Human Meets Nature: Key Concepts in Environmental Philosophy (Udemy.com)
Develop your own personal philosophy of nature, understand key environmental issues and make informed lifestyle choices
Created by: Gary Thomson
Last updated June 2016
What you will learn
- Understand key ideas in environmental philosophy
- Apply key ideas in environmental philosophy to contemporary environmental issues
- Use key ideas in environmental philosophy to better understand human / nature relations.
- Apply ideas about human / nature relationships to make informed lifestyle decisions
How it compares
Against the other 503 rated Udemy courses in Teaching & Academics on CourseDuck:
- Rating4.5 out of 5higher than 42% of them
- Reviews62#460 of 504 by number of reviews
- Length5.7 hourslonger than 68% of them
- Last updatedJune 2016earlier than 95% of them
Course Description
These are hugely challenging times for the natural environment and as modern humans we’re struggling to understand how we relate to nature. If you're concerned about environmental issues and are interested in insightful ways to think about them, then this is the course for you.
Understand What Nature Means to You
* Learn key ideas about human / nature relationships
* Discover who developed these ideas and why
* Apply these concepts to contemporary environmental issues
* Develop your own personal philosophy of nature
* Make better informed lifestyle decisions
Explore What the Great Environmental Thinkers Have Said
Each topic in this course provides a unique way to understand our relationship with the natural environment. You'll learn about John Muir's Philosophy of Nature, Deep Ecology, Ecofeminism, Silent Spring, The Land Ethic, Environmental Aesthetics, and Ecophenomenology. Armed with key information about each of these you'll be equipped to better understand the threats to the natural environment that we see today.
Compare Ideas about Humans and Nature
A unique feature of this course is exploring all of these topics in one place. This allows you to easily compare ideas, decide what resonates with you most strongly and perhaps inspire a deeper interest in some of these subjects.
This course explores over one hundred years of key ideas in nature philosophy. This whistle-stop tour of environmental thought is presented over five and a half hours in 73 easily digestible classes. Classes are between three and ten minutes long and offered as presentation screencasts.
Extensive supplementary texts and links to further resources are provided so you can dive in as far as you wish. You'll also find quizzes and questions for further consideration at the end of each section to help reinforce learning and guide further thinking. The course has been designed to allow you to go as far into these topics as you wish.
Apply These Concepts to your Own Life
But this course is not just a history of grand environmental ideas. Rather it is intended to provide a framework with which you can consider the environmental issues that are impacting your life today. Global warming, species loss, changing weather patterns, soil infertility, shrinking habitat, biodiversity loss and ocean acidification are amongst the many challenges that we currently face. It can be difficult to know how to think about these huge issues, to put them into any kind of context. This course helps you better understand these important issues. Want to know what nature really means to you? Take this course and find out!
Instructor Details
- 4.5 Rating
62 Reviews
Gary Thomson
Gary is a self-confessed lover of knowledge and through his teaching tries to inspire others to learn new tricks too!
Educated in the UK and the US he has a first class honours degree in Pure Mathematics and a Master’s degree in Environmental Philosophy.
Following a successful career in the energy industry Gary now splits his time between teaching Math in person and online and writing about human / nature relationships.
In Math, he is particularly interested in Number Theory & Fractals. In Environmental Philosophy he enjoys working with ecofeminism, ecophenomenology and environmental ethics.
When he’s not philosophizing or teaching you’re likely to catch him on a mountain, in a forest or on his yoga mat, or sometimes watching a movie!
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Reviews
By Laçin Tutalar on 12/14/2024
We started alright. I am enjoying how Thomson is delineating the path before the audience. Some of the information is basic for me, and that might guide me when having a conversation with newbies on the subject of environmental philosophy.
By Vanya Lambrecht Ward on 8/22/2023
Great voice with clear language and clearly set out learning. Only started but so far so good
By Samuel David on 4/12/2021
well structured and easy to understand and follow. The instructor is also available . It is a great experience for me
By Clare Snowdon on 6/18/2020
Bit early to tell, but so far so good
By Ian Williams on 5/15/2020
A very interesting course - I particularly enjoyed the section on environmental aesthetics. Being from a staunch scientific background and new to this field, I struggled with some of the more 'nebulous' philosophical concepts but I do feel that this course has enlightened me.
By Conner McLaughlin on 5/4/2020
I feel like this course helped me gain a better understanding of how to perceive the world from an ecological point of view, and I hope to continue learning more about the natural world in the future.
By George Saliaris Fasseas on 4/14/2020
Great for an introduction to the topic and a high-level view on the various thinkers
By Claudia Ruiz Arriola on 1/23/2020
A great, clear and concise introduction to some very deep and interesting ideas!!
By Pushpa Gurumani on 9/15/2019
I have thoroughly enjoyed myself doing this course. I have also learnt a great deal about the relationship of humans towards nature. I have been introduced to a whole new world of ideas and philosophies in this field of study. Gary Thomson has done an excellent job with the contents and presentation of the course: well researched and extensive contents presented in short and easy-to-absorb lectures! I feel inspired by the positive and hopeful messages in Gary's lectures: a healthy and empathetic personal "Ecosophy" could enable each one of us to live in harmony with nature! Thank you, Gary, for the good work that you have put into this course.
By Sharon Marsh on 12/21/2018
I really enjoyed this class. While I had read some of the works discussed in it, I had not read some of the others and had not really thought about my relationship with nature beyond knowing I needed to be in it daily and know that I am a part of it. The class has encouraged me to look at the totality of my life and interactions with nature and how that has defined who I am now and what I believe is important for me, and in some cases for the long-term sustainability of nature and that tiny component of nature called humans. Thank you, Gary.
Quality Score
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Overall Score : 90 / 100






