Midterm Study Questions
Explanation of Midterm Quiz Scores
Grading Scale Key
Paper Assignment and Topics |

Suggestions for writing your philosophy paper
Evaluate this course here! |
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Date |
Reading Assignment |
Class Notes |
Miscellaneous |
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PART IV: CONSUMPTION, PROGRESS, SIMPLICITY, AND ECOLOGICAL DESIGN |
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Apr 23 |
Deconstructing the Shed: Where I Live and What I Live For by Samuel Alexander (on Simple Living).
David Orr, “The Designer’s Challenge” (commencement address at University of Pennsylvania) |
Alexander, On Simple Living
Orr, Designer's Challenge |
How Can We Create A Successful Economy without Continuous Economic Growth (talks by scholars at Center for Humans and Nature)
Four ways to live a simpler, happier life |
Apr 21 |
Juliet Schor, “Clothes Encounters”
Juliet Schor, “Tackling Turbo Consumption: An Interview with Juliet Schor” |
Schor, Clothes Encounters
Schor, Tackling Turbo Consumption |
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Apr 16 |
Jerome Segal, “Are We Simple Creatures?”
Judith Litchenberg, “Consuming Because Others Consume" |
Segal, Are We Simple Creatures?
Litchenberg, Consuming Because Others Consume |
The Science Of Simplicity: Why Successful People Wear The Same Thing Every Day
Better Life Index
The Story of Stuff (20 min video)
Growth Busters Trailer |
Apr 14 |
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Apr 9 |
George Monbiot, Materialism: a System that Eats us from the Inside Out |
Video: Affluenza
Affluenza notes
Monbiot on Materialism
Notes and Questions on Affluenza |
Drake "Successful"
Sustainability Week (April 6-11th)
APE Waste Audit (Tues, April 7) Sign Up
Raj Patel Sustinability Week Keynote Address
Wednesday, Apr 8, 5:30, Sottile Theater (44 George St) (Double Free Quiz Opportunity) |
April 7 |
PART III: NATURE TECHNOLOGIES: REHABILITATING “NATURE” IN “THE ANTHROPOCENE”
Dextinction
“Restitution, Restoration, and Reviving Extinct Species” by Christian Diehm |
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De-extinction ( 2 ½ min video)
Pro De-Extinction --Steward Brand (20 min video)
David Ehrenfeld, "Extinction reversal? Don't count on it" (9 Min video)
Extinct Species Should Stay Extinct by Ben Minteer (article and 15 min video)
Ron Sandler, The Ethics of Reviving Long Extinct Species |
April 2 |
Rewilding
“Re-wilding North America” by Josh Donlan et al.
"Pleistocene Park: Does re-wilding North America represent sound conservation for the 21st century" by Rubenstein et al. |
Donlan on Pleistocene Rewilding
Rubenstein against Pleistocene Rewilding |
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March 31 |
George Monbiot, “Raucous Summer,” Chapter 1 of Feral
Hettinger, Review of Monbiot's Feral |
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Mar 26 |
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About Keith and Solar Climate Engineering
Jamieson on Geoengineering Fantasies
Scott on Geoengineering and Env. Ethics & Technology |
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Mar 24 |
The Anthropocene
No new reading. Make sure you read the paper below |
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Ned Hettinger, “Age of Man Environmentalism and Respect for an Independent Nature” |
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March 17 |
Chapter 1, Rambunctious Garden by Emma Marris
Enter the Anthropocene—Age of Man, National Geographic, 2011 by Elizabeth Kolbert
“Hope in the Age of Man” by Emma Marris, Peter Kareiva, Joseph Mascaro and Erle C. Ellis
“We Are Planet Managers” by Emma Marris
“Neither Good Nor Bad” by Erle Ellis |
Marris, Ch 1, Rambunctious Garden
Kolbert, Enter Anthropocene
Marris et al., Hope in Age of Man
Marris, Planet Managers
Ellis, Neither Good nor Bad |
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Mar 12 |
Restoration
William Jordan, "'Sunflower Forest': Ecological Restoration as the Basis for a New Environmental Paradigm” |
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Music, Place, Identity in the Mountain Top Removal Debate (discussion by Abby Tennenbaum), Fri, 3/13, 14 Glebe, 3:15
(Free quiz opportunity)
Ned Hettinger, “Nature Restoration as a Paradigm for the Human Relationship with Nature (In class powerpoint presentation of above Hettinger paper)
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Mar 10 |
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Aldo Leopold on Technology
Spending time in nature leads to sustainable behavior
Critique of Offshore Drilling SC coast
Coastal Conservation League website |
Feb 26 |
Midterm Exam
Study Questions for Exam |
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Feb 24 |
PART II: SPECIFIC TECHNOLOGIES: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
Agricultural Biotechnology
The Debate over Genetically Modified Organisms
Monsanto vs Vandana Shiva (audio and transcript)
Visit by Carmen Ketron on the Student Garden at Dixie |
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Ag Biotech and The Debate over Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
Plant Breeders Release First 'Open Source Seeds' (NPR audio)
Seed Freedom
Farmer's Fight with Monsanto Reaches The Supreme Court
Supreme Court Supports Monsanto's Soybean Patent
Genetically Altered Salmon ("Frankenfish?") are Safe Says FDA
Will Anyone Buy GMO Salmon?
Against GMO Patents
Will Frankenfood Save the Planet?
