Phil 149 Environmental Ethics and Policy: Study Guide for the First Exam (3/4/14)

Study Strategies
Know the main concepts covered in class lectures and the readings.
Know the thesis statement and argument(s) for each of the readings.
Rather than memorizing definitions and arguments or reading your notes, study by
explaining them in your own words and writing your answers. Then check your
notes to see if your way of explaining is accurate. Studying in small groups is
often an effective way to study, as you can hear different explanations of the same
concept.
Write your own short-answer questions in the style of questions from past exams,
and then write out your answers to these questions.
Strategies for taking the test
Pace yourself; keep an eye on your time.
Be sure to answer the short answer questions completely, especially when a
question has multiple parts. Show what you know.
For short answer questions, full credit requires using your own words rather than
quoting directly from notes or the readings.
Sample Questions (also, see the quizzes for further examples)
1. The veil of ignorance is a though experiment, showing that we cannot know anything
about justice.
T

2. Hills position regarding the moral significance of preserving natural environments

focuses on whether actions are right or wrong.
T

3. Hill describes G.E. Moore as arguing for:

A. Intrinsic goodness
C. Inherent goodness
B. Innate goodness
D. Natural goodness
4. State two features of the original position and explain why they are important to Rawls'
theory.
Make-ups
Make-up exams are offered for cases of illness or other unforeseen problems, not
for convenience or because you are unprepared.
To take the make-up, you need to contact me by email before the regular exam
time except in cases of documented emergency.

Students should be aware that it may be a disadvantage to take a make-up instead

of the regular exam, as it may be perceived to be more difficult than the original.

A. Baker-Introduction to Philosophical Thinking

Philosophical Method
1. Clarification- Defining what we mean
2. Justification- Giving an argument
3. Objections- Considering reasons against the truth of the premises
4. Responses- Showing why the objections fail
Claims
o An assertion, something that is said with the intention of saying something
that is either true or false
Intuition Tests and Thought Experiments
JJ. Nolt- Fundamentals of Logic
Premises and Conclusions (Premise and Conclusion Indicators)
Induction and Deduction
Validity and Soundness
Counter Examples
Mill:
-Consequentialism- broad term; focusing on the consequences of the action rather
than the intention or the character of the person doing to action
-Hill and Kant not focused on consequences
-Utilitarianism
-Greatest Happiness Principle
-Hierarchy of pleasures
-Mills argument for happiness
-Objections:
1. Computation
2. Distribution
3. Demanding
4. Unacceptable consequences
Kant:
-Never break a promise with Kant
-Deontology
-Autonomy
-Good will
-Maxim- rule
-Categorical Imperative
1. Universality
2. Formula of Humanity
3. Kingdom of Ends
- Perfect v. imperfect duties-

Rawls:
-Contract theory
-Justice as fairness
-Original position
-Veil of ignorance
-Maximin reasoning
-Principles of justice
1. Liberty principle
2. Difference principle
-Formal v. Fair Equality of Opportunity
-Reflective equilibrium-group level- when you make a decision you have to be able to move back
and forth between the different justifications until you make a decision on the best
possible option
-individual level- deciding between different options and settling on your
best possible choice
Hill:
-The rightness and wrongness of actions vs. the virtues or character of the agent
-G.E. Moores intrinsic value
-Three Unsuccessful Accounts
1. Plants rights or interests are neglected
2. Gods will is violated
3. The intrinsic value of the forest is violated
-The significance of indifference to non-sentient nature
-Human excellences or virtues
1. Understanding/Recognition
2. Humility
3. Self-Acceptance
4. Aesthetic Sensibility
5. Gratitude
Wenz- Environmental Racism
The Doctrine of Double Effect
Other ways of understanding the wrong of environmental racism
Wenzs proposed solution
The principle of commensurate benefits and burdens
The Distribution of LULU points
Gaard and Gruen- Ecofeminism: Toward Global Justice and Planetary Health
What problems does ecofeminism address?
o Distribution of wealth globally
o Pollution
o Losing freshwater supplies globally
o Losing forests
o World hunger and food security

