FR 1077 - THINKING THE EARTH: THEORIES OF THE ENVIRONMENT FROM THE FRENCH-SPEAKING WORLD
Minimum Credits: 3
Maximum Credits: 3
Climate change is forcing us to radically rethink the human position in our environment. In this class (taught in English with all reading in translation), students will benefit from the important contributions that French-speaking thinkers have made to our conceptual arsenal in the field of environmental ethics and philosophy. Some of our questions will include: Why are we still reading and debating Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s evocation of a state of nature and his critique of Western social and political development? Why did French philosophers and cultural scholars recast Martin Heidegger’s understanding of the Umwelt (the World Around Us) and his critique of technology? How did Rousseau and Denis Diderot critique the French colonial enterprise already in the 18th century? How do post- and decolonial thinkers reframe the debate about the Anthropocene today? And finally, how do philosophy and ethics offer us the tools to take a stand in today’s political debates about the future of the human environment? In short, how can we “think the Earth”? Open to any student (no prerequisite), the course may be of particular interest to students in areas such as the humanities, the natural sciences, history, environmental studies, political philosophy, global/international studies, public health, and the sustainability program.
Academic Career: Undergraduate
Course Component: Lecture
Grade Component: LG/SNC Elective Basis
Click here for class schedule information.
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