A PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS OF SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR’S EROTIC ETHIC: REVEALING AND PROTECTING THE EROTICISM OF THE OCEAN IN SCIENCE EDUCATION by RACHEL ANNE GISEWHITE LUTHER (Under the Direction of Deborah Tippins) ABSTRACT Marine science education is least emphasized in landlocked states and non-coastal areas. While landlocked states have equal right to the coast for economic and recreational purposes, they too have equal opportunity to exploit and degrade the marine environment and community. It is imperative for students to have equal access to marine science education across the United States so that youth can become ocean literate and capable of making the kind of decisions that benefit, not harm, marine and aquatic environments. In this dissertation I call for the integration and implementation of marine science education through the use of authentic inquiries. Aligned with Simone de Beauvoir’s (1944, 1948, 2011) erotic ethic, I argue for a marine science education curriculum that is based on an erotic ethic. Such a curriculum would prepare and encourage students to act with erotic generosities for the ocean-Other based on their human-nature experiences and through a larger community involvement that goes beyond what are traditionally considered marine science or science education communities. This is essential if we are to consider moral value to the ocean to establish respect and conservation measures. I use phenomenological theorizing to establish and defend the need for an erotic ethic in science education. I clarify the assumptions of Beauvoir’s erotic ethic regarding women and nature as Other. I validate the need for an erotic ethic for marine science education through three arguments: the ocean as Other, marine science for everyone regardless of distance to the sea, and a phenomenology of place. I conclude with educational implications, such as the use of socioscientific issues within the classroom to explore scientific concepts while fostering ecojustice ethics and moral/ethical reasoning; service learning in the community; citizen science projects, from which the data can be used in authentic ways to tackle ecojustice issues and through which could connect students on the coast with those in landlocked states; and student-scientist partnerships. Through these methods, students will be able to gain skills and content knowledge to enhance ocean literacy and tackle ocean-related issues in their community. INDEX WORDS: ocean, erotic ethic, ecojustice, environment, citizen science, socioscientific issues, student-scientist partnerships, service learning A PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS OF SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR’S EROTIC ETHIC: REVEALING AND PROTECTING THE EROTICISM OF THE OCEAN IN SCIENCE EDUCATION by RACHEL ANNE GISEWHITE LUTHER B.S., University of South Carolina, 2005 M.Ed., University of Georgia, 2008 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2012 © 2012 Rachel Anne Gisewhite Luther All Rights Reserved A PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS OF SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR’S EROTIC ETHIC: REVEALING AND PROTECTING THE EROTICISM OF THE OCEAN IN SCIENCE EDUCATION by RACHEL ANNE GISEWHITE LUTHER Major Professor: Deborah Tippins Committee: Cory Buxton Andrew Gitlin Michael Mueller Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia December 2012 iv DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my amazing husband and sons, who taught me the real meaning of eroticism and love. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are several people I wish to acknowledge for their role in the completion of this dissertation and doctoral degree. First, I would like to thank Dr. Michael Mueller for his time, his dedication to teaching and mentoring me, and his presence in helping me turn my passion into this project. He has been a friend, a teacher, and a role model, and I appreciate the care and generosity he put into all of those relationships. I would like to thank Dr. Deborah Tippins for her support, guidance, and her willingness to chair my committee. She has provided me with valuable opportunities and advice and always advocated for me, which I will never forget. I would like to thank Dr. Andrew Gitlin for challenging me to expect more of myself, providing me with new perspectives, and helping me grow through this experience. My gratitude also goes to Dr. Cory Buxton for his kindness and the interesting and challenging questions he has posed that have impacted my intellectual development. I would like to acknowledge Etta Roberts for answering my seemingly endless amount of questions and always helping me when I needed it. I would also like to thank Dr. Barbara Crawford for being an inspirational educator, showing me how possible it is to be a successful mother and academic, and providing me with such a great opportunity assisting her class my last semester at UGA. Thank you to Heather Reader and Debbie Mitchell, whose support and friendship mean more to me than words could ever express. Finally, I would like to thank my family. I could have never done this without Aaron’s love, support, understanding, patience, and honesty. He moved away from his home to build a home with me here so I could work for my project, and he has truly been vi the best partner I could have ever hoped for. I want to thank my sons, Jonah and Eli, who are my motivation and inspiration. They have been patient, given me so much joy, kept me grounded, and taught me so many lessons in the last three years. Thank you to my brothers and sister-in-law for their unyielding love and support. They have always believed in me, even when I had a hard time believing in myself. They are my first and most poignant examples of erotic generosities, and have taught me that it is never too late to develop erotic relationships. They are my anchor. I would like to thank my parents for their part in making me who I am today. Thank you for encouraging me to leave Ohio to pursue my dream, even though it put distance between us. Thank you for providing me with opportunities to experience the ocean and Lake Erie, teaching me about the ocean and how to love it, and imparting on me their own eroticism of aquatic environments. I would like to thank my mom for bringing me to the ocean when it was my best medicine. Thank you for pushing me and supporting me through it all. To my dad, thank you for always advising me to live the life I love and taking me down to the beach late at night to watch the waves crash in the moonlight. Finally, thank you to my grandparents for giving me some of my earliest memories of the ocean and making this entire dream possible. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. v CHAPTER 1 Eroticism of the Ocean ................................................................................... 1 Marine Science Education ........................................................................ 6 Motivation for Marine Science in Science Education .............................. 12 Why Use Educational Philosophy ........................................................... 18 Educational Philosophy in Science Education ......................................... 19 Philosophical Methodology .................................................................... 22 The Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir .................................................. 38 Summary ................................................................................................ 41 Roadmap for Dissertation ....................................................................... 42 Glossary ................................................................................................. 45 2 Simone de Beauvoir’s Erotic Ethic ............................................................... 48 Ambiguity of the Human Condition ........................................................ 50 Freedom and the Other ........................................................................... 67 Violence, Responsibility, and Generosity................................................ 70 Limitations of Beauvoir’s Erotic Ethic .................................................... 75 Summary ................................................................................................ 77 3 The Erotic Other........................................................................................... 79 Nature as Another Other ......................................................................... 80 viii The Eroticism of Woman ........................................................................ 93 Summary .............................................................................................. 112 4 Revealing an Erotic Ethic for Science Education ........................................ 114 Argument A: The Ocean as Other ......................................................... 117 Argument B: Why Marine Science Matters for Everyone, Everywhere . 129 Argument C: Phenomenology of Place in Science Education ................ 167 Summary .............................................................................................. 176 5 Educational Implications ............................................................................ 179 An Erotic Ethic for Science Education .................................................. 180 Developing Citizenship for Erotic Generosities ...................................