What are the sources of the problems that ecofeminism is meant to address?
o Nature not previously seen as alive
Increasingly viewed as a machine which could be analyzed,
understood, experimented with, and understood through reason.
o Patriarchal religion
With the advent of patriarchal religions, people worshipped a sky god,
and nature was seen as his creation
o The emergence of hunting behavior in males
Prevents women from full prevention in the hunt
Women, animals, and nature are considered inferior to the cultural
activities of men and can be thought of as separate from them
o Metaphorical or ideological
Dualisms give rise to value hierarchies
All things associated with self are valued, and all things described as
other are of lesser value
Culture/nature, human/non-human, man/woman
Domination is built into such dualisms because the other is negated in
the process of defining a powerful self
o Women-Animal Connection
mother nature, virgin forests
pussy, bitch, old hen, sow
o Psychological
Men self identity is established through separation from the mother
Female self identity is founded on a sense of continuity and self-inrelationship
o Economic
Feudalism and the rise of capitalism, as well as colonist practices. In
Europe, the enclosure of the commons and the creation of private
property cause a hierarchy between land-owning lords and landless
peasants
The problem of mutual domination of humans and nature.
o Ecofeminisms central claim is that these problems stem from the mutually
reinforcing oppression of humans and of the natural world
o These two worlds are interconnected
Why these concerns are explicitly feminist concerns.
o It is women and children who are the first to suffer the consequences of
injustice and environmental destruction
o For those who live outside the wealth of the world's industrialized economy,
environmental degradation has immediate, tangible results - hunger, thirst, and
fuel scarcity, to mention only a few - and under these conditions environmental activism is a form of self-defense.
o global economics
o Third World debt
o underdevelopment

o food production and distribution

o reproductive rights
o militarism
o environmental racism
Use the example of the factory farm to show the necessity/importance of utilizing an
ecofeminist framework as opposed to a different theoretical framework (Gaard and
Gruen discuss 5 other potential theoretical frameworks.)
o Liberal Feminist
Moral considerability is grounded on the ability to reason
Animals can be used to further human ends
Humans can do whatever they want as long as no other humans are
harmed
o Social Feminist
Only humans matter
Focus on the fact that women work hard jobs killing chickens
o Environmental Theorist
View human consumption of animals as integral
reject vegetarianism as a choice
Resources to raise these animals deplete the environment
These organic creatures should not be domesticated
o Third World Analysis
The grain and food give to a cow should be used to feed the hungry
The third world is being exploited because of cash cropping
monoculture and consolidation
o Animal Liberation
Factory farming is immoral
We should refrain from consuming factory farmed goods

Kavka:
-The Friends and Strangers Problem
-The Futurity Problem (three parts)
1. The Temporal Location of Future People (Temporal Location Problem)
2. Our Ignorance of Future People (Ignorance Problem)
3. The Contingency of Future People (Contingency Problem)
Partridge:
-The Motivation Problem-Self Transcendence- A well-functioning human being identifies with and
promotes locations, causes, artifacts, institutions, ideals, etc. that are outside him/herself
and that they hope will flourish beyond their lifetimes
-Law of important transference- if a person P feels that X matters to him, P will
also feel that X matters objectively and intrinsically
-The Two Failures of Self-Transcendence
1. Alienation
2. Narcissism

-The Two Challenges

1. The Recluse- Henry David Thoreau- voluntarily withdraws from the
community
-solitude needed not imply alienation
2. The Playboy- Hugh Hefner- self-indulgent with no care for tomorrow
- would eventually find their life confining
-The Paradox of Morality
Gardiner:
-Climate change as an ethical issue
o Should be of serious concern to both moral philosophers and humanity at
large
-Terminology
o Greenhouse Effect- refers to the basic physical mechanism behind projected
changes in the climate system
Incorrect because:
There is a purely natural greenhouse effect
o It makes the earth hospitable
o Global Warming- captures the point that the effects of increased levels of
greenhouse gases are of concern
Suggests a one-dimensional problem
o Climate Change- captures the fact that it is interference in the climate system
itself which is the critical issue
-Climate science
o The ocean conveyor- distributes vast quantities of heat around the planet
-Scientific uncertainty
-Economics
o Cost Argument
-Responsibilities for the past
o Historical Approach
o Distributive Approach
-Objections
o Ignorance
o Impractical
-Future Allocations
o Equal Entitlements Approach
o Rights to Subsistence Emissions
o Priority to the Least Well Off
o Equalizing Marginal Costs (Fair Chore Division)
Kyoto Protocol:
-Framework Convention on Climate Change
-Understand the general goals and purposes of target greenhouse gas emission
levels by country

-Commitments under the Protocol (how are advances in the reduction of

greenhouse gas emissions to be monitored amongst countries)
-Comment on the effectiveness and the political acceptability of the Protocol
-Know the date in which Protocol entered into force and the elements of the
Protocol that were achieved before this date or delayed