Postgraduate Course: Values and the Environment (P) (PGGE11114)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course examines issues related to modes of human understanding and valuing of 'natural' and built environments. The course is constructed around a range of environments (from wilderness to the city) and a range of concepts and approaches that help us to understand humanity's relationship to and embeddedness in the natural world (including wilderness, nature, the more-that-human, landscape and place). The course is taught through alternating interactive seminars and seminars focused on shared readings. |
| Course description |
Week 1. Valued Environments - An Introduction
Week 2. Valuing Wilderness/The Wild
Week 3. Reading Seminar - Reading One
Week 4. Valuing the Ocean
Week 5. Reading Seminar - Reading Two
Week 6. Valuing the Local
Week 7. Reading Seminar - Reading Four
Week 8. Valuing Landscape
Week 9. Reading Seminar ¿ Reading Three
Week 10. Course Conference
Week 11. Course Conference
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2021/22, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 40 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Placement Study Abroad Hours 11,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
163 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Book reviews submitted to course discussion board (4x500 words) 40% (Deadlines: 11 Oct, 25 Oct, 8 Nov, 22 Nov 2021- 12 noon in each case)
Course essay (3000 words) 60% due 17 Dec 2021, 12 noon
Annotated Bibliography (1500 words) 0% due 11 Nov 2021, 12 noon
The annotated bibliography is for formative assessment only.
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| Feedback |
Students will receive formative feedback (written comments) on the annotated bibliography assignment. This feedback will help you prepare for the essay. Summative feedback (written comments) will be given on the course essay and book reviews. Informal feedback in the form of verbal comments will be provided to students during class discussions, small group work and during office hours if students wish to discuss aspects of the course or course assignments. Examples of feedback can be found here: http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/geosciences/teaching-organisation/staff/feedback-and-marking |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- A detailed, critical understanding of ways in which environments are valued and key theoretical/philosophical ways of approaching human/environmental interactions.
- An understanding of how a range of environments, from the wild to the urban are valued (or devalued).
- An understanding of the role of values in engagement with a range of environments and the conflicts that arise around different forms of value.
- Expression of the student¿s own critical thinking on environmental values in discussion and in writing, a thinking which will be informed by recent, relevant developments.
- The group discussions will give students the opportunity to demonstrate some originality and creativity in dealing with environmental issues and allow them to practise critically identifying and analysing complex problems.
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Reading List
Armstrong, Susan.J. and Botzler, R. eds. (2004) Environmental Ethics: Divergence and Convergence. McGraw-Hill.
Brady, Emily (2003) Aesthetics of the Natural Environment. Edinburgh University Press.
DesJardins, Joseph (2006) Environmental Ethics. 4th ed. Wadsworth.
Gardiner, Stephen et al., ed. (2010) Climate Ethics: Essential Readings. Oxford University Press.
Gardiner, Stephen M. and Thompson, Allen, eds. (2016) The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics. Oxford. Online access.
Gudorf, Christine and Huchingson, James (2010) Boundaries : a casebook in environmental ethics. Georgetown University Press. Online access.
Hourdequin, Marion (2015) Environmental Ethics: From Theory to Practice. Bloomsbury Academic.
Jamieson, Dale (2003) A Companion to Environmental Philosophy. Blackwell. Online access.
James, Simon (2015) Environmental Philosophy: An Introduction. Polity.
Keller, David. ed. (2010) Environmental Ethics: The Big Questions. Wiley.
Leopold, Aldo ([1949] 2000) The Land Ethic/Sand County Almanac.
Oxford University Press.
O'Neill John, Light Andrew, and Holland Alan (2008) Environmental Values. Routledge.
Rolston, H. (2012) A new environmental ethics the next millennium for life on Earth. Routledge. Online access.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
Following the introduction, the course is divided into two-week blocks on particular themes, In each two-week block the first week will feature an asynchronous lecture made available at the beginning of the week on Learn. You will be able to engage with this at a time that suits you. The second week of each of each block will consist of a reading seminar focussed on a particular book (or other assignment) and will be led by designated members of the group. These meetings will occur synchronously either in-person or on line depending on the ways the semester progresses and your own circumstances. Regardless, everyone will be expected to participate in these reading seminars. The course incorporates various learning and teaching strategies, including: reading, writing, listening to lectures, participating in class discussions, group work/exercises, and presentations. Discussion is an invaluable learning tool. It enables collaborative learning, sharing different perspectives in relation to the course material and an opportunity to develop and express your own thinking. |
| Keywords | PGGE1114,environmental ethics,environmental aesthetics,values,conservation,philosophy |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Timothy Cresswell
Tel: (0131 6)50 9137
Email: tim.cresswell@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Louisa King
Tel: (0131 6)50 2543
Email: Louisa.King@ed.ac.uk |
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