Writing assignments

Holmes Rolston II assignment:

In 2-3 pages (double spaced), explain Rolston's reasons for recognizing intrinsic non-anthropogenic value in the non-human world. Be clear and concise.

Environment and the Good Life:

We've been reading Norton on weak Anthropocentrism, Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics, Schumaker's "Buddhist Economics".  With these sources in mind, explain weak anthropocentrism, Aristotle's take on our considered interests as well as Schumaker's Buddhist economist's and give me your assessment of this approach.  Would and enlightened anthropocentric view of the value of the natural world ground an adequate environmental ethic?  Why or why not. 2 - 5 pages.

Tragedy of the Commons

Explain Garritt Hardin's notion of a tragedy of the commons.  What sorts of conditions give rise to a tragedy of the commons and how can a tragedy of the commons be prevented. Apply your analysis of a tragedy of the commons to an environmental problem. ~2 pages.

Final assignment

Answer the following questions on Thoreau and Rolston (Feeding People or Saving Nature)

Thoreau

1. When does Thoreau think we have a duty to disobey the state?
2. How does Throreau's view of the good life contrast with more popular conceptions?

Rolston "Feeding People versus Saving Nature

1. How does Rolston argue that preserving wilderness could in theory justly take priority over feeding the starving?
2. In what morally significant ways does Rolston suggest that preserving nature versus feeding the hungry is a false dichotomy?