Dr. Janice Capel Anderson - University of Idaho - Morrill Hall 405 - 885-6065 - Email: jcanders@uidaho.edu

Office Hours are T/TH 9:20-10:50 A.M. and many other times by appointment.

H. Bedau, Thinking and Writing About Philosophy. Bedford/St. Martins, 2nd ed. , 2002, paper. ISBN: 0-312-39653-8

G. Harvey, Writing with Sources. Hackett, 1998. ISBN: 0872204340 1998

Damien Keown, Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, first published 1996 - reissued 2000, paper. ISBN: 0192853864

Aldo Leopold, Sand County Almanac (Outdoor Essays & Reflections). Ballantine Books; Reissue edition, 1986, paper. ISBN: 0345345053

Jacob Neusner, Judaism: An Introduction. Penguin Group (USA), 2003 paper. ISBN: 0141008490

Martin D. Yaffe, ed., Judaism and Environmental Ethics .Lexington Books, 2001, paper. ISBN: 0739101188

E-reserve: Other readings are on e-reserve or are available on the Internet. You should print out the required readings and bring them to class on the day(s) they will be discussed. A userid and password are required to access e-reserve for this class.

Format and Requirements

The course format will be a seminar. I will lead and structure the seminar–and, of course, grade your work. As a seminar, however, the primary responsibility for the course falls on the seminar members. Each seminar member will be responsible for the following:

1. Reading, discussion, and attendance. (Twelve percent of grade = 60 points). Each student should read and analyze all the material to be discussed before class and bring all assigned materials to class. He or she should attend each class and participate in class discussion, respectfully and thoughtfully

2. Leading one class session. (Ten percent of grade = 50 points.) This will include writing reading and class discussion questions to be posted on the web at least six days prior to the class. (an exception - five days for the Leopold and Naess readings). For some sessions there will be more than one leader and you are responsible for coming up with questions along with a partner who is focusing on the same reading. You should email me the questions in Word or WordPerfect eight days before the class and I will post the questions. Although not absolutely necessary, it would be a good idea to review the questions with me before coming up with the final version.

3. Writing four essays. (Twenty percent of grade = 100 points.) I will suggest the topics, but you may always propose a topic of your own. These essays should be approximately three pages long, word-processed, 1 and 1/4 inch margins, 12 point font, double-spaced. I will give you further directions via link on the course website.

4. Literature Review and Annotated Bibliography (Ten percent of your grade = 50 points)

5.. Major Paper - (circa 15 to 20 pages) This paper will involve several stages, each of which will be graded. The first will be a rough draft of the paper. (Ten percent of grade = 50 points). This draft will be guided by the literature review mentioned above. The second will be the final draft (Thirty percent of your grade = 150 points due on Further directions will be available on the class website.

7. Class presentations. (Eight percent of grade = 40 points). Each student will make a presentation on the topic of his or her paper–although you should definitely not read your paper to the class. Further directions will be available on the class website.

Tentative Course Schedule - Details to be Arranged with Seminar Members

Monday, Jan 16^th - MLK Holiday - no classes

Week beginning on January 16-- Read - Introduction to the Religion and Nature Encyclopedia by Bron Taylor at http://www.religionandnature.com/ern/2ern(intro).pdf  and the brief set of articles on the Studying Religion Website at http://www.as.ua.edu/rel/studyingreligion.html Prepare Discussion Questions for Class - click the following link:  Reading and Discussion Questions.   Please e-mail me a paragraph by Jan 22nd describing what aspect of the questions surrounding religion and the environment you are currently most interested in and how this class might contribute to your thesis or other studies.

Jan 23 - Course Introduction and Discussion of Introduction to the Religion and Nature Encyclopedia by Bron Taylor  http://www.religionandnature.com/ern/2ern(intro).pdf       nd the brief set of articles on the Studying Religion Website at http://www.as.ua.edu/rel/studyingreligion.html   Reading and Discussion Questions.  

Jan 30 Aldo Leopold - Sand County Almanac - "January" and "February", pp. 3-19 and "The Land Ethic", pp. 237-64 and on E-reserve: Arne Naess, "The Deep Ecology Movement: Some Philosophical Aspects," in G. Sessions, ed., Deep Ecology for the 21st Century (Shambhala, 1995), pp. 64-84.  

