Admission requirements
Admission to this course is restricted to:
BA students in Filosofie, who have successfully completed at least 70 ECTS credits of the mandatory components of the first and second year of their bachelor’s programme, including History of Modern Philosophy, History of Political Philosophy or Griekse en Romeinse filosofie, Ethiek, Politieke filosofie / Political Philosophy.
BA students in Philosophy: Global and Comparative Perspectives, who have successfully completed at least 70 ECTS credits of the mandatory components of the first and second year of their bachelor’s programme, including World Philosophies: Greek and Roman Antiquity, World Philosophies: Modern Europe, Ethics, Political Philosophy.
Pre-master’s students in Philosophy who are in possession of an admission statement and who have to complete an advanced seminar, to be selected from package B.
Description
This is a course on some of the major themes in contemporary environmental philosophy. The first part of the course focuses on foundational questions, such as the debate between anthropocentric and biocentric conceptions of environmental value.
The second part of the course focuses on applied environmental ethics/political philosophy concepts, methods and arguments, and is particularly organised around the challenge of climate change.
Course objectives
This course aims to:
give students mastery of central concepts and debates in environmental philosophy;
acquaint students with key writings and authors in environmental philosophy.
Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:
paraphrase, interpret, analyze, and criticize central concepts and arguments in environmental philosophy in philosophical writings and in wider political contexts;
contribute successfully and constructively to class discussions that advance the group’s understanding of complex issues;
research an important problem in the area of the course, identify an appropriate philosophical approach to framing and addressing it, systematically develop and justify an answer of their own;
provide constructive peer feedback on writing to fellow student and successfully incorporate peer and instructor feedbck on intermediate writing stages.
Timetable
The timetables are available through MyTimetable.
Mode of instruction
- Seminars.
Class attendance is required and includes preparatory reading and comments.
Assessment method
Assessment
Final paper (60%);
Participation (25%);
Intermediate assignments (15%).
Additional requirement:
- Class attendance requirement: Students absent for more than 3 classes will not be allowed to take the final essay and will not be allowed to pass the course.
Weighing
The final mark for the course is determined by the weighted average of the grades for each assessment.
A passing grade requires that both:
- The weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher
- Class attendance requirement is met
Resit
If the student's final grade is below 5.5, they are eligible for the resit. The resit is an extended essay assignment that replaces the grade for the final essay and intermediate writing assignments.
It is not possible to make up for the participation or attendance components.
Inspection and feedback
Students will have an opportunity to discuss the grading of their essays with the instructor.
Reading list
The required readings for this course are detailed in the course syllabus that will be made available on Brightspace.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudymap is not possible for this course. Students are requested to submit their preferences for the third-year electives by means of an online registration form. They will receive the instruction and online registration form by email (uMail account); in June for courses scheduled in semester 1, and in December for courses scheduled in semester 2. Registration in uSis will be taken care of by the Education Administration Office.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Huizinga.
Remarks
Not applicable.