* Registration deadline: October 10.

Historically, in the United States wilderness preservation was motivated by primarily aesthetic concerns. For example, Thomas Moran’s paintings of Yellowstone were decisive in creating Yellowstone National Park. In the 19th century there was a direct link between wilderness aesthetics and an environmental ethics focused on preservation. The connection between wilderness aesthetics and environmental ethics is evident in the works of painters like Moran, and essayists like Emerson, Thoreau and Muir. These artists created a legacy where conservation efforts are to an important degree built on the aesthetic appreciation of nature—the experience of the sublime. This legacy has come to be called “the received wilderness ideal.” However, over the last several decades this legacy has been severely criticized.

The criticisms are summed up as follows: “The wilderness idea is alleged to be ethnocentric, androcentric, phallocentric, unscientific, unphilosophic, impolitic, outmoded, even genocidal. Defenders of wilderness insist that it is none of these things. The received wilderness idea, has, in short, recently been the subject of heated debate.” This course will explore this debate by examining the connection, if any, between wilderness aesthetics and environmental ethics. This will be done by reading literature, examining wilderness paintings and photography, and studying environmental aesthetics and ethics. The course will start with the 19th century painter and writers, then move to the contemporary heirs of their legacy and its critics.

As with our other online course, The History of Environmental Thought and Ideas, This course will be 100% online and discussion based. It will be your chance to collaborate with great minds from around the world who are passionate about this specific topic.

(click here for more details on the discussion format) OOur online and institute courses attract a vibrant and intellectually charged group of participants, most of whom are scholars and professionals taking advantage of this opportunity to create an enthusiastic community around these stimulating ideas. We will use a blog-based classroom and email to coordinate and facilitate discussions. Here you find a central blog where you will be given guides to the readings and important points to discuss. Participants will then create their own blogs to post responses and generate discussion with other participants.

Cost for the course instruction and administration is $180 per participant. Participants will be invited to join ongoing dialogs with the Center for Ethics and to participate in person at upcoming Environmental Ethics Institutes and conferences in Missoula, MT. Register here (.pdf). Discussion courses may be canceled if enrollment targets are not met at the Oct. 10 deadline.

Instructor: Christopher Preston, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Fellow at the Center for Ethics, The University of Montana.

Teaching Assistant: Justin Whitaker, Center for Ethics Project Coordinator, Ph.D. candidate at Goldsmiths College, London.

For registration information contact Justin Whitaker at justin.whitaker@mso.umt.edu or 243-5744 OR Register here (.pdf).

Syllabus

new resource center

The course will be broken into six weekly sections (October 15 - November 30 new dates)
(the precise readings/schedule are subject to minor changes). Click on any week for a full description of readings.

Week 1: The Wilderness Tradition in American Thought
Deconstructing Wilderness: Cronin
Why the Wilderness Ideal should be preserved: Sagoff
Kant and Emerson

Week 2: Wilderness and Transcendence
Thoreau, Muir, Dillard and Snyder

Week 3: Wilderness Transcendence and Preservation
Slide Show, Leopold

Week 4: The Great New Wilderness Debate
Guha, Naess, Rolston, Callicot, Cronin and Mann

Week 5: Preserving the Tradition
Rolston, Carlson, Saito

Week 6: Review and open discussion
What were some key issues in the course? What surprised you most? What would you like to know more about?

Note: Due to the brevity of the course (packing 14 weeks of readings and discussion into 6 weeks) participants are urged to preread as much material as possible