SCIENCE AND RELIGION

Course Objectives:

The objective is to introduce some of the key issues of environment ethics, equipping students with the moral language and skills in moral reasoning necessary both to clarify what values we may invest in our relation towards the Earth and to guide how we should intervene in the natural environment. We will address the questions which arise when we pass from a traditional ethical orientation towards other humans towards a more problematic normative orientation towards the non-human environment. Do other animals have rights? What moral status do ‘wholes’ such as species and ecosystems possess? What moral responsibility do we have to future generations of humans? Other practical considerations will also be introduced, such as how and to what extent socio-economic systems may have to be altered to meet the needs of sustainability, and how we might construct urban spaces to meet our most pressing environmental obligations. The objective thereby will be to widen the field of vision beyond classical philosophical debates within environment ethics, such as those between anthroprocentrists and ecocentrists, to include an interdisciplinary perspective.

Course Content:

The course consists in modules which aim to raise awareness of some of the most problematic issues in environmental ethics, and to equip students with the conceptual tools and skills required for an authentic engagement with such issues.