Away MAVE

The Distance Mode of MA in Values and the Environment at Lancaster University

Aims and Objectives

NB These materials do not represent the current (05/06) version of this module, and are offered here as only as an additional resource for students of environmental ethics.

This unit aims to explore some key perspectives on environmental and animal ethics. It will:

· Provide a general overview of the development of environmental and animal ethics;
· Consider ideas about valuing animals and the environment, including instrumental and intrinsic value, "weak" and "strong" anthropocentrism and biocentrism/ ecocentrism;
· Think about how different ethical approaches (eg utilitarianism and rights theory) can be and have been applied to environmental questions;
· Outline a range of positions in environmental and animal ethics ranging from individualist to holistic, and anthropocentric to ecocentric, to consider potential conflicts between them, and possible ways of resolving such conflicts. This will include thinking about stewardship, sustainability, animal liberation, the land ethic and respect for nature;
· Discuss ecofeminist approaches to environmental ethics;
· Introduce a variety of ideas associated with the deep ecology movement and some of the difficulties raised by critics of deep ecology;
· Consider the role of moral pluralism in thinking about the diversity of approaches to environmental ethics.
These questions will be approached in discussion sessions through studying a series of controversial issues including: the preservation of "wilderness" and urban environmental ethics.