PY5215 Ecophilosophy

Academic year

2024 to 2025 Semester 1

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

20

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 11

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Planned timetable

To be confirmed.

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Dr M van der Lugt

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr Mara van der Lugt

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

This module explores various themes in environmental philosophy, focusing especially on the question of whether nature has (intrinsic) value, and how philosophers past and present have approached this question. The module will analyse competing notions of the value of nature, and to inquire what it is that is valued: from individual entities like trees and animals to complex biological units such as ecosystems and species. Such questions will be explored historically as well as philosophically, by studying philosophers of the past who have been designated as ideologically responsible for the environmental crisis, and examining proposals for alternative philosophical paradigms across the analytic-continental divide.

Assessment pattern

100% Coursework

Re-assessment

100% Coursework

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

1 seminar (X11 weeks)

Scheduled learning hours

22

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

176

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • By the end of the module, students will be able to identify and critically discuss a range of philosophical approaches to the value of nature and the relationship between humans and nature
  • By the end of the module, students will be able to explain the well-known objections to these various approaches, and articulate their own considered opinions on how these might be resolved, or why they cannot be;
  • By the end of the module, students will be able to describe and comprehend the prominent philosophical debates surrounding the historical texts studied in the module
  • By the end of the module, students will be able to consider, in an informed way, problems related to environmental philosophy and the value of nature.
  • By the end of the module, students will be able to write competently and meaningfully on matters relating to environmental philosophy and the value of nature.