| CODE | MRT5101 | ||||||||||||||||
| TITLE | Environmental Ethics, the Political Community and Future Generations | ||||||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Moral Theology | ||||||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit explores the complex relationship between environmental ethics, the political community and future generations. In particular, it analyses how the various dimensions which make up the political community such as democracy, equity, fraternity, equality, and ubuntu are implied in issues related to justice of the environment. This is done in view not only of persons that are separated spatially i.e. current generations around the globe, but also with respect to persons who are separated from us also temporally, i.e. future generations. This will be achieved using the language of human rights and also by exploring European Regulations and Directives that seek to articulate such rights and obligations. Study-Unit Aims: - To outline the far-reaching global environmental change upon future generations; - To familiarise students to today’s emerging consciousness and conscientiousness of the present generation’s responsibilities to future generations; - To discuss the philosophical underpinnings of the current generation’s obligations to posterity; - To introduce students to the historical evolution of human rights, namely, from individual to collective rights, to the rights of humankind; - To identify intergenerational responsibilities in European Regulations and Directives; - To create a community of online learners. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - critically analyse and assess public policies which are oblivious of the current generation’s obligations to far-distant unborn generations; - develop a moral sensibility in their choices and life-style to posterity; - Explain how the concept of intergenerational justice is enshrined in European Regulations and Directives; - Outline how human rights have evolved from individual to collective rights, to the rights of humankind; - critically assess the applicability of culture-bound kinship practices that serve to protect the environment. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - acquire communicative skills to influence public policy in environmental issues to endorse intergenerational concern and moral sensibility; - alert civil society of its moral obligations to posterity; - critically analyse local and European environmental policies from the perspective of intergenerational justice; - identify areas in one's own lifestyle that can lead to safeguarding the environment; - debate within a community of learners by articulating and defending one's position through a blended approach; - engage critically with different opinions. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Agius, Emmanuel, Future Generations and International Law, London, Earthscan Publishers Ltd., 1998. - Agius Emmanuel, "Environmental Responsibility and Business Styles: Ethical and Theological Perspectives", in (L. Mariani et al. eds), Business Styles and Sustainable Development, Fondazione Lanza, Gregoriana Libreria Editrice, Roma, 2008, 19-43. - Brown Weiss, Edith, In Fairness to Future Generations: International Law, Common Patrimony, and Intergenerational Equity, United Nations University, 1989. - Agius, Emmanuel, "Intergenerational Justice", in (Richard. R. Ernst, ed.) Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), Eloss Publishers, Oxford, 2003, [http://www.eolss.net]. - John Nolt, "Future Generations in Environmental Ethics ", in The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics, Edited by Stephen M. Gardiner and Allen Thompson, Oxford University Press, 2017. - Agius, Emmanuel, "Obligations of Justice towards Future Generations: A Revolution in Social and Legal Thought", in (E. Agius, ed.) Future Generations and International Law, London, Earthscan Publishers Ltd., 1998, 3-12. - Peter Lawrence, Justice for Future Generations,Edward Elgar, UK, 2014. - Agius, Emmanuel, "The Rights of Future Generations", (J. Friggieri, ed.) Interfaces, Malta, University of Malta, 1997, 165-187. Appiah,Paul. “The African Concept of Community and Individual in the Context of the Market,” in Distant Markets, Distant Harms: Economic Complicity and Christian Ethics, ed. Daniel K. Finn (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014). Supplementary Readings: - Grosseries, Axel, & Lucas H. Meyer, Intergenerational Justice, Oxford University Press, 2012. - Tremmer, Joerg, A Theory of Intergenerational Justice, Routledge, London, 2014. - Roemer, J. & Suzurura, K. (eds.), Intergeneration Equity and Sustainability, Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2007. - Hiskes, Richard, The Human Right to a Green Future. Environmental Rights and Intergenerational Justice, University of Connecticut, 2009. - Gonzalez-Ricoy, Inigo & Grosseries Axel (eds), Institutions for Future Generations, Oxford University Press, 2017. - Hadjiargyrou, Zena, A Conceptual and Practical Evaluation of Intergenerational Equity in International Environmental Law, International Community Law Review, Vol. 18, Issue 3-4, 2016, pp. 248-277. Other resources will be available online. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Independent Study and Online Learning | ||||||||||||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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