Boundaries: A Casebook in Environmental Ethics

by Christine E. Gudorf

In this expanded and revised edition of a fresh and original case-study textbook on environmental ethics, Christine Gudorf and James Huchingson continue to explore the line that separates the current state of the environment from what it should be in the future.

Boundaries begins with a lucid overview of the field, highlighting the key developments and theories in the environmental movement. Specific cases offer a rich and diverse range of situations from around the globe, from saving the forests of Java and the use of pesticides in developing countries to restoring degraded ecosystems in Nebraska. With an emphasis on the concrete circumstances of particular localities, the studies continue to focus on the dilemmas and struggles of individuals and communities who face daunting decisions with serious consequences. This second edition features extensive updates and revisions, along with four new cases: one on water privatization, one on governmental efforts to mitigate global climate change, and two on the obstacles that teachers of environmental ethics encounter in the classroom. Boundaries also includes an appendix for teachers that describes how to use the cases in the classroom.

Genres: School, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 2003

Reviews

[Priscilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written ideas about ethical approaches to environmental ethics and how to use case studies in the classroom to support student thinking. The explanation of each vinyett is Well done.

[Peter Jana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boundaries is a useful resource for teaching environmental ethics. It provides specific case studies that bring abstract issues down to earth, and provides a wide-ranging and comprehensible theoretical framework. The first couple of chapters are excellent in summarizing schools of thought. I was especially impressed with the political discussion in the second chapter. It positions environmental issues around the individualism and collectivism dichotomy that can help place contemporary environmental questions in terms relevant to traditional political philosophy. I also appreciate how the authors incorporate religious perspectives at various points throughout the book. This is a much-needed corrective to the short shrift that religious views often receive from the academic political left.

Not all of the chapters are as good as others – some of them spend more time on public policy than philosophy, but there is enough philosophical context in the other chapters that the relationship between the two can be teased out by students and the instructor. Each chapter begins with a dialogue and then moves to an analysis of the positions contained therein. The dialogues are not literary masterpieces and at times I found myself skipping them to get straight to the analysis, but they could be pedagogically effective in the classroom.

[Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting book written in a very creative manner. Cases are used with lots of dialogue to illustrate the various issues encountered in contemporary environmental ethics. Commentaries follow the cases to highlight various scientific and theoretical positions relating to the case.

While the dialogue at times can come off as hokey, it is certainly a welcomed change from dry academic writing.