PHIL 311 - Environmental Ethics

Units: 3 ; Breadth Area: GE-UD-3; Sustainability
Philosophical conceptions of nature and the environment, and human responsibilities towards it, drawn from different historical and cultural traditions.

Breadth Area(s) Satisfied: GE-UD-3 - Upper Division Arts or Humanities, Overlay - Sustainability
Prerequisites: Completion of GE Areas 1A, 1B, 1C and GE-2 with grade C- (CR) or better (GE Areas A1, A2, A3 and B4 for students on the 2024-25 or earlier catalogs).
Strongly Recommended Preparation: Upper division status (greater than 60 earned semester units) and completion of lower division Area 3 requirements (lower division Area C requirements for students on the 2024-25 or earlier catalogs).
Possible Instructional Methods: On-ground, or Online-Asynchronous or Online-Synchronous.
Grading: A-F or CR/NC (student choice).
Course Typically Offered: Fall & Spring

Student Learning Outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

read complex texts, create original arguments, analyze the arguments of others, and express these criticisms orally and in writing
demonstrate knowledge of the study of environmental ethics, including relevant concepts, theories, methods, and historical contexts
write clear, academically rigorous, argumentative essays

GE-UD-3. Upper-division Arts or Humanities Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate an understanding of and ability to apply principles, methodologies, values systems, and thought processes employed in the arts and humanities.
Analyze cultural production as an expression of, or reflection upon, what it means to be human.
Demonstrate how the perspectives of the arts or humanities are used by informed, engaged, and reflective citizens to benefit local and global communities.

Sustainability Overlay Learning Outcomes

Discuss multiple dimensions of sustainability, including the scientific, social, cultural, and/or economic.
Analyze interactions between human activities and natural systems.
Describe strategies taken by individuals, communities, organizations, or governments for mitigating and/or adapting to key threats to environmental sustainability.