Feb 6 - The Lynn White Thesis and the Philosophical Essay - E-reserve:: Lynn White, Jr. "The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis," Science 155 (March 10, 1967) 1203- 1207 and Elspeth Whitney, "Lynn White, Ecotheology and History." Environmental Ethics 15, no. 2 (summer 1993): 151–69 and Bedau, pp. 106-136.  If you have never written a philosophical essay, you may also wish to read Chapter Three on evaluating argumentative prose.

Discussion Leader: Ben Austin   Reading and Discussion Questions

Essay One Prompts - Due Thurs Feb 9 by 4 PM in my box in Morrill 402 or via e-mail attachment in Word or WordPerfect. (Please send with return receipt).  Click for Prompts

Feb 13 - Judaism - Neusner, pp. 1-54, 98-123; Genesis 1-3 and Jeanne Kay, "Concepts of Nature in the Hebrew Bible," pp. 86-104 in Yaffe.  Discussion Leader Aaron Luoma - Reading and Discussion Questions

Individual Conferences with Professor about Major Paper and Research - Feb 21-24

Literature Review Due - Tues, Mar 14  by 11 A.M.  via e-mail attachment in Word or WordPerfect (Please send with return receipt) or in my box in Morrill 402 Literature Review and Annotated Bibliography Directions

Spring Break March 12-18

Mar 20- Christianity - E-reserve:  Sallie McFague Chapter Two from Super, Natural Christians and Sideris, Lisa H. "Philosophical and Theological Critiques of Ecological Theology." From: Environmental Ethics, Ecological Theology, and Natural Selection. Publ: Columbia University Press. New York. 2003, pp. 167-215.  Reading and Discussion Questions

Mar 27 - E-reserve:  Molloy chapter on Islam (read rapidly just for the general ideas or you may skip if you are familiar with the basics of Islam) and  Nomanul Haq Islam and Ecology: Toward Retrieval and Reconstruction   (click on the title) and E-reserve: K.L. Afrasiabi, "Toward an Islamic Ecotheology" Hamdard Islamicus.  18:1 (1995) 33-44  Reading and Discussion Questions

Essay Four Due - April 6 by 4 P.M. in my box in Morrill 402 or via e-mail attachment in Word or WordPerfect. (Please send with return receipt) - Essay Four Prompts

V. Buddhism

April 10 - Buddhism - Keown, pp.1-56 and 97-109 (this sounds like a lot, but the pages are very, very small)- and Excerpts from "Questions of King Milinda"at http://www.miami.edu/phi/bio/Buddha/Milinda.htm as follows: Introduction,  Why Nagasena went to Bactria, The Five Cardinal Virtues (read this one after the others), There is No-Self (from Book II. Chapter One), No Continuous Personal Identity (from Book II. Chapter 2.), Nirvana and Cessation (from Book III. Chapter 4) and The Nature of Nirvana).  Reading and Discussion Questions and E-reserve: Harris, Ian. "Buddhism and Ecology. Chapter 5." From: Contemporary Buddhist Ethics. Ed: Damien Keown. Publ: Curzon. Richmond. 2000. p. 113-135

April 17-  E-reserve: Francis H. Cook, "The Jewel Net of Indra" pp. 1-19 in Hua-yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra (University Park : Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977) and  Swearer, Donald K. "The Hermeneutics of Buddhist Ecology in Contemporary Thailand: Buddhadasa and Dhammapitaka." in Buddhism and Ecology. Publ: Harvard University Press. Cambridge. 1997, pp. 21-43. Discussion Leader: Abdul Rahman Luria ALKhateeb  Reading and Discussion Questions

VI. Student  Presentations

April 24- Student Presentations

May 1 - Student Presentations

Essay Four Buddhism - for those who chose this instead of Islam - by 4 P.M. on May 5 in my box in Morrill 402 or via e-mail attachment in Word or WordPerfect. (Please send with return receipt)

Final Paper Due  Thursday  May  11th by 5 PM in my box in Morrill 402 or via e-mail.  If you send via email, please send with a return receipt.