Department
of Philosophy,
PHILOSOPHY
OF DISASTER AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE
Note: The development of this course and its resources
was made possible by a 2007 award to Professor Zack from the University
of Oregon Tom and Carol Williams Fund for Undergraduate Education. This is the
second time the course is being offered and it has benefited from student
participation and feedback from the first Spring 2007 class.
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PHIL |
4.00
cr. |
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CRN |
Avail |
Max |
Time |
Day |
Location |
Instructor |
Notes |
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Lecture |
40 |
40 |
1000-1120 |
Tr |
214
FR |
Zack
N |
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+ Dis |
20 |
20 |
1300-1350 |
F |
353
PLC |
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+ Dis |
20 |
20 |
1400-1450 |
F |
353
PLC |
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SYLLABUS
Aim and Purpose of the
Course.
Socrates said that he was not afraid of death. In the 20th century, Martin Heidegger and Jean-Paul Sartre stressed human mortality as a constant aspect of our existence. Peace, freedom and the protection of life were the original justifications of government for 17th century social contract theorists John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. The value of human life and well-being is a fundamental presupposition of all moral theories, and examples from “life boat ethics” or what we should do in extreme situations, spark much debate. Thus, real life problems are already part of philosophy.
After 9-ll
the world seemed to become more dangerous, including threats from hurricanes,
earthquakes, tsunamis and pandemics, in addition to terrorism. And, awareness
of global warming directs us to a new set of problems. Hurricane Katrina brought a new dimension, the
inability of government to respond immediately to emergencies, which leaves an
ill-prepared public on its own. The aim of this course is to
philosophically develop a humanistic approach to disaster preparation and
emergency response, from the standpoint of civilian individuals and
communities. The purpose of this course is to contribute to the new
multi-disciplinary academic field of “Disaster Studies” and to improve the
quality of life in emergencies—for students in the class, the UO community, the
Course work and requirements: attendance and class participation, required readings, four short papers (3 pages), research report or practical project involving acquisition of new skill or revision of old one, development of individual emergency response plan.
GRADE COMPONENTS
Four 3-page Papers – 60%
Disaster Kit/Description – 5% due Tuesday, Week IV.
Class participation – 15%
Term Project -- 20% description due Tuesday, Week IV.
__________________
100%
You do not need to complete the practical outside project by the end of the term, but you do need to have made a sincere and significant investment of time and energy in it to get full credit.
If you do not commit to a practical project, a research paper is required.
You do need to assemble a personal disaster kit or describe what you will place in one and why.
Schedule: readings,
paper questions, projects, events, resources.
All readings are to be done before the date for which they are
assigned, and they are all on Backboard, under Course Documents.
NOTE ON PAPERS: ‘A’ papers need to be polished, with bibliographies, references to sources and clear development of arguments, statements of assumptions and reasons given for opinions. There should be no writing glitches. All papers need to be submitted in hardcopy. Drafts will not be accepted but both the GTF and the professor will answer email questions. Improvement over the 4 papers will be taken into account in computing final grades. Please see the paper writing guide at the end of this syllabus.
Speaker Schedule - TBA and added.
Weeks I and II : INTRODUCTION, ORGANIZATION, DISCUSSION AND PLANS.
Subjects
Definitions of a disaster; how disasters are different from emergencies. Recent examples. Difference between disasters in which official response is immediate and disasters that require individual preparation for survival. Discussion of narrative and journalistic accounts of disasters from recent events, experience of students, predictions. Discussion of media.
FILMS - To be Shown in Knight Library, R. 42, April
1 and 2, 6-10 PM
Spike Lee, WHEN
THE LEVEES BROKE (note: this documentary is about 3 1/2 hrs)
Al Gore, AN
INCONVENIENT TRUTH
PBS: HURRICANE KATRINA
National Geographic: INSIDE 9/11
Art Spiegelman, In the Shadow of No Towers, graphic
novel, on reserve, Knight library
(writings by me with numbers are chapters from my forthcoming book,
The Specter of Disaster: New Moral Questions
in Life and Popular Culture.”)
