Phil 4550.001 Philosophy of Ecology Spring 2010
WH 117 [11-12:20 HRS]
Philosophy of Ecology
Phil 4550.001 Spring 2010 WH 117: 11:00 - 12:20 hrs.
Dr. Ricardo Rozzi,
Teaching Assistant: Alexandria Poole, Ph.D (candidate),
Office hours: T&Th 15:30-16:30 hrs, and by appointment (ENV 320E or 325C)
Class Objective
The leitmotiv for this course will be research on different cultures will be the analysis of the interrelations between the ways diverse cultures perceive and inhabit their regional ecosystems. This framework will allow students to discuss the interrelations between ecological "facts" and "values," between ecological sciences and environmental ethics. We will examine central philosophical concepts of biological and cultural diversity; the relations between societies and their environments; non-Western conceptions of nature and society. First, we will address the problem of the intensive and extensive losses of biological and cultural diversity that are taking place today around the globe. We will highlight the approach that UNT's program on sub-Antarctic biocultural research and conservation offers to address some of the causes and consequences of those losses, and the subsequent biocultural homogenization resulting from these processes. In the second part, we will examine worldviews and ecological practices of cultures inhabiting high latitude or sub-polar regions of the Americas, the Koyukon in the sub-Arctic and the Yahgans in the sub-Antarctic. In the third part, we will examine a variety of worldviews and ecological practices of cultures around the globe, and throughout the histories of Western civilization.
Course Materials
To Purchase
§ Earth’s Insights. University of California Press. 1994. (Ordered in book store) by J. Baird Callicott,
§ Make Prayers to the Raven, Chicago Press, by Richard Nelson
§ Maffi, L. (ed.) 2001. On Biocultural Diversity: Linking Language, Knowledge, and the Environment, Smithsonian Institution Press.
Will be provided:
§ Make Prayers to the Raven (film)
§ Homage to the Yahgans (film)
§ Interview with Leonardo Boff (film)
§ Selected Readings (Photocopies will be provided or posted on blackboard)
Please check blackboard regularly for articles and additional resources for the class.
Requirements
1. 30% Quizzes (Every Tuesday)
2. 30% Tests (10% each)
3. 15% Final
4. 25% Group Research Project, written report and power point presentation
50% of the grade depends on individual Work
50% of the grade depends on the presentation and report by the group as a whole
The following scale will determine the letter grade for the course:
A = 100-90, B = 89-80, C = 79-70, D = 69-60, F = less than 60.
Group Project
Each group of three students will conduct research and prepare a presentation together (including 8-10 typed pages, and a 15 - 20 min. power point to show to the class). Each group will identify an indigenous group in the book Earth’s Insights over which they will prepare their project. Each group will be organized with the following roles for each student (2-3 typed pages, and 3-5 minutes per student, plus 2-3 pages and 2-3 mins ppt multi-authored synthesis).
Student 1: Provides a general introduction about the indigenous group. This introduction should include, geographic area, type of ecosystems, language, other relevant information,. The overall context of this group should be provided. Make sure to also include current conservation status. This work will require complementary bibliographic resources that complement the desciption provided by the book Earth Insights.
Student 2: Based on the work of student 1 and the book Earth Insights, the student will characterize the indigenous ecological worldview, i.e. the way this ethnic group sees the natural world
Student 3: Based on the work of student 1 and the book Earth Insights, the student will characterize the indigenous ecological practices, i.e. the way this ethnic group inhabits the natural world, including ecological and cultural practices such as fishing, farming, and rituals.
Group synthesis: Based on the work by students 1, 2 and 3, as well as the book Earth Insights, the group will evaluate the interrelationship between ecological worldviews and practices. The group should assess how perceptions shape lifestyles and ways of living, and the implications that this analysis can have for biocultural conservation today, including contemporary international policies, and treatises.
As a whole the group should convey lessons that can we learn regarding the interrelationships between the ways we see the world, and the ways we inhabit the world. If there are any, one conclusion could be that they are dissociated, or that there is not a strong relation.
Schedule
Unit I: The problem of biocultural homogenization and the approach of the UNT-Chile sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program (Jan 19 - Feb 9)
Biocultural homogenization involves the loss of languages, diversity of food, forms of ecological knowledge and ethics, as well as loss of biological diversity
The approach of the UNT-Chile sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program integrates research, education, and conservation at local, national and international scales through a network of partnerships between US and Chilean institutions, researchers and students.
