PHIL208 ENVIROMENTAL ETHICS
| Course Code: |
2410208 |
| METU Credit (Theoretical-Laboratory hours/week): |
3(3-0) |
| ECTS Credit: |
5.0 |
| Department: |
Philosophy |
| Language of Instruction: |
English |
| Level of Study: |
Undergraduate |
| Course Coordinator: |
Prof.Dr. AYHAN SOL |
| Offered Semester: |
Fall or Spring Semesters. |
Course Content
Environmental ethics is a crucial as well as a controversial area of applied ethics that approaches normative issues and principles related with human intervention with the natural environment. It is crucial for the guidance of individuals, corporations, and governments in determining the principles affecting their policies, lifestyles, and actions across the entire range of environmental issues. It is controversial for the complexity of environment, conflict of interest in environment, and human centered ethical traditions, concepts and theories neglecting non-human environment. So while uncertainty and conflict of interest increase the demands on ethical principles, the basic assumptions of traditional ethics are difficult to extend to the non-human environment. Environmental ethics must also be a theoretical field of ethics to deal, for example, with the following problems. People have rights, but do other (higher) animals? Do plants even have interests? Can only individuals deserve to be subject for moral considerations or can group of individuals, such as species and ecosystem also? These and similar questions are treated by both anthropocentrists and ecocentrists.