WEEK III The SOCIAL CONTRACT and DISASTER.
TU. Paper #1 due: Referring to at least one film,
write an essay that defines what a disaster is, at this time, with the
following title. “How is a disaster different from what goes wrong in daily
life and what does film contribute to understanding this (or fail to
contribute)?” If you could not see a film, you may write about Spiegelman’s
graphic novel. (You may also include discussion of it with a film.)
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan,
John Rawls, A Theory of Justice.
The Precautionary Principle
N.Zack, 7. The Social Contract and
Civilians
WEEK IV
REQUIRED COMMITMENT BY TUESDAY, Week 4.
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Descriptions
of projects need not be more than 1 page, plus documentation or bibliography.
Final reports of both will be due on the last day of class, oral reports in
weeks 9 and 10. Practical Project : take a first aid or CPR course; enroll in a CERT (Community Emergency Response Tem) course; develop, write up and practice an emergency response plan with a group of others (not members of the class) with whom you live or work; commit to volunteer work in the community, acquire or develop a relevant skill, enroll in an outdoor skills class, take a ham radio course and become certified. Note: An enrollment certificate or other proof of your commitment to a project must be included. OR Research Project: 5-10 pages. Investigate some aspect of disaster preparation, representation, or existing research. Note: bibliography must be included. Note:
late descriptions in both cases will result in deductions from grades. You
can change your project by handing in a new description, but no later than
Tu, WeekVI. |
Tuesday – Discussion of Projects
Naomi Zack, “Philosophy and Disaster,” Homeland Security Affairs Journal, April, 2006 (on Blackboard)
WEEKS V and VI “LIFEBOAT ETHICS”
WEEK V –
Case Studies
TU. Paper #2 due. What
is the social contract and how is it relevant to disasters?
Week V
Fuller, “The Case of the Spelucean Explorers,” (Blackboard)
N. Zack, 5. “Lifeboat Ethics: Should We Blow Up the Fat Man?”
Week VI – Theoretical and
Policy Issues fir Lifeboat Ethics
Note: Please do all of the following reading for the
week by Tuesday so that we can talk About the material with cross-references,
on both Tuesday and Thursday.
JAMA article and “Triage and Ventilators”
Objectivist Ethics, 101, Ayn Rand on “The Ethics of Emergencies
Kai Nielsen, “A Defense of Utilitarianism”and Bernard Williams, “Against Utilitarianism.”
Week VII - Government and Civilian action in emergencies.
“CDC PanFlu Epidemics Ethics
Guidelines”
N. Zack, “4. Disaster Planning: PNH, PW-B, SGN, SGNW,
SALL, and FSALBP.”
Christopher Bellavita, “Changing Homeland Security: Shape Patterns, Not Programs” (Blackboard, Homeland Security Affairs, Vol II, no. 3 (Oct, 2005) http://hsaj.org
Week VIII.
TU. Paper #
3. Are “lifeboat ethics” really ethical
and what implications does this have for government policy/action? (give
reasons with examples from the readings).
selections from Martin Heidegger, Being and Time.
N. Zack, “2. Death: Heidegger, Socrates, and Robert Falcon Scott”
TH. SIGN UP FOR end of term PROJECT PRESENTATIONS.
Week IX .
TU. Paper # 4. Is
death in disaster worse than death in ordinary life? (refer to Heidegger and Sartre in your answer.)
Student reports on their individual disaster preparation
and discussion of relevance of philosophy, if any, sharing of skills.
OR, presentation of research
projects.
Week X.
TU Continured Discussion of Projects
TH Last Day. Student
feedback, Term paper due. The term paper is a report of the term project,
with documentation if you chose a practical/skill project, Or, a 5-10 page
research project, written as a paper, if you chose to do that.
Bibliography and Resources
Note: This is a partial list.
Please be enterprising, according to your individual interests.
