Course: Environmental Ethics

Is modernization and economic development compatible with environmental sustainability? Is it possible for humans to continue with our capitalist ways while still protecting nature? As we have learnt last week, …

Eco-modernism is the application of practical empiricist principles for policy-making to our aesthetic appreciation of, and species-wide reliance on, nature. It is an environmentalism that is ethical, individualist, innovative, affective, …

How does religion come into play with climate change narratives? Religion shapes our sense of moral duty and our shared beliefs. In turn, this shapes our ethical and social behaviours …

What is deep ecology, and what is eco-socialism? What are their arguments, and how do they differ from one another? These two concepts might seem intimidating, so let’s break it …

Environmental ethics is a discipline within philosophy which has swiftly garnered international academic status. In essence, we can think of environmental ethics as essentially asking two simple questions. Firstly, do …

Most of us would instinctively understand science primarily through a physical and quantitative lens. In this video, we consider the merits of the scientification of climate – in particular, its …

As the World Wars washed away great empires and imperial dreams, the onset of the Cold War manifested strong geopolitical rivalries. In turn, this spurred the invention of new climate …

In this final article for Week 1, we expand our understanding of environmental ethics beyond anthropocentrism. Image credit: Pixabay on Pexels As mentioned previously, traditional western philosophy is dominated by …

When climatic knowledge transcends its place-bound origins, local climate knowledge turns into global climate knowledge. This is possible because of the new social technologies which emerged through imperial patronage. The …

In 2019, 48 pounds of plastic consisting of shopping bags, disposable plates, and even a detergent package were the contents found inside a dead sperm whale in Italy. Image credit: …

In this article, we introduce what eco-modernism is all about through three sections: (1) our current reality; (2) the argument of eco-modernism; and (3) the counter that eco-modernism offers. Image …

In this article, we dive deeper into eco-modernism’s argument through two sections: (1) reducing reliance through decoupling; and (2) decoupling through technology and demography. 1. Reducing reliance through decoupling As …

This article will equip you with the necessary tools to understand environmental ethics: (1) the definition of environmental ethics; (2) the distinction between instrumental and intrinsic value; and (3) traditional …

This article expands on environmental ethics through two sections: (1) how environmental ethics is related to this module; (2) anthropocentrism’s challenge to environmental politics. 1. How environmental ethics is related …

This article works to demonstrate that climate is interlinked with culture – the two cannot be easily separated. But first – what is climate, and what is culture? Image credit: …