Course information

The course ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY moves along two narrative axes. The first axis specifically addresses the basic principles and concepts of Environmental Policy as institutionally reflected in European and international conventions and treaties concerning the environment. Through this statutory framework (policy), the importance and inseparable relationship of the environment or space in general with society emerges. Thus, it narratively includes references to both social movements related to the environment or to the values that fueled interest in environmental protection, and the historical evolution of the environmental crisis and its crucial cultural dimension. The second axis selectively focuses on the Philosophical contemplation of the environment and specifically on Environmental Ethics. It is addressed to students who wish to delve into areas of thought such as: moral relativism and environmental ethics, the conceptual dualisms of anthropocentric (Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, Kant, modern perspectives) and ecocentric (bio- and physiocentric). The core of the teaching is the traditional ethical theories (Utilitarianism, theory of rights, Social Contract theory): How should the interests of future generations be understood? Does intergenerational solidarity make sense? What are the consequences of including animals in the moral community? What are the ramifications of biocentric ethics? What are holistic theories and which individual interests are equivalent to the interest of the whole? Do we have moral obligations to species? What are the basic tenets of Deep Ecology? What is its relationship with Scientific Ecology? What is the critical view of Deep Ecology from the perspective of the Third World? Ecofeminism links women with nature, conceptually and empirically, symbolically and epistemologically, politically and ethically. Is there antagonism between Ecofeminists and deep ecologists? How is the New Ecological Paradigm constructed? How did Durkheim, Weber, Marx understand Environmental Sociology? What is the environmental movement? What is Ecological Modernization? What constitutes the Risk Society?