning.”
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
INTRODUCTION
January 22 - Introduction/Syllabus
January 24 - Kaplan - Introduction (pp. 1-23), Belasco - “Why Study Food” (PDF on D2L)
UNIT 1 - FOOD, IDENTITY, AND CULTURE
January 29 - Pollan - “Our National Eating Disorder” and “The Plant: Corn’s Conquest” (pp. 1-31), Gabaccia - “We are what we eat” and “Who are we?” (both PDF on D2L)
January 31 - Choi - “What Americans can Learn from other Food Cultures” ( Fischler - “Food, Self, and Identity” (PDF on D2L)
February 5 - Martínes - “My Roots: El Rancho” (PDF on D2L), Pilcher - “¡Que Vivan Los Tamales!” (PDF on D2L)
February 7 - Film: Big Night
February 12 - Film: Big Night,Cinotto - “Sunday Dinner? You had to be There” (PDF on D2L)
February 14 - FIRST REFLECTION PAPER DUE - My identity, My Food
February 19 - Sachs and Allen - “Women and Food Chains” (PDF on D2L), Parkin - “Campbell’s Soup” (PDF on D2L)
UNIT 2 - THE ETHICS AND POLITICS OF FOOD
February 21 - Pollan - “The Feedlot,” “The Processing Plant,” and “The Consumer” (pp. 65-108)
February 26 - Singer and Mason - Part I (pp. TBD)
February 28 - Singer and Mason - Part II (pp. TBD)
March 5 - Singer and Mason - Part III (pp. TBD) - FIRST SHORT PAPER DUE
March 7 - Singer and Mason - (Finishing up, pp. TBD)
March 12 - Francione - “Animal Welfare, Happy Meat, and Veganism as the Moral Baseline” (in Kaplan, pp. 169-189).
March 14 - Visit to urban farm
SPRING RECESS
March 26 - SECOND REFLECTION PAPER DUE - Food production and ethics
March 28 - Scruton - “A Carnivore’s Credo” (PDF on D2L)
April 2 - Castle, Culver, and Hannah - “Scenarios for Food Security” (in Kaplan, pp. 250-267), Fraser - “Animal Ethics and Food Production in the Twenty-First Century” (in Kaplan, pp. 190-213).
April 4Scrinis - “Nutritionism and Functional Foods” (in Kaplan, pp. 269-291), Sederström and Spicer - “The Wellness Syndrome” (PDF on D2L)
April 9 - Royte - “One Third of Food is Lost or Wasted” ( Bloom - “American Wasteland” (PDF on D2L)
April 11 - THIRD REFLECTION PAPER DUE - Food Waste
UNIT 3 - THE SPIRITUALITY OF FOOD
April 16 - The Spirit of Food, pp. TBD
April 18 - The Spirit of Food, pp. TBD
April 23 - The Spirit of Food, pp. TBD
April 25 - Film: Babette’s Feast
April 30 - Film: Babette’s Feast
May 2 -FOURTH REFLECTION PAPER DUE (BRING FOOD TO SHARE) - Feasting and Fasting
May 7 - The Spirit of Food, pp. TBD
May 9 - Final discussion
Final paper due May 15