MA Nature

** Please note that this pathway is closed to new applicants **

The Nature pathway is a distance-learning MA programme designed for those looking to develop their understanding of the natural world from philosophical, anthropological, and theological perspectives. However one does not need a background in philosophy, anthropology or theology to take this pathway - it is suitable for anyone with an interest in nature and our responsibilities towards it. If you wish to deepen your understanding of the natural world in ways not normally possible outside the academic context, this pathway is for you.

This programme will invite you to consider a broad range of topics connected with nature, for example the charge that current attitudes towards non-human creatures involve a form of 'speciesism' that is akin to racism, the question of whether nature can be said to have an 'intrinsic' value, and what kind of responsibilities we may have towards it, and the significance that religious beliefs may have to our understanding of nature and of our place in it. Also of great relevance are the complexities of human interactions with the environment, the links between cultural and environmental change and the question of how the values and lives of hunter-gatherers, pastoralists, agriculturalists, and sub-groups within industrialised countries create differing priorities in the use and management of resources.

The MA in Nature may be taken on either a full-time or part-time basis. Full-time students should aim to complete the programme in no more than two years, part-time students in no more than five years.

Course structure

The MA is divided into two parts:

Part I: The taught element. A series of modules assessed by extended essays.
Part II: The dissertation. A dissertation of 20,000 words.

Part I: The taught element

Students choose 120 credits-worth of modules from the following list (all modules are 20 credits except where indicated):

Writing Philosophy
Module code: MATP0620

The aim of this module is to help people who have had little or no experience of writing philosophy, or writing in related disciplines, to acquire some of the fundamental skills required for this. Many of those skills are ones that are required for good writing in any academic discipline; and for much other writing besides. Philosophical writing does, however, make a range of quite specific demands on the author. By the time students have finished this module they should have acquired a clearer picture of what those demands are, along with detailed practice in meeting them. The practice is a fundamental aspect of the teaching involved in the module: a range of exercises, which students are encouraged to submit for feedback, being a central component of it. The module is intended for people with limited recent academic experience of a form relevant to the MA; and would be of particular relevance to people who intend to go on to further postgraduate work after completing the MA. In some case students may be required, or at least strongly urged, to take this module.

Environmental Philosophy
Module code: MANA0120

This module focuses on the following questions: Do we have reasons for thinking that we should have a non-prudential concern for nature? If so, what is the basis of this concern? And, what sort of environmentalism does it give rise to?

The module begins with one of modern environmentalism's first writers: Aldo Leopold. Using Leopold as a starting point we consider in what sense ecological systems can be thought of as communities. We then go on to discuss views that hold that natural objects are intrinsically valuable: are worthy of our moral respect. Both of these sorts of approach attempt to extend traditional moral theories to include the natural world. We then move on to discuss three major positions - social ecology, deep ecology and ecofeminism - each of which claims that traditional moral theories can be seen to be fundamentally at fault because of the ways they conceive of humanity's relation to its environment. The tensions and compatibilities between these positions will also be discussed. Finally we reflect on how different positions view ecological activity, in particular, the activity of restoring natural environments.

Lectures:

• The Biotic Community and the Land Ethic
• The Interest  Natural Objects   
• The Artificial and the Natural
• Social Ecology and Ecological Humanism
• Deep Ecology
• Ecological Feminism
• Restoration and Preservation

Human and Animal Interactions in Anthropological Perspective
Module code: MANTH2020

This course introduces ‘anthrozoology’ (the study of human-animal interactions) from an anthropological perspective, although interdisciplinary approaches will also be considered. The course is primarily concerned with the divergent cultural constructions of ‘humanity’ and ‘animality’ found around the world and within cultural groups perceived from the outside to be culturally homogenous. We will examine case studies from a wide range of Western and Non-Western contexts, and from these, assess how best we can understand attitudes towards non-human animals and, by extension, attitudes towards humans. This course will provide students with a good understanding of a diverse range of human-animal interactions including ‘blood sports’ (such as hunting, fishing, shooting and bull fighting), pet keeping and ‘petishism’, eco-tourism and wildlife conservation, working animals, animals as food, animal ‘exploitation’ versus the animal rights movement in the West, and the anthropological implications of changing attitudes towards non-human animal ‘personhood’. The key anthropological debates surrounding these issues will be raised and discussed.

Environmental Anthropology
Module code: MANTH0620

This module aims to provide an in-depth understanding of anthropological theories concerned with the human-environmental relationship and the ways in which it is culturally constructed. The module therefore contains a number of key elements. At the outset, it examines anthropological ideas about cultural adaptation, providing students with a theoretical framework through which they can consider the complexities of human interactions with the environment and the links between cultural and environmental change. An important element will be an examination of how people 'make sense' of the world in cognitive and cultural terms.