Comstock, "Ethics and Genetically Modified Foods" |
Feb 19 |
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About Barbara Kingsolver
Label GMO Disco Video by Dana Lyons
GMO Labelling
Union of Concerned Scientists on Agricultural Biotechnology |
Feb 17 |
Information Technology
David Ehrenfeld, “Pseudocommunities” |
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Information Technology
The Perils of Perfection
Your Brain on Computers
Is Google Making Us Stupid?
University Declares Week w/o Social Media
Social Media Ban Experiment Reveals Facebook, Twitter Users Display Signs of Addiction
Decline of Community Involvement: Review of Bowling Alone
So Much For Bowling Alone: Research Says Internet Users Are Socially Engaged
Table of Contents of "Community in a Digital Age" (book on reserve at library)
Review of Community in the Digital Age - Philosophy and Practice
On the "Technological Singularity"
Positive Psychology and Sustainability
Wednesday Feb 18, 12-1, Stern Center Ballroom
(Free Quiz Opportunity)
Can Facebook be Authentic?
Rebecca Stanley's Philosophy Bachelor's Essay
Friday, Apr 17, 2pm, Ed. Ctr 111
Free Quiz Opportunity |
Feb 12 |
PART I: PHILOSOPHY OF TECHNOLOGY
Support for Technology
Bruno Latour, “Love your Monsters: Why We Must Care for Our Technologies As We Do Our Children” |
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Shellenberger and Nordhaus on Loving Your Monsters and Postenvironmentalism (synopsis)
Technology Friendly Environmentalism (Colbert)
Pandora's Promise (pro-nuclear power film)
DamNation Trailer
Hydropower for Me But Not for Thee: Why Poor Nations Deserve the Large Dams From Which the West Has Benefited |
Feb 10 |
Samuel Florman, “In Praise of Technology” |
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Class Attendance and Grades |
Feb 5 |
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Feb 3 |
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Jan 29 |
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Heinberg's Primitivist Critique of Civilization
Kingsnorth's Dark Ecology |
Paul Kingsnorth on "Uncivilization" (2 minute video)
Paul Kingsnorth, "Time to stop pretending" (9 minute video)
Another essay by Kingsnorth
"Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist"
About Richard Heinberg
Is it arrogant to think Man can change climate?
Great audio on Nanotechnology
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Jan 27 |
Wendell Berry, “Why I’m Not Going to Buy a Computer” Harpers 1987
Wendell Berry, “Feminism, the Body, and the Machine” 2002
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Berry on Why Not Buy Computer
Berry on Feminism, Body, and Machine |
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Jan 22: |
Primitivism
Paul Shepard, Preface to The Only World We’ve Got (Sierra Club Books, 1996; Paul Shepard, Copyright 1996), pp. ix-xx
Jared Diamond, “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race," Discover (May 1987) |
Shepard on Coming Home to the Pleistocene
Diamond on Worst Mistake |
About Jared Diamond
Jared Diamond on "Why Societies Collapse" (video)
Appropriate Technology?
U.S. Research Lab Lets Livestock Suffer in Quest for Profit
Animal Welfare at Risk in Experiments for Meat Industry
Progress? Richest 1% have more wealth than everyone else combined
NOAA on Global Temperatures in 2014 |
Jan 20 |
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Richard Conniff, What the Luddites Really Fought Against
Some quotes
Technology Created Unemployment
(Discussion of whether today technology causes unemployment or creates jobs)
Teen fatally stabbed victim, 17, over Snapchat message |
Jan 15 |
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Jan 13 |
Introduction
“78 Reasonable Questions to Ask about Any Technology”
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Luddism
Introduction to Technological Slavery: The Collected Writings of Theodore J Kaczynski aka The Unabomber by David Skrbina
(Whole book available from Library on line)
Richard Conniff, “What the Luddites Really Fought Against” Smithsonian.com |
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Pro Technology Philosophies
Shellenberger and Nordhaus on Loving Your Monsters and Postenvironmentalism (synopsis)
Bruno Latour, “Love your Monsters: Why We Must Care for Our Technologies As We Do Our Children,” Breakthrough, 2012" (article)
Technology Friendly Environmentalism (Colbert)
Pandora's Promise (pro-nuclear power film)
DamNation Trailer
Hydropower for Me But Not for Thee: Why Poor Nations Deserve the Large Dams From Which the West Has Benefited
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Rewilding
George Monbiot on Rewilding (TED Talk)
Monbiot on Ecological Boredom
“Re-wilding North America” by Josh Donlan et al.
Harry Greene, How Far Should We Go To Bring Back Species? (a defense of Pleistocene Rewilding) (includes video)
"Pleistocene Park: Does re-wilding North America represent sound conservation for the 21st century" by Rubenstein et al. |
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De-extinction
Podcast: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life
TED talks on De-extinction: Stewart Brand and David Ehrenfeld
Ron Sandler, The Ethics of Reviving Long Extinct Species
Ben A. Minteer, “The Perils of De-extinction” See video "Extinct Species Should Stay Extinct"
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CONSUMPTION, PROGRESS, AND SIMPLICITY
Drake "Successful" |
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Materialism: a System that Eats us from the Inside Out by George Monbiot
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Deconstructing the Shed: Where I Live and What I Live For
by Samuel Alexander (on Simple Living) |
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David Shi, The Simple Life
Thomas Power, The Pursuit of Quality: A Non-Material Perspective on the Economy |
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