Environmental Justice
UndergraduateMUR-PHL2112027
Course information for 2027 intake
Environmental issues raise questions about fairness and responsibility. Use social and political ideas to examine shared goods, corporate duties, civil disobedience and fairness between generations.
Enrol today with instant approval and no entry requirements
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Enrol by
- 18 July 2027
- Entry requirements
- No ATAR needed, No prior study
- Duration
- 14 weeks
- Start dates
- 26 July 2027
- Price from
- $2,257
- Upfront cost
- $0
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Environmental Justice
About this subject
At the completion of this subject, students will be able to:
- Critically evaluate concepts in social and political philosophy.
- Analyse environmental challenges from a philosophical point of view.
- Research and develop a sustained written analysis of an environmental justice issue, applying ethical and other conventions of the discipline.
- Work effectively and ethically in discussion with others to formulate an individual standpoint.
- An introduction to the climate change problem
- A perfect storm
- Scientific sceptisism
- Skepticism about the role of ethics
- Individual vs. collective responsibility
- The extent of responsibility
- Mitigation and burden-sharing
- Justice beyond mitigation
- Geo-engineering, some basics
- International climate change and the anthropocene
- Discounting the future
- Climate change as a challenge to our ethical concepts
Runaway environmental degradation and climate change require new ways of thinking: an awareness of the collective and communal dimension of our actions, policies and omissions, and the need for joint efforts to improve the local, national and global communities in which we live. Moving beyond traditional issues in social and political philosophy, the subject introduces students to key questions regarding environmental justice. How do we overcome tragedies of the commons? In what sense do we share responsibility for collective goods? Do corporations have moral responsibilities? When are humanitarian interventions morally justified? When is civil disobedience legitimate or even required? Students will develop their analytic and critical thinking skills by learning about the most recent developments in social and political theory, and how these can help us tackle the climate crisis, rising intergenerational injustice and the problem of the global commons.
Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport.
- Presentation (20%)
- Multiple choice tests (30%)
- Essay (50%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
No entry requirements
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
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What to study next?
Once you’ve completed this subject it can be credited towards one of the following courses
UndergraduateMUR-COM-DEG
UndergraduateMUR-BAR-DEG
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