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Lecturer(s)
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Vendra Maria Cristina Clorinda, Mgr. PhD.
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Course content
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Part 1 (Week 1 - Week 4) - Ecosophy 1 Introduction : wandering and wondering with Arne Naess 2 Ecosophy T, clarifications of terms (Ecology, Community and Lifestyle; Ecology of Wisdom) 3 Ecology, ecophilosophy, ecosophy (Ecology, Community and Lifestyle) 4 Unity and diversity of life (Ecology, Community and Lifestyle) 5 The intrinsic value of nature (Wisdom in the Open Air) Part 2 (Week 5 - Week 10) - Deep ecology 5 Shallow, deep, long-range ecology movement (Ecology, Community and Lifestyle) 6 Nonviolence and the environment (Ecology of Wisdom) 7 Wholeness with other beings and the environment (Ecology of Wisdom) 8 Ecological self and realization (Self-Realization. An Ecological Approach to Being in the World) 9 Life as a landscape (Life's Philosophy. Reason and Feeling in a Deeper World) 10 The interaction between reason and feeling (Life's Philosophy. Reason and Feeling in a Deeper World) Part 3 (Week 11 - Week 14) - Ecological praxis 11 Ecological sustainability (Ecology of Wisdom) 12 Ecosophy and actions (Ecology of Wisdom) 13 Ecopolitical issues (Ecology, Community and Lifestyle) 14 Recapitulation and conclusion: the future of ecosophy and deep ecology
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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unspecified, unspecified
- unspecified
- 240 hours per semester
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Learning outcomes
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The course will formulate answers to these questions by taking into account the uniqueness of Naess' ecosophy, his ideas about what he called 'deep ecology', and his interests in ecological praxis, that is, in the ecological sense of actions and in ecological responsibility at the individual and the collective level. The course does not pretend to offer any conclusive or exhaustive perspective on Naess' work and his approach to all complex environmental problems. Rather, through a critical analysis of Naess' more prominent writings and their related topics, the aim of this course is to provide students with the methodological skills and knowledge in order to understand the general traits of Naess' ecosophical project. In this regard, the course will clarify the terminology of Naess' ecosophy, it will focus on his deep ecology position, and it will examine the issue of environmental sustainability, the ecological orientation of actions, and the political relevance of the ecological movement. Therefore, the course will not just provide a detailed introduction to Naess' thinking, but it will apply it to the discussion of global environmental issues. The course will be divided into three parts. (1) The first part will explain the terminology and the principles of Naess' ecosophy T, with the T for the mountain Tvergastein. Ecosophy is a combination between the term ecology, from the Greek word Oikos meaning home or dwelling place, and the Greek word Sophos meaning wisdom. The letter T referred to Tvergastein means for Naess that his ecosophy is just a formulation among many others. (2) The second part will discuss Naess' term "deep ecology" as distinguished from swallow ecology. Deep ecology is committed to egalitarianism in the biosphere, that is, it promotes the equal right to live and flourish to all organisms considered as knots in the web of life. Moreover, deep ecology supports the maintenance of diversity and complexity in all natural systems. (3) The third part will discuss the issue of environmental sustainability, the distinction between moral and beautiful acts in the ecological context, and the eco-political and sociological arguments considered by Naess as favoring ecological protection.
Communication, dialogical skills, ability to read and discuss in English, adaptability to different methodologies and perspectives
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Prerequisites
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None
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Assessment methods and criteria
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unspecified
Evaluations of students in this course will be based on: (1) participation, which includes active discussion in class, attendance (80%), class assignments. In case of absence, the student has to communicate it and to ask the professor for any assignments or key discussions concerning the missed lesson. (2) An in-class presentation (15 minutes) and a final paper (max. 8 pages). Additional information will be provided at the beginning of the course. Bibliography Mandatory -- Selected Pages and Chapters of the following books: 1) Arne Naess, Ecology, Community and Lifestyle: Outline of an Ecosophy [1976], trans. David Rothenberg (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989). 2) Arne Naess, Ecology of Wisdom, Alan Drengson and Bill Deval eds. (Berkeley: Counterpoint, 2008). 3) Arne Naess, Life's Philosophy. Reason and Feeling in a Deeper World [1998], trans. Roland Huntford (Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press, 2002). 4) Arne Naess, "Self-Realization. An Ecological Approach to Being in the World," The Trumpeter: Journal of Ecosophy 4, 3 (1987): 35-41. 5) Nina Witoszek and Andrew Brennan eds., Arne N?ss and the Progress of Ecophilosophy (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 1999). 6) Alan Drengson, Yuichi Inoue eds., The Deep Ecology Movement. An Introductory Anthology (Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1995). Recommended 1) Arne Naess, There is No Point of No Return (London: Penguin Books, 2021). 2) Peter Reed and David Rothenberg eds., The Norwegian Roots of Deep Ecology. Wisdom in the Open Air (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993). 3) Andrew Fellows, Gaia, Psyche and Deep Ecology. Navigating Climate Change in the Anthropocene (Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2019). 4) Christian Diehm, Connection to Nature, Deep Ecology, and Conservation Social Science. Human-Nature Bonding and Protecting the Natural World (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2020). 5) Eccy de Jonge, Spinoza and Deep Ecology: Challenging Traditional Approaches to Environmentalism (London: Routledge, 2004).
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Recommended literature
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