Outline

Overview

This unit presents a variety of philosophical issues associated with the study and management of the natural environment. We will look at questions such as: what does it mean to live in harmony with the environment? what is sustainability? why should we preserve biodiversity? what is the best way to achieve conservation goals? what are ecological models and how do they work? and what is the proper relationship between environmental science and the values found in environmental policy and management?

Unit details and rules

Unit code	PHIL2640
Academic unit	Philosophy
Credit points	6
Prohibitions ?	PHIL2240
Prerequisites ?	12 credit points at 1000 level in Philosophy
Corequisites ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Mark Colyvan, mark.colyvan@sydney.edu.au
Lecturer(s)	Mark Colyvan, mark.colyvan@sydney.edu.au
Tutor(s)	Hal Davies-Conyngham, hal.conyngham@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Participation	Tutorial participation n/a	10%	Ongoing	n/a
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Assignment Short answer	30%	Week 05 Due date: 30 Mar 2021 at 17:00 Closing date: 06 Apr 2021	1500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Essay Long answer / Essay	60%	Week 13 Due date: 01 Jun 2021 at 17:00 Closing date: 08 Jun 2021	3,000 words
Outcomes assessed:

Assessment summary

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a High distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a Distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100
Distinction	75 - 84
Credit	65 - 74
Pass	50 - 64
Fail	0 - 49	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see sydney.edu.au/students/guide-to-grades

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

This unit has an exception to the standard University policy or supplementary information has been provided by the unit coordinator. This information is displayed below:

Penalties will be applied for all work submitted late. Assignments and essays will not be accepted more than one week after the relevant due date.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

You may only use artificial intelligence and writing assistance tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator, and if you do use them, you must also acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section.

Studiosity is permitted for postgraduate units unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Philosopher’s introduction to ecology	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	Philosopher’s introduction to ecology (continued)	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	Exponential growth	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 03	Living with uncertainty	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 03	The logistic equation	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 04	Ecological laws	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 04	Probability theory and uncertainty	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 05	Ecological models	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 05	Laws of ecology	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 06	Ecological models (continued)	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 06	Ecological models	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 07	Balance of nature	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 07	Idealisations in ecological models	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 08	Complexity and stability	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 08	Balance of nature	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 09	Re-cap and essay writing	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 09	Essay writing	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 10	Macro and community ecology	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 10	Complexity and stability	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 11	Conservation biology	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 11	Community ecology	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 12	Conservation management	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 12	De-extinction and triage	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 13	Conservation management (continued)	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 13	Conservation decisions	Tutorial (1 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Attendance: According to Faculty Board Resolutions, students in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are expected to attend 90% of their classes. If you attend less than 50% of classes, regardless of the reasons, you may be referred to the Examiner’s Board. The Examiner’s Board will decide whether you should pass or fail the unit of study if your attendance falls below this threshold.
Lecture recording: Most lectures (in recording-equipped venues) will be recorded and may be made available to students on the LMS. However, you should not rely on lecture recording to substitute your classroom learning experience.
Preparation: Students should commit to spend approximately three hours’ preparation time (reading, studying, homework, essays, etc.) for every hour of scheduled instruction.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

Weekly Tutorial Readings

Week 1: No readings

Week 2: Gotelli, N.J. 2001. A Primer of Ecology, third edition. Sunderland MA: Sinauer Press, chap. 1.

Week 3: Gotelli, N.J. 2001. A Primer of Ecology, third edition. Sunderland MA: Sinauer Press, chap. 2.

Week 4: Regan, H.M., Colyvan, M. and Burgman, M.A. 2002. ‘A Taxonomy and Treatment of Uncertainty for Ecology and Conservation Biology’, Ecological Applications, 12(2): 618–628.

Week 5: Colyvan, M. and Ginzburg, L.R. 2003. ‘Laws of Nature and Laws of Ecology’, Oikos, 101(3): 649–653.

O'Hara, R.B. and Benton, T. 2005.‘The Anarchist’s Guide to Ecological Theory. Or, We Don't Need No Stinkin' Laws’, Oikos, 110(2): 390–393.

Week 6: Levins, R. 1966. ‘The Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology’, American Scientist, 54(4): 421–431.

Week 7: Godfrey-Smith, P. 2009. ‘Models and Fictions in Science’, Philosophical Studies, 143(1): 101–116.

Week 8: Cooper, G. 2001. ‘Must There Be a Balance of Nature?’, Biology and Philosophy, 16(4): 481–516.

Week 9: No readings

Week 10: Justus, J. 2008. ‘Ecological and Lyapunov Stability’, Philosophy of Science, 75(4): 421–436.

McCann, K.S. 2000. ‘The Diversity–Stability Debate’, Nature, 405 (11 May): 228–233.

Week 11: Mikkelson, G.M. 1997. ‘Methods and Metaphors in Community Ecology: The Problem of Defining Stability’, Perspectives on Science, 5(4): 481–498.

Odenbaugh, J. 2007. ‘Seeing the Forest and the Trees’, Philosophy of Science, 74(5): 628–641.

Week 12: Slater, M.H. and Clatterbuck, H. 2018. ‘A Pragmatic Approach to the Possibility of De-extinction’, Biology and Philosophy, 33 (1–2): article 4 (21 pages).

Possingham, H.P. and K.A. Wilson 2005. ‘Biodiversity—Turning Up the Heat on Hotspots’, Nature, 436 (18 August): 919–920.

Week 13: Colyvan, M. Justus, J., and Regan, H.M. 2011. ‘The Conservation Game’, Biological Conservation, 144(4): 1246–1253.

Colyvan, M., Justus, J., and Regan, H.M. 2010. ‘The Natural Environment is Valuable but Not Infinitely Valuable’, Conservation Letters, 3(4): 224–228.

Additional General Reading List

Brown, J.H. 2000. Macroecology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Burgman, M.A. 2005. Risks and Decisions for Conservation and Environmental Management. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cooper, G.J. 2003. The Science of the Struggle for Existence: On the Foundations of Ecology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

de Laplante, K., Brown, B., and Peacock K. (eds.), 2011. Handbook of the Philosophy of Science Volume 11: Philosophy of Ecology. Amsterdam: North Holland/Elsevier.

Ginzburg, L.R. and Colyvan, M. 2004. Ecological Orbits: How Planets Move and Populations Grow. New York: Oxford University Press.

Gotelli, N.J. 2001. A Primer of Ecology, third edition. Sunderland MA: Sinauer Press.

Kingsland, S.E. 1985. Modelling Nature: Episodes in the History of Population Ecology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Maclaurin, J. and Sterelny, K. 2008. What is Biodiversity? Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Sarkar, S. 2005. Biodiversity and Environmental Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Schrader-Frechette, K. and McCoy, E. 1993. Method in Ecology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Slobodkin, L. 2003. A Citizen's Guide to Ecology, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Weisberg, M. 2013. Simulation and Similarity: Using Models to Understand the World, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. Capacity to form arguments
LO2. Ability to read and comprehend advanced philosophical research work
LO3. Learning to work effectively in collaborative contexts during tutorials

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

Revisions to both structure and content of the unit have been made in response to suggestions from students.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

PHIL2640: Environmental Philosophy

Semester 1, 2021 [Normal day] - Remote

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect