Prerequisites: None

Exam Type: No Exam

Blackstone famously described ownership as “that sole and despotic dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world.” But many intellectual traditions regard the human relationship with the natural world as one of interdependence and community, not dominion. This reading group will consider some classic and modern American writings in environmental ethics and ecological literature—Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, Edward Abbey, Annie Dillard, Wendell Berry, Robin Wall Kimmerer. While part of the aim will be open-ended discussion of these texts, there will be a focus on exploring the conceptual and legal ties between ownership and stewardship. We will thus also pair the environmental readings with some cases and scholarship from property law.

Note: This reading group will meet on the following dates: TBD.