Module 1. Introduction to Environmental Ethics

Required Readings & Videos:

1. Russ Payne “An Introduction to Philosophy (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.” Chapter 10 Right Action.  

Focus on Mill’s Utilitarianism and Kant’s Ethics. Pg 108-113. We will focus on Kant’s “CIa,” also known as “Formula of Ends.” 

2. Watch: European Union Environment: Ecosystem Services" (4 min)Ecosystem services (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Optional Reading:

3. Russ Payne “An Introduction to Philosophy” Chapter 9, MetaEthics
   http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/philosophy/an-introduction-to-philosophy-text/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
   Chapter 1: What Philosophy Is
   Chapter 2: How to do Philosophy
4. 4. Dr. Aufrecht’s Pocket Guide to Critical Thinking Part I

Estimated time: 1-2 hours (5 pages focused reading)

This reading is intense, I know. Don’t worry about understanding everything. We will discuss it in the lectures and you can return to these passages throughout the quarter as needed.

Reading Directions

Each reading has directions:

1. “Skim”means read the title of the article and the first paragraph. Then read the first sentence of each paragraph. Spend a few seconds on each page. Do not read every word now. Instead, treat this article as a reference. Return to it later when you need it (during the weekly activities, weekly quiz, discussion prompts, or while researching your paper).
2. “Read carefully”and “Focus on” mean: set aside time when you can focus without distractions. Then read each sentence carefully. You can expect to spend 1-3 minutes on each page, depending on your speed. Most questions for the weekly reading quizzes come from these sections. Feel free to take notes. Pay special attention to any passages that I highlight in yellow. Skim the rest of the article.
3. “Skim the rest”means look at the rest of that article and read enough so that you can understand the section of the article I asked you to focus on. You do not need to read each word, though if you have time, you may.
4. If I do not note whether to Skim or Focus, then read at your own pace, adjusted to your interest in the material. If you want to read the “skim” sections more carefully, you are of course welcome to.

How to read carefully

1. Notice when you lose the train of thought, or when a passage no longer makes sense to you, or when you find your mind drifting. Circle that passage, and identify the word or phrase that stopped you.
2. Pause to re-read the passage. Can you make sense of it? Is there an unfamiliar word? If so, look it up (be careful, though. Philosophers often use words in odd ways, so the dictionary definition might not help.) Make a note of the passage or new vocabulary and ask about it in class later. Then keep reading.
3. As you read, begin to organize the article so that it fits the format of the Outline Tool Download Outline Tool
   . Underline the main questions, the answer (conclusion), premises, objections and responses, and label them.
4. After you have read through the passage once to get a general sense, go back through and use the text and your notes in the margin and underlining to fill in the Outline Tool. Fill in a new Outline Tool for each argument in the article. This will give you a summary of the main arguments and main points in your own words.
5. Finally, reflect on the arguments in the article. Do you agree with the premises? Do the premises really lead to the conclusion? Can you think of any objections? If the conclusion were true, what would the implications be? How does this passage change the way you think in other areas? Jot down your thoughts and questions.

Why skim?

When I arrived at graduate school, the stack of books for my first class was two feet high. For one class! But then the professor explained, “Do not read every word. In higher education, we must learn to process a lot of information quickly.”

My professor showed us how to read the titles, headers, first sentence of each paragraph, and the introduction and conclusion paragraphs to get the main ideas from each article. We could read in more detail later, if necessary.

So, I do not expect you to spend hours. And do not I expect you to read every word! We are not reading novels. Your job is to skim through the information quickly to find what is relevant and helpful to your own learning. (To calculate the reading time estimates, I timed myself reading each passage, and then multiplied that number by four. By that estimate, each week should take 2-5 hours to read. If it takes you more than 8 hours per week to read, let me know.)

In conclusion, we skim to access to a lot information in a short period of time. I understand that skimming is especially challenging when reading in a second or third language. That is why I provided directions on how to skim above.

Note:

If the links give you error messages or nonsense, then re-load your browser, or go to scholar.google.com and search for the title. Download the pdf yourself. Some titles are available on Canvas only. 

– Monica