SDG Detail

LAW 682G:�Discussion: After Nature: Ecological Thinking and the Future of Democracy

Postgraduate course

Project description

Many believe we have entered the Anthropocene -- an epoch in which humans are a force, maybe the driving force, in the development of the planet. In this new epoch of humanity, there is no more nature that stands apart from human beings. There is no place or living thing that we haven't changed. Our mark is on the cycle of weather and seasons, the global map of bioregions, and the DNA that organizes matter into life. The question is no longer how to preserve a wild world from human intrusion; it is what shape we will give to a world we can't help changing. As much as a scientific concept, the Anthropocene is a political and ethical idea. Saying that we live in the Anthropocene is a way of saying that we cannot avoid responsibility for the world we are making. Today, we have collective responsibility for, and can exercise collective intentionality about, how we move forward. These issues are explored in Jedediah Purdy's book After Nature, which looks back at the intellectual history of environmental thinking and the American landscape and forward toward the future of nature. The dawning of the Anthropocene raises political and ethical questions about what life is worth, what people owe one another, and what in the world is awesome or beautiful enough to preserve or (re)create. How society answers these questions will either reproduce and amplify existing inequalities or set in motion a different logic of democratic governance driven by notions of equity, interdependent obligations, and global justice. Using After Nature as our jumping off point, we will explore these ideas with the book's author (and visiting law professor) in a series of four meetings over the course of the spring term. Spring Quarter. Class meeting dates: Class will meet 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM, Monday, April 9, and Wednesdays, April 25, May 9, & May 23. Discussions in Ethical & Professional Values Course. Elements used in grading: Attendance at all sessions and participation. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available on the SLS website (Click Courses at the bottom of the homepage and then click Consent of Instructor Forms). See Consent Application Form for instructions and submission deadline.