Undergraduate Course: Values and the Environment (GEGR10079)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course examines issues related to modes of human valuing of nature, mainly the ethical and the aesthetic. The course covers, first, key concepts and theories in environmental ethics including (normally): anthropocentrism and nonanthropocentrism; animal ethics; Leopold¿s land ethic; and deep ecology. Second, we examine aesthetic value in our engagement with nature and cultural landscapes. Finally, we look at conflicts between aesthetic, ethical and other values as they arise in various environmental problems, such as ecological and environmental justice, ecological restoration and climate change. |
| Course description |
Syllabus
Week 1. Environmental Values
Week 2. Extending Ethics to Nonhuman Animals
Week 3. Animal Ethics in Context
Week 4. The Land Ethic
Week 5. Deep Ecology
Week 6. Ecological and Environmental Justice
Week 7. Ecological Restoration and Rewilding
Week 8. Aesthetic Value and Environment
Week 9. Environment and the Arts
Week 10. Ethics and Climate Change
Week 11. Revision workshop
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Develop a detailed and critical understanding of environmental ethics and its key concepts and theories
- Develop an understanding of how aesthetic value relates to a range of environments, from the wild to the urban
- Develop an understanding of the role of values in engagement with a range of environments and the conflicts that arise between values in conservation and policy-making
- Develop critical thinking on environmental values in discussion and in writing, a thinking which will be informed by recent, relevant developments
- Demonstrate some originality and creativity in dealing with professional level issues and allow them to practise critically identifying and analysing complex problems
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Reading List
1. Armstrong, Susan.J. and Botzler, R. eds. (2004) Environmental Ethics: Divergence and Convergence. McGraw-Hill.
2. Brady, Emily (2003) Aesthetics of the Natural Environment. Edinburgh University Press.
3. DesJardins, Joseph (2000) Environmental Ethics. Wadsworth.
4. Gardiner, Stephen et al., ed. (2010) Climate Ethics: Essential Readings. Oxford University Press.
5. Gardiner, Stephen M. and Thompson, Allen, eds. (2016) The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics. Oxford. Ebook.
6. Hourdequin, Marion (2015) Environmental Ethics: From Theory to Practice. Bloomsbury Academic.
7. Jamieson, Dale (2003) A Companion to Environmental Philosophy. Blackwell. Ebook.
8. James, Simon (2015) Environmental Philosophy: An Introduction. Polity.
9. Keller, David. ed. (2010) Environmental Ethics: The Big Questions. Wiley.
10. Leopold, Aldo ([1949] 2000) The Land Ethic/Sand County Almanac. Oxford University Press.
11. O'Neill John, Light Andrew, and Holland Alan (2008) Environmental Values. Routledge. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | GEGR10079 |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Emily Brady
Tel: (0131 6)50 9137
Email: Emily.Brady@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Faten Adam
Tel: (0131 6)50 5850
Email: Faten.Adam@ed.ac.uk |
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