Where should toxic waste facilities be sited? Should we grow and eat genetically modified crops? Who is responsible for causing climate change? Should we leave...

Environmental and Climate Justice (POLS0101)

Where should toxic waste facilities be sited? Should we grow and eat genetically modified crops? Who is responsible for causing climate change? Should we leave fossil fuels in the ground? How do environmental decisions and outcomes intersect with racial, gender and class inequalities, indigenous dispossession, and other systems of oppression? This module will equip students with a range of theoretical tools and frameworks to address questions such as these. Substantive issues considered will traverse a range of spatial scales, from the local urban environment to the planet as a whole, and may include: urban pollution; food and agriculture; energy supply; climate change-induced disasters; climate mitigation goals and policies; and a “just transition” to a low-carbon economy. The module will use both sociological (“grounded”, “engaged” or “critical”) approaches to theorising and more abstract, principles-driven normative methods. Students who take this module will be equipped to think rigorously and critically about some of the most urgent and complex challenges in contemporary politics and their root causes.

This course involves students reading and engaging with ancient Greek philosophical texts (in the original language), preparing translations in advance, and...

Greek Philosophical Reading Group (PHIL0134)

This course involves students reading and engaging with ancient Greek philosophical texts (in the original language), preparing translations in advance, and presenting translations and leading discussion in the seminars. The texts covered will generally be a dialogue of Plato’s or a treatise of Aristotle’s (or a large part of one), although from time to time texts from other ancient Greek thinkers will be selected, such as Epicurus (perhaps together with other Epicureans) and the Stoics. The basis of selection will be the philosophical significance of the material, so that the course will represent and study the major works of these philosophers, such as for example Plato’s Republic and Meno, and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Prior Analytics. The module is assessed by way of two translations of passages, revised after presentation in the seminar, and a short philosophical essay (2500 words).

Philosophy Area C