Ethics and philosophy of nature protection

biology
biotechnology
environmental protection
psychology

general courses

Classroom

Conversatorium -- active participation is expected.The aim of the course is to gain knowledge about the most important philosophical concepts related to nature conservation and environmental protection. During the course, students will have the opportunity to gain the skills of confronting different views on nature, on individual motivations and on the social requirements for the conservation, exploitation and degradation of the biosphere. Issues will be dealt with in legislation, aiming to reduce human pressure on nature and the idea of animal rights. The main assumption is an interdisciplinary approach to the idea of nature conservation combining natural sciences with the social sciences and humanities.

The course covers the review and analysis of the most important philosophical concepts and ethical approaches to nature conservation and environmental protection, and discusses cultural issues important to understanding contemporary natural threads. One of the assumptions is idea that view that ethics, especially in its modern sense (neuroethics, cognitive ethics) cannot be fully described as the domain of classical philosophy. Philosophical issues will mainly concern the question of cognition (epistemology) in the naturalist, positivist and rationalist viewpoints, confronted with the anti-naturalist and pseudoscientific approaches. Ethical questions will be based on reviewing and analyzing known ideas about the ethical values of natural objects and their relationships with humans.

During the course, the following topics will be addressed:

1. Nature protection and environmental protection - the most important threat in the realities of Poland, Europe and the world. Human relationships with nature in various cultures.

2. Humanistic, anthropocentric and ecological ethics, ethical duties and ethical values. Nature and natural resources.

Deep ecology - assumptions and concepts, the basics of the scientific methodology - science, falsificationism, pseudo-science.

4. Scientific research on nature and its protection. Ethical aspects of the use of organisms in scientific research. The role of science in creating the basis of nature conservation.

5. Man as a hunter - various "discourses" and "narratives" and their criticism from the point of view of ethics and social sciences.

6-7. The idea of animal rights

- Traditional and religious concepts

- Sensibility and sensitivity of animals - "ethics of diverse nature"

- The evolution of approaches and views on has issues of rationality and sensitivity of animals from antiquity (Aristotle, Plutarch, Ovidius, Lucretius, Descartes) and medieval (Thomas Aquinas, St Augustine and Francis of Assisi) through Descartes, Locke and De Mettrie up to Bergson's idealism and Teillard de Chardin, and finally "theory of mind" (R. Dunbar), and scientist's rationalism ("biofilia" by E. Wilson)

- Anthropocentrism and Bryan Norton's "weak anthropocentrism"

- Animal welfare vs. animal rights

- The obligation to protect the weak and the innocent and the moral laws of the animals (T. Regan)

- Animal rights vs the idea of equality of rights (S. Sapontzis)

- Contemporary argumentation (D. De Grazia, S. Wise, G. Franzione, J. Białocerkiewicz, D. Prabucka)

8. Nature in the human world – ethical and philosophical critical argumentsation:

- Domestication

- Urbanization

- Exploitation (farming, breeding, hunting, consumption, etc.)

9. Valorisation of nature and natural resources, economic ppproach - valuation of ecosystem services, its role in nature conservation and its ethical value

10. The beauty of nature in terms of aesthetics as the domain of philosophy and its role in nature protection

11. The study on nature and its protection - the role of pedagogy and ecological education in discovering ethical thought over nature

12. Organizations and institutions dealing with nature conservation. Comparison of assumptions, effects and ethical, legal and scientific activities of the most important public, private, governmental and non-governmental institutions and organizations in Poland focused on nature conservation and environmental protection.

Devall B., Sessions G. 1994 – Ekologia głęboka, Pusty obłok, Warszawa

Dzwonkowska D. i inni, 2015 – Filozofia wobec świata zwierząt, Wydawnictwo UKSW, Warszawa

Probucka D. 2013 – Filozoficzne podstawy idei praw zwierząt, Universitas, Kraków

Mepham B. 2008 – Bioetyka, PWN, Warszawa

Required attendance (two absences allowed during the course) and preparing of the presentation.