During the module a number of ethnographic areas will be explored, looking at various ways of perceiving and managing the natural environment. The module will examine ethnographies describing the lives of hunter-gatherers, pastoralists, agriculturalists, and various sub-cultural groups within industrialised countries, and consider how each group participates in wider regional systems of environmental management. Students will be encouraged to consider the cultural processes which lead to the symbolic and practical 'humanisation' of the environment, and to look at how each group's cultural values create differing priorities in the use and management of resources.

Ancient Medicine: Myth and Practice
Module code: MCLA5920

'Scientific' Greek and Roman medicine was based on a mixture of fixed ideas, misconceptions and (sometimes) enlightened thinking. Some people preferred to rely on divine aid or home made remedies. The module looks at the main medical writers and at some of the specific health issues which they faced.

The specific topics to be considered are:

• Hippocrates
• Asclepius
• Women’s bodies in Greek medicine
• Epidemics-Hippocratic doctors in action
• Miracle cures
• Soranus and Galen
• Surgery and army medicine
• Family planning
• Plagues
• Aelius Aristides

At the end of this block of learning students will have acquired a critical insight into a range of ancient medical texts and an understanding of the different ways in which they have been interpreted. In particular, they will have developed an ability to evaluate attempts of modern science to justify or explain medical practices and beliefs in the Ancient World, and they will be able to present their own interpretations of these texts, both orally and in writing.

Main recommended texts:

Dean-Jones, L. A. (1994), Women's Bodies in Classical Greek Science, Oxford: OUP.
Jackson, R. (1988), Doctors and Disease in the Roman Empire, London: Routledge.
Longrigg, J. (1993), Greek Rational Medicine: Philosophy and Medicine from Alcmaeon to the Alexandrians, London: Routledge.
Longrigg, J. (1997), Greek Medicine From the Heroic to the Hellenistic Age: A Source Book. London: Routledge.

Nature and Aesthetics
Module code: MANA0220

In this module we consider traditional and contemporary philosophical discussions concerning aesthetic experience of the natural environment. The module begins with a consideration of the objectivist/subjectivist debate in aesthetics, and various attempts to establish intersubjective aesthetic judgements. We then examine the key 18th century categories of the "beautiful," the "sublime," and the "picturesque," which together formed the heart of early modern theories of the aesthetic appreciation of nature. The remainder of the module focuses on contemporary approaches and reactions to environmental aesthetics, in particular the attempts to explain the relationship between the aesthetic appreciation of nature and the aesthetic appreciation of artworks. We consider the differences between art and nature, and the appropriateness of using various models of aesthetic appreciation of artworks to illuminate understanding of the aesthetic appreciation of nature. We then examine various models of aesthetic appreciation specifically designed for appreciation of nature, beginning with Allen Carlson’s "natural environmental model," which was the first such model developed. The module then continues with a discussion of cultural landscapes and environmental art, and a consideration of the increasingly popular claim that only positive aesthetic judgements of nature are appropriate (or indeed possible), a position known as "positive aesthetics." The module concludes with a consideration of the role aesthetics can play and has played in environmental conservation strategy. The module is divided into the following blocks:

• What is aesthetics?
• Aesthetic judgements
• The beautiful, the sublime, and the picturesque
• Art and environment
• The "natural environmental model" of aesthetic appreciation
• Alternative models of aesthetic appreciation of nature
• Cultural landscapes and environmental art
• Positive aesthetics
• Aesthetics and conservation

Further modules will become available in time. If there are particular topics that you would like to study, let us know: we will try to give priority to areas for which there is a strong demand. Aside from the module choices listed above, students are free to choose up to 40 credits-worth of modules from any other UWL Master's programme, with the permission of the relevant programme director. You can find details of all the available modules by looking at the web pages for each programme on the UWL website.

In order to progress to Part Two a student must pass modules worth 120 credits at Part One. The pass mark for each module taken is 40%.

Part Two: The dissertation

Students proceed to the dissertation on passing Part One of the MA. This involves the writing of a 20,000-word essay on a theme relevant to the MA programme, under the guidance of a member of the teaching staff. When you are ready to begin work on the dissertation you should discuss possible topics of interest with a member of the teaching staff - either the programme co-ordinator or a member of staff you know to have interests in the general area in which you plan to work. You must get approval for the title, and overall theme, of your dissertation before you proceed to detailed work on it.