One of its conceptual frameworks analyzes the interrelations between the ways we perceive nature and the ways we inhabit it. In this course we will use the article "The reciprocal links between evolutionary-ecological sciences and environmental ethics" (BioScience 49 (11): 911-921, by Ricardo Rozzi, 1999) as an a basic framework.
T 1/19 and 21 [Dr. Rozzi in Washington] Biocultural Diversity and Endangered Languages
§ Introduction to the Sub-Antarctic Biocultural diversity:
o Film Homage to the Yahgans: The Last Indians of Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn (Anne Chapman 1990, CNRS-Audiovisual; 40 mins.).
§ In-Class Assignment: Students must write 5 points of interest to them and turn in at end of film (Describe each in 3-5 sentences)
T 1/26 and 28 [Dr. Rozzi returns from Washington trip]
“The Problem” and the Subantarctic Biocultural Conservation Program
§ Explanation of Washington Trip and how it relates to UNT-Chile Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Research and Conservation Program.
§ Introduction to Course, Overview of Syllabus
§ Discussion of Film
Readings:
§ Krauss 1992. “The world’s languages in crisis”, Language 68: 4-10
§ R. Rozzi, & A. Poole. 2008. Biocultural and Linguistic Diversity. In “Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy,” Eds. B. Callicott & R. Frodeman, Volume 1: pp.100-104. MacMillan Reference Book – Gale, Cengage Learning, Farmington Hills, Michigan.
§ Rozzi et al. Field Environmental Ethics
T 2/2 Reciprocal Links: BioScience
Th 2/4 Test 1 (50% in-class, 50% take-home).
Unit II An exploration of the Koyukon and Yahgan worldviews: Interrelations between the ways we perceive nature and the ways we inhabit it at sub-polar latitudes
T 2/9 An Exploration of Koyukan Worldviews:
Make Prayers for the Raven. Ch. 1
Th 2/11 Make Prayers for the Raven. Chapters 2 & 3
T 2/16 Make Prayers for the Raven. Chapters 4 & 5
Th 2/18 Make Prayers for the Raven. Chapters 6 & 7
T 2/23 Make Prayers for the Raven. Chapters 8, 9 & 10
Th 2/25 Make Prayers for the Raven. Chapters 11, 12 & 13
F 2/26* *Last day to drop a course or withdraw from the semester with a grade of W for courses that the student is not passing. After this date, a grade of WF may be recorded.
T 3/2 Test # 2 (50% in-class, 50% take-home), and presentation about the Alaska Native Language Center
Unit III An exploration of indigenous worldviews around the planet
March 4: Earth’s Insights book (EI): Ch. 1
March 9: EI Ch. 6 – Lakota Presentation (Group 1)
March 11. EI Ch. 6. – Ojibwa Presentation (Group 2)
T 3/16 Spring Break – No Class
Th 3/18 Spring Break – No Class
March 23: EI: Ch. 6 Maori and Hawaiian (Group 3)
March 25: EI: Ch. 7 South American: Kayapo (Group 4)
March 30: EI: Ch. 7 South American Tukano (Group 5)
T 3/30*:
*Last day for a student to drop a class with the consent of an instructor.
April 1: Ch. 8 Africa (Group 6)
April 6: Ch. 8 Australia (Group 7)
April 8 Ch. 2 Western – Presentations on: Hesiod Theogeny (Group 8),
April 13: Ch. 2. Presentation: Bible Genesis (Group 9);
Presentation: Islam (Group 10)
April 15: Test 3 (50% in-class, 50% take-home), and short reading by Aldo Leopold: Thinking like a Mountain
April 20: Aldo Leopold "The Land Ethic"
April 22: Lynn White "The historical roots of the ecololgical crisis"
April 27: Lynn White and Paolo Pasolini's film "Uccellini - Uccellati"
April 29: Garret Harding "The tragedy of the commons"
May 4: Arne Naess "Deep and Shallow Ecology"
May 6: Class Summary and Review Discussion
May 13: Final Exam
Class summary: With the understanding that the environment is a complex entity that encompasses all living and non-living entities, the objective of this course is to provide an opportunity to explore and to understand central concepts about the inter-relations between ecological sciences and ethics, societies and their environments, biological and cultural diversity, services that biodiversity provides for human society, environmental and social problems determined by losses in biocultural diversity, theoretical principles and ongoing initiatives for conservation and sustainable development.
By the end of the course, the student should be able to discuss and articulate their opinions regarding their own relationship to their immediate surroundings, in its many dimensions. Students will also have the opportunity to participate in ongoing work from the Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program, whose conservation efforts remain in dialogue with the contemporary social and environmental issues of today.
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