Unit name | Philosophy and the Environment |
---|---|
Unit code | PHIL30112 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Burch-Brown |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of Philosophy |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This is an advanced-level unit offering students the opportunity to study one or more key topics within environmental philosophy. Topics may include environmental ethics, green political theory, climate change, and environmental aesthetics. Central questions might include: (1) Can all of our duties in relation to the environment be traced back to duties to other people? Or can other entities – like non-human animals, plants, species, ecosystems, and wildernesses – have independent moral standing? (2) What do we owe to future generations and distant others, when it comes to dealing with environmental hazards like climate change or nuclear power? (3) Are there important differences between aesthetic responses to nature and aesthetic responses to art? In what ways, if any, does appropriate appreciation of nature depend upon background knowledge, such as understanding of natural history? (4) What does it mean to say that an entity is natural, and why should we care about naturalness? Would a world full of prosthetic trees be a worse world, and why?
On successful completion of this unit students will have (1) developed a strong knowledge of the literature in one or more areas of environmental philosophy; (2) developed a critical understanding of central concepts and approaches in environmental philosophy, e.g. independent moral standing, intrinsic and extrinsic value, discounting, the precautionary principle, duties to future generations, cognitive and non-cognitive approaches to environmental aesthetics; (3) demonstrated their ability to philosophically analyse and critically appraise the main arguments in the literature; (4) strengthened their skills in philosophical writing and argumentation, and (5) strengthened their skills in oral presentation of philosophical argument.
Weekly lectures and weekly seminars.
Summative assessment in three forms:
No formative essays – instead, the instructor will use the weekly journal as a chance to give feedback on progress.
The journal, essay and exam will assess ILOs 1-4: (1) knowledge of the philosophical literature; (2) critical understanding of central concepts and approaches; (3) ability to philosophically analyse the main arguments in the literature; (4) skills in philosophical writing and argumentation.