Essay Five - American Indian, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Environmentalism as Religion, etc.
Don't forget to define key terms, use examples to support and illustrate (including textual examples where relevant), and discuss likely alternatives or respond to objections!
Requirements:
1. Your essay should be word-processed, double-spaced, one-inch to one and one-half inch margins. It should be spell-checked. Pages Numbered.
2. You should have a cover page with title, date, and your name.
3. Each paragraph should be numbered. After the end of the essay, attach an OUTLINE of the essay with the thesis clearly stated and at minimum a line for each paragraph.
4. Each essay should be approximately 2-3 pages long (not including the Works Consulted or cover pages).
5. You must include a Works Consulted/Cited Page. I will assume that you have read and understood Harvey, Writing with Sources on when and how to cite sources. CAREFUL AND CORRECT CITATION IS REQUIRED. WHEN IN DOUBT, CITE. Remember that simply paraphrasing or changing every third word is not OK. Quote and cite or radically summarize and cite. Use quotation marks when quoting or indent if quote is five lines or longer. Guessing at where your information comes from is not OK. Use page numbers in your in-text citations, footnotes or endnotes. Book or journal titles are italicized or underlined.
6. Your essay should define any key terms used, use examples to illustrate and support your argument where appropriate, and discuss likely alternatives or respond to objections.
Essays will be graded for both form and content as indicated in Points to Consider in Evaluating an Essay.
Choose One of the following questions/prompts:
1. What is one issue Callicott identifies in "American Indian Land Wisdom? Sorting Out the Issues" and why is it important? Why does Callicott discuss American Indian land wisdom in the first place?
2. Describe and comment upon two connections between Berkes’s "Traditional Ecological Knowledge" and Callicott’s "American Indian Land Wisdom? Sorting Out the Issues".
3. Describe the spectrum Nasdady identifies. What light does this spectrum and his focus on defining "environmentalism" shed on understanding the Kluane specifically and the sometimes troubled relations between indigenous peoples and Western environmentalists?
4. What light does the spectrum Nasdady identifies shed on one of the continuing debates we have observed in the course of the semester?
5. Is Bron Taylor in "Earth First!’s Religious Radicalism," successful in arguing that Earth First! fits the definition of religion he outlines? Discuss one strength and one weakness of his argument.
6. How do you evaluate Taylor’s definition of religion in "Earth First!’s Religious Radicalism," in the light of the discussion of defining religion ( essential, functional, family resemblance, classification, etc.) that we read at the beginning of the semester at the "Studying Religion" website (at http://www.as.ua.edu/rel/studyingreligion.html)?
7. Reread the introduction to the Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature by Taylor at http://www.religionandnature.com/ern/2ern(intro).pdf Pick one concept or question discussed by Taylor that has become clearer or murkier to you over the course of the semester and explain why.
8. Argument analysis. Pick a main conclusion of any of the authors we read for the section of the course. Charitably, show how the author reached this conclusion (presuppositions, reasons, etc.) and offer an assessment of the argument.
9. ***Wild Card. Topic of your choice, but get approval of instructor first.
Writing Help
Your textbook - Bedau, Hugo. Thinking and Writing About Philosophy. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002.
Jim Pryor of Princeton has a website with some plain words about writing a philosophy paper. It can be found at http://www.princeton.edu/~jimpryor/general/writing.html
J. Cruz of Williams College takes one through the process of an imaginary student writing a paper on "the parallel between the parts of the just soul and parts of a just city" in Plato’s Republic. This is found at a section of his website entitled "Writing papers for introductory moral philosophy courses" located at http://www.williams.edu/philosophy/fourth_layer/faculty_pages/jcruz/moraltutor/index.html
"PhilosophyTools" on my website has many links useful for writing philosophy papers and essays including a Citation FAQ.
Visit the UI Writing Center - The Writing Center is located in Room 323 on the third floor of the Idaho Commons. Tutors help students with writing projects. For more information, the URL is http://www.class.uidaho.edu/english/WritingCenter/