Environmental Philosophy

To provide students with a comprehensive understanding of environmental problems, including the threat of destruction of the current regime of the global ecosystem, of the forces driving this destruction, and what is required to address and overcome these problems.


Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
1. Demonstrate thorough knowledge of the state of the Australian and the global environment, the driving forces for ecological destruction, and the main changes that will be required to create an environmentally sustainable society and civilization.
2. Comprehend and participate in arguments on the state of our environment, on causes driving its destruction.
3. Demonstrate knowledge of the core assumptions and questionability of prevailing economic theories and the alternative provided by institutionalist forms of ecological economics.
4. Comprehend the use of cost-benefit or risk-benefit analyses to assess policies and the alternative provided by retrospective path analysis, and the ability to defend and use this alternative.