PHIL 255 Ethics and the Environment

3 Credits

The course is an introduction to the basic philosophical and conceptual structure of the field of environmental ethics. Students study ethical choices and dilemmas as they appear in thinking about the natural environment. Students gain an awareness of the ethical responsibilities facing human beings with respect to the natural environment, and knowledge of a basic ethical framework with which to examine a range of ethical issues that arise in thinking about how we ought to live in relation to the natural environment. The course aims to enhance the student’s abilities to think critically and reflectively. Through study of a variety of ethical approaches, students explore the meaning of self, society, and nature, and reflect on the compatibility of faith and reason with specific reference to the Catholic Franciscan intellectual and spiritual tradition.

Prerequisite(s): PHIL 102 and THEO 104 .

2nd level Philosophy Core Course