This examination counts as twenty percent (20%) of your grade. You will be asked to write two (2) essays, each worth ten (10) points, with a maximum possible of twenty (20) points. At the start of the examination we will list the "names" of at least four (4) questions from which you must choose two (2). Please print out this document, put your name on it, and bring it (without notes written on it) to the examination for reference. It will be collected at the end of the examination.
Be sure to bring a blue book with you to the examination.
1. Naturally no help in answering the questions may be received from anyone (except yourself) during the examination. The work you hand in should be your own work.
2. Undergraduate students: You may bring with you to the examination one (1) 3" x 5" card (crammed as full as you care to make it) of notes to use during the examination. You may use any abbreviations or diagrams on the card you find helpful (as well as English, of course). You may not use any unusual aids (e.g., magnifying glass, microfiche reader) during the examination to read the card. (Your usual spectacles and contact lenses are not "unusual aids.") No other books or notes may be used during the examination. What appears on the card you bring to class should be your own work. Each person should be the "author" of his or her own card. One exception: you may include quotations from the textbook or from any overhead posted on the course website. Everyone who uses such a card must hand it in with the examination with her or his name clearly on it. (The card does not have to be legible otherwise--just so you can read it.) The card will not be used to help determine a grade for the examination. (So on the examination don't say "see point 6a on the card".) We will return these cards to you when we return your graded examination.
| "Name" | Question |
|---|---|
| M-PERI | Donella Meadows refers to the "Madagascar periwinkle argument." (P5 p.267ab) Explain this argument for the importance of maintaining biodiversity. Critically discuss. |
| M-THRE | Meadows distinguishes "three reasons, which boil down to simple self-interest on three levels of escalating importance" (P5 p.267a) for maintaining biodiversity. Explain each of these reasons. Critically discuss. |
| R-AES | Russow observes that "the comparison that is often made between species and natural wonders, spectacular landscapes, or even works of art, suggests that species might have some aesthetic value". (P5 p.274b) What does Russow mean here by "aesthetic value"? Does she believe that species have aesthetic value? Critique her argument. |
| R-THRE | Lilly-Marlene Russow distinguished "three groups" (P5 p.272b) of "standard replies" to the question of why species matter. Explain each of these. Critically discuss. |
| C-INST | What is Rachel Carson's objection to the use of insecticides? What values are her objections based on? Explain. |
| P-STIL | David Pimentel explores the issue of whether the objections that Carson raises to pesticides are still in force or whether "Silent Spring" is "behind us." What is his answer? Explain. |
| RG-DDT | Ray and Guzzo claim that "no harm has ever been demonstrated to have been caused by DDT." (P5 p.563b) What is their defense of this claim? Critically discuss. |
| AS-REV | Explain the principles of Schweizer's so-called "Reverence for life" ethic. Give examples of its application. Critically discuss. |
| AS-CON | "My existence is in conflict at a thousand points with that of others," says Schweizter (P5 p.136a) How does his reverence for life ethic suggest we deal with such conflicts? Explain. Critically discuss. |
| G-PATI | Goodpaster (following Warnock) distinguishes a moral agent from a moral patient (P5 p.155a) Explain this distinction. Explain it's importance for issues in environmental ethics and the treatment of living things. |
| G-DIST | Goodpaster in section II of "On Being Morally considerable" distinguishes between moral rights and moral considerability and between a criterion of moral considerability and a criterion of moral significance." Explain these distinctions. What on his view deserves moral consideration? How does his making these two distinctions help him ward off certain objections to his view? Explain. |
| G-PRO | Early in section III of "On Being Morally considerable" Goodpaster argues against several proposals for distinguishing what has moral considerability (or moral "standing"). Explain these proposals and Goodpaster's objections to them. Critically discuss. |
| L-COMM | Explain Aldo Leopold's "Land Ethic." Explain how he sees the notion of a "community" underlying this ethic. Critically discuss Leopold's view |
| L-PYR | In Leopold's Land Ethic article, what is the biotic land pyramid? What were the different levels of the pyramid and what did he say was channeled through them? How does he apply this analogy to his Land Ethic in general and is this a good analogy? Why or why not? |
| Corner | Callicott claims that Leopold's land ethic rests on three cornerstones. What are these three foundations for the land ethic and how do they in different ways support it? Critically discuss. |
| Super | Callicott speaks of "superorganism" model, which he attributes to early Leopold. What is this superorganism and how does appeal to it provide a foundation for a land ethic? Critically discuss. |
| Facism | Regan characterized Leopold's land ethic as "environmental fascism." Explain this charge against Leopold's view. How does Callicott attempt to defend Leopold against the charge? Is Callicott's defense adequate? Critically discuss. |
| N-7PT | In "The Shallow, the Deep, Long-Range Ecological Movement" Arne Naess characterizes the deep ecological movement through "seven points" or principles. Explain what these are. Choose two of these points and explain in detail how deep ecology, as understood by Naess, would differ from "shallow ecology." Critically discuss. |
| N-IDEN | Arne Naess talks of "the process of identification." What is this identification he talks of? What is supposed to identify with what? What does he contrast identification with? What, if anything, does this have to do with how we should treat nature? Critically discuss. |
| N-ALT | Arne Naess at one point (P5 p.223b) concludes "Thus, the distinction egoism-altruism is transcended." Explain. Critically discuss. |
| N-V&N | Arne Naess identifies "two imporant factors" which are manifest, he says "under symbiotic conditions." (P5 p.225b) What are these two factors? Explain them and give examples of the "priority rules" Naess puts forward. Critically discuss. |
| N-REL | In what sense is Arne Naess' "Deep Ecology" like a religion? How does it differ from religions? Critically discuss. |
| Devall | Explain the principles of deep ecology as seen by Devall and Sessions. Critically discuss. |