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 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 |
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 |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 22 |
| 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) |
Course essay (3000 words) 70%.
Oral presentation 30%.
Reading portfolio (1500 words) 0%.
The oral presentations are 15 minutes, using powerpoint slides and assessed based on the presentation only. The reading portfolio is for formative assessment only. Submission of essay and reading portfolio is via Learn as well as a hard copy.
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand, critically and in detail, environmental ethics and its key concepts and theories;
- Understand how aesthetic value relates to a range of environments, from the wild to the cultural;
- Understand the role of values in engagement with a range of environments and the conflicts that arise between values in conservation and policy-making;
- Express their own critical thinking on environmental values in discussion and in writing, which will be informed by recent, relevant developments;
- Demonstrate some originality and creativity in dealing with professional level issues and practise critically identifying and analysing complex problems (in individual work and in group discussions).
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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 |
| Keywords | PGGE1114,environmental ethics,environmental aesthetics,values,conservation,philosophy |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Emily Brady
Tel: (0131 6)50 9137
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Paula Escobar
Tel: (0131 6)50 2543
Email: |
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