Nature and the Environment - Changing Ideas

Over the centuries “nature” has been transformed from something to be worshipped to something to be controlled to now, as the “environment”, something we ought to protect. This short course examines how the concept of nature has changed over the centuries, encountering ancient Greek philosophers, theologians in the Middle Ages, Renaissance figures like Leonardo da Vinci, as well as Sir Francis Bacon, the Romantic Movement, and modern scientists along the way.

DELIVERY MODE

• Hybrid (F2F & Online simultaneously)

SUGGESTED READING

• Clarence Glacken, Traces on the Rhodian Shore: Nature and Culture in Western Thought (1967)
• John Passmore, Man’s Responsibility to Nature (1980)
• G P Marsh, Man and Nature (1864)
• Aldo Leopold, Sand County Almanac (1949)
• Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (1962)
• Arne Naess, Ecology, Community, and Lifestyle (1976)
• Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature (1980)

COURSE OUTLINE

• The idea of nature in ancient Greek philosophy
• Early Christian ideas on nature and theology in the Middle Ages
• How the Renaissance transformed attitudes to nature
• The rise of modern science and its attempt to control nature
• The reaction to the scientific spirit: Romanticism
• The rise of the modern environmental movement

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Understand how concepts of nature have changed over time
2. Gain familiarity with the main concepts of nature as they have been expressed by different philosophical schools
3. Develop a deeper understanding of the ideas on nature of leading thinkers such as Aquinas, Bacon and Darwin
4. Place the modern environmental movement in an historical context