At the end of this course, you will have the ability to:
- identify key issues and debates within (critique of) green ideology
- situate critique of green ideology to related fields, such as ecocriticism and ecofeminism
- critically asses the concepts of ecology and sustainability, and identify options for their salvageability;
- critically apply these eco-philosophical concepts and theories to concrete current ecological, social and (geo)political issues.
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There is hardly an organization, business or government left that hasn’t put “sustainability” front and centre, our own university included. In the meantime, as the latest IPCC reports attest to, the climate crisis is deepening. What are we talking about when we talk about sustainability? And what do we aim to sustain? How to distinguish mute and/or strategic references to a sustainable world and greenwashing, from attempts to actually change things? In this course we explore the genealogy of the concept of sustainability, as well as that of ecology, and their functioning within “green ideology.”
In the first part of the course we trace the concept of ecology from its original conceptualization in the work of German zoologist and philosopher Ernst Haeckel, its development in the 20th century, both in science and the environmental movement from the 1950’s onwards, to the “explosion of ecologies” that is currently taking place, that some argue requires a general ecology and even concerns an “ecologization of thinking.”
In the second part of the course we engage with the concept of sustainability. Here we mainly focus on the transition of the concept from the 1970s onwards. We trace how it changed from a critical concept that challenged economic hegemony, reminding us of ecology and of the limits to growth, into “sustainable development” – more of a managerial concept than a critical (eco-)political one – to the “empty signifier” it seems to have become. Can the critical kernel of sustainability be salvaged?
In the third part we explore the functioning of these two concepts within green ideology, also addressing related ideals such as circular (bio-)economy, green growth and green capitalism, and notions such as resilience and regeneration. Do they really challenge the status quo or in fact strengthen it? In order to answer that question and find what a critique of green ideology requires and entails, we will discuss both (the possibility of) “critique” and (the functioning of) “ideology”. In order to do so properly, we will explore related fields of theory and critique, such as ecocriticism and eco-/environmental feminism as well.
Readings will include Val Plumwood, Timothy Morton, Yannis Stavrakakis, Bruno Latour and Slavoj Žižek.
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The assessment includes a presentation, a midterm proposal and a final paper on (one of) the topics discussed in this course.
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This course is part of a module of three courses in the Philosophy, Politics and Society bachelor programme. You can only take this course if you also take the two associated courses during the same semester. If you want to register for the three courses in this module, you must FIRST register for the module itself via the 'Minor' tab in Osiris, and THEN register for the courses themselves. For an overview of modules and their associated courses, see the course guides on the website of the Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies.
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