EST 640 Environmental Thought and Ethics

About the Course

This is a new course, not yet taught, that has emerged out of my earlier course called Emerging Environmental Thought (ENS 797). Here's the new catalog description:

Three hours of discussion. Critical interdisciplinary introduction to philosophical, religious, cultural and historical dimensions of environmental affairs. How ecologically-significant cultural assumptions, ideologies, representations, and institutionalized practices contribute to human meanings and relationships to other-than-human-Nature. Special attention to the role of language and questions of environmental ethics and ontology. Spring.

This is a graduate seminar focused on discussion of course readings. There will be approximately 100+ pages of reading per week. The seminar will begin with an introductory book that will provide some basic grounding in Environmental Thought for those less familiar with the field. Then we will look at several additional books dealing with emerging issues in the field.

Who Should Take the Course?

This is a graduate level course with no prerequisites. It will be a required course in the new Master's in Environmental Studies program when that is approved. I am open to having undergraduate seniors petition to take this course. In either case, the course will be of interest to those concerned with environmental ethics, philosophy, values and communication, as well as environmental activism and politics.

Details

• 3 credits
• Spring semester
• Check the Registrar's timetable for time and location information.
• Enrollment is approximately 15 students.

"The deterioration of the global ecological context of human life demands from our species a clear and adequate response, but we are seemingly immobilised, even though it is clear that at the technological level we already have the means to accomplish the changes needed to live sustainably on and with the earth. So the problem is not primarily about more knowledge or technology; it is about developing an environmental culture that values and fully acknowledges the non-human sphere and our dependency on it, and is able to make good decisions about how we live and impact on the non-human world."
- Val Plumwood