The Precautionary Principle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precautionary_principle
John Locke, Two Treatises of Government
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1690locke-sel.html
Thomas Hobbes, The Leviathan
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/hobbes/leviathan-contents.html
Additional Sources
Ronald J. Daniels et al. On
Risk and Disaster: Lessons from Hurricane Katrina (
Farber, Daniel A. and Jim Chen, Disasters and the Law: Katrina and Beyond,
Klein, Naomi. The
Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.
The 9/11 Commission Report, WW. Norton.
Homeland Security Affairs Journal, www.hsaj.org
PHILOSOPHY OF RISK NEWSLETTER vol. 8, no. 1, March 2007
PhilRiskNews: http://www.infra.kth.se/phil/riskpage
Practical Resources
Guides to surviving in rural areas with very little equipment. US Army Survival Manual; Garth Hattingh, Outdoor Survival.
Emergency Preparation: Ted Wright, Wright’s Complete
Disaster Survival Manual; Catherine Stuart, Simply Essential Disaster
Preparation Kit; Doug King, Emergency Disaster Survival Guidebook.
Homeland Security Affairs Journal, www.hsaj.org
Emergency
and disaster response in
UO
campus emergency information. Emergency Procedures Manual at
safetyweb.uoregon.edu/procedures/ and progress of the Oregon Natural
Hazards Workgroup (OHHW) in developing a
A comprehensive list, with
sublists of emergency equipment can be found at: (Supplies such as first aid kits, duct tape, plastic
sheeting can be found inexpensively at Walmart, BI-Mart or other chain stores.
More specialized equipment, some less expensive can be found at Saunderson
Safety Supply Company,
Training Programs:
Readiness website: http://www.whatsyourrq.org/index.html
PAPER WRITING
GUIDE
Note:
When you get your papers back, there will be comments. The letters in
parentheses indicate what aspect of your writing might need improvement and you
may see them the second or third time this aspect still needs work.
1. CLARITY (CL) Since this is a
philosophy paper, make sure that you define your terms and give reasons for
claims. All of your ideas should be explicitly stated and not left to the
reader to infer. One difference between philosophy and literature is that
philosophers spell everything out, while creative writers depend on the
imagination of the reader.
2. PRECISION (P) Try not to make vague
claims or general statements about the ideas in the readings. Be accurate in
reporting the views of others and exact in stating your own.
3. ORGANIZATION (O) Organize the ideas in
the paper into coherent paragraphs. Summarize the main claims of your paper in
2 or 3 sentences that you write after you write the paper, but located
at the very beginning of the paper. (This is an appropriate introductory paragraph
for a philosophy paper.)
3.
WRITING MECHANICS (WR) The mechanics include spelling, punctuation, syntax and
complete sentence structure. Make sure that you already have these down or
consult a source if you don’t. Highly recommended is Strunk and White’s The
Elements of Style. This is available on line at www.bartleby.com/141/
4.
ANALYSIS (A) Analyze claims. This means breaking your ideas down into their
simpler components, and defining them. Do not start with or rely on dictionary
definitions, but use your own words and cite the dictionary only if necessary.
Dictionary definitions report usage, whereas a philosophical definition may be
critical of current usage or find it vague. Examine the logical consequences of
your claims and the claims of others.
5.
CITATION (C) Cite the required readings this way in your text: (author’s last
name, page no.) As well, provide a list of citations at the end of the paper.
It is important to do this to show you have done the required reading and are
not just recycling notes from class or discussion group lectures. If you do use
material from lecture, please make sure to cite that as well.
6.
QUOTATIONS (Q) Quotations should be used to illustrate a claim that you are
making about an author. They are not a substitute for explaining the author’s
thought in your own words. A good strategy is to state the author’s ideas in
your own words first and then “prove” your interpretation with a short quote.
7.
DIRECT (D) Be direct. Make sure that you give a direct and focused answer to
the question for the paper. This is the most important requirement for papers
to merit A’s or B’s.