After this course, you will have the ability to:
- identify the possible political and social implications of eco-philosophical positions on environmental ethics, environmental collective action, and the relevant moral subjects of environmental thought;
- critically assess the philosophical robustness and soundness of these views, and to identify options for their improvement;
- distinguish, assess and identify the influence of basic eco-philosophical concepts and theories in ‘green’ political and political–economic thought;
- do the same with policy-informing scientific reports – and to identify and qualify any form of bias in such reports.
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There is hardly any question about it: ‘the environment’ dominates all the social, economic, political and even individual agendas in our days – climate change and rising sea levels, biodiversity and species extinction, pollution, sustainability, energy transition. There is no escape. For philosophers, these issues raise the most profound question in at least three areas: metaphysics, ethics and political philosophy – the three areas represented in the ‘Ecology and Sustainability’ module.
This particular course, ‘Political Ecology’, focuses on debates on sustainability and environmental policy, economics and politics. Sustainability refers to the way in which resources of the planet can be used in such a way that needs and demands of current generations can be met while also guaranteeing the needs and rights of future generations of humans. The sustainability debate focuses, in other words, on the way in which human societies impact the global ecosystem and aims to find new concepts and understandings of politics and economy that reflect an understanding of the dependence of human well-being on the global ecosystems. Concrete topics include: Ecology and economy: new economic models (circular and steady state economy, bio-based economy, degrowth, commons, permaculture, etc.); Environmental and intergenerational justice; ecologism versus liberalism versus republicanism; ecomodernism; Climate politics and the IPPC process.
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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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