2022 Fall Semester

Southern University of Science and Technology

Nature, Wilderness and Civilization

Course Syllabus

注释：图片为莽措湖。高山拍摄。Mangcuo Lake Photo by Shan Gao

Instructor: Shan Gao

Teaching Assistant: Xueni Yang

Time: Mon. 8:00-12:10.

Place: Room204 Building 3

Email: sgao@suda.edu.cn

Wechat number: ziranyurensheng

Course Description

In this course, we will use cases studies to analyze the relationship between human

beings and nature in the civilization of science and technology. We will introduce

different theories in environmental humanities which emerged in the past decades in

response to the changing relationship between human beings and increasingly serious

environmental problems. Those theories include various schools in environmental

ethics, environmental law, environmental aesthetics, environmental psychology and

environmental sociology. We will discuss their theoretical interpretations and how

their theories promote ecological practices and actions which are conducted by

various kinds of social groups. Those practices and actions include ecological art

action, nature education, ecological restoration and designing wilderness within the

city.Grading

1. Attendance 10%

2. Class Performance 10%

3. Reading Quizzes 20%

4. Short Response Essay 30%

5. Final Presentation 30%

Your final grade will be made up of five parts which include attendance, class

participation in discussion, reading quizzes, short response essay and final

presentation. Your grade for class performance is based on your participation in the

discussion.

The reading quizzes will be given at the beginning of each class and it will take 10

minutes. The reading quizzes are made up of ten T or F questions. You are also

supposed to turn in the short response essay before each class in English. In terms of

the response essay, students need to focus on only one book chapters or research

articles for that day. The reading quizzes are based on the assigned readings for that

day.

The response essay is due before each class starts. You only need to select one

reading to write the response essay. In your response essay, you need to address the

following three questions: (1)What is the authors’ main argument? (2) How did the

paper contribute to your understanding of your subject? (3)Do you agree with the

author’s argument? Please write down your own argument.

Your final presentation can be one of the following three groups projects. (1)

Interview with a scholar who has made contribution to our thinking of the relationship

among nature, wilderness and civilization; (2) Interdisciplinary Reading. The group

select one book from the class and read it with group members. Detailed reading notes

will be your final project. (3) Research paper. You can choose to write a research

paper with your group members together. In terms of the research paper topic, I will

give you suggestions in the middle of this semester.

Reading Materials

All of the Readings will be sent to the blackboard for this class.

Required Books

1. Roderick Frazier Nash, Wilderness and the American Mind, Fifth edition, Yale

University Press, 2014.

2. Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Alamanac, Oxford University Press,1949.

3. Eugene C. Hargrove, Foundations of Environmental Ethics, Prentice Hall, 1989.

4. Paul B. Thompson. Kirill O. Thompson, Agricultural Ethics in East Asian

Perspective: A Transpacific Dialogue. Springer, 2018.Selected Book Chapters or Research Articles

1. Emily Thomas, The Meaning of Travel, Oxford University Press, 2020.

2. Robert C. Solomon, Spirituality for the Skeptic, Oxford University Press, 2002.

3. David J. Chalmers, Reality +Vitural Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy,2022.

4. Henri Lefebvre, Writings on Cities, translated and edited by Eleonore Kofman and

Elizabeth Lebas,1996.

5. Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space, Trans by Donald Nicholson-Smith,

1974.

6. Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture, Sierra Club

Books/San Francisco, 1977.

7. Yue Cao, Steve Carver, Rui Yang, “Mapping Wilderness in China”, Landscape

and Urban Planning, 2019.

Detailed Reading Schedule

1 ST Class 9/26

Topic: Who am I? Perspectives from Space, Place and Spirituality

Readings:

1. Robert C.Solomon, Spirituality for the Skeptic, pp. 8-28.

2. Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space, pp.229-292.

2 nd Class 10/17

Topic: Wilderness Act, Spirituality and Conservation

Readings:

1. American Wilderness Act PDF

2. Roderick Frazier Nash, Wilderness and the American Mind

(1) Old world roots of Opinion (pp.1-22)

(2) Henry David Thoreau: Philosopher (pp. 84-96)

(3) John Muir: Publicizer (pp.122-141)

3. Laur Kiik, Wilding the Ethnography of Conservation: Writing Nature’s Value and

Agency In.

4. Yue Cao, Steve Carver, Rui Yang, “Mapping Wilderness in China”.

3 rd Class 10/31

Topic: Wilderness:Ethics, Aesthetics and EducationGuest Lecture: Dr. Qiushi Xu Soundscape in Wilderness

Readings:

1. Eugene Hargrove, Foundations of Environmental Ethics

(1) Chapter 3 Aesthetic and Scientific Attitudes

(2) Chapter 6 An Ontological Argument for Environmental Ethics

2. Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Alamanac, p. 201 Land Ethic

3. Homles Rolston, The Wilderness Idea Reaffirmed.

4. Bernard L Krause, Wild Soundscape in the National Parks

4 th Class 11/14

Topic: Wilderness:Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Readings

1. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Reveries of Solitary Walker (pp. 126-147).

2. Emily Thomas, The Meaning of Travel. Chapter 4 and Chapter 8

(4)Innate Ideas in Descartes, Locke and Cannibals

(5)Edmund Burk and Sublime Tourism

3. Helga Synnevag Lovoll, Knut-willy Sather and Mark Graves, Feeling at home in

the Wilderness: environmental conditions, well-being and aesthetic experience,

Frontiers in Psychology, 2020.3.

4. Antonio Carnorrino, Green Spirituality and Physical Culture: Extreme Sports and

Imagery of Wilderness.

5 th Class 11/28

Topic: Agriculture: Ethics, Aesthetics, and Place

Readings

1. Paul B. Thompson. Agricultural Ethics in East Asian Perspective

(1)Agrarian Environmental Philosophy in an Inter-cultural Context (p. 1-13)

(2)Agrarian Tradition and Chinese Culture: An Interpretive Overview(p. 13-23)

2. Liu Chengji, The Agricultural Trait of Chinese Aesthetics and Its Manifestation in

Landscape.

3. Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture, chaper 2.

4. Xiaojun Yang, A Study on the Return of Local Emotions of Ancestor Worship: A

Case Study of Dangjia Village in Hancheng City. ICAESEE, 2018.

6 th Class 12/12Topic: City, Virtual Reality and Space

Readings

1. Henri Lefebvre, Writings on Cities, Industrialization and Urbanization (pp.65-86)

2. Ingo Kowarik, Working Wilderness: A Promising Direction for Urban Green

Spaces, Urban Architecture Frontiers, April 2021.

3. David J. Chalmers, Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy.

Chapter 1: Is this the Real Life?

Chapter 17: Can you lead a good life in a virtual world?

7 th Class 12/26 Outdoor Hiking and Students’ Presentation of Final Projects