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Field Philosophy: Experience, Relationships, and Environmental Ethics in Higher Education

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Field Philosophy: Experience, Relationships, and Environmental Ethics in Higher Education FIELD PHILOSOPHY: EXPERIENCE, RELATIONSHIPS, AND ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS IN HIGHER EDUCATION By Allison Kara Goralnik A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Fisheries and Wildlife 2011 ABSTRACT FIELD PHILOSOPHY: EXPERIENCE, RELATIONSHIPS, AND ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS IN HIGHER EDUCATION By Allison Kara Goralnik Experiential environmental philosophy, or field philosophy, is a type of fieldwork in the environmental humanities. It engages the intellectual content of environmental philosophy, while at the same time encourages participants to experience the physical dimension of this content by exploring the context of environmental learning as it is rooted in social, political, natural, and geographical place. While reflective of recent moves in environmental philosophical learning (Moore 2004d, Brady et al. 2004), it is an unstudied phenomenon. My dissertation contributes empirical work about the connection between a physical and an ethical relationship with the natural world to the anecdotal evidence provided by these environmental philosophy, as well as similar humanistic (Johnson & Frederickson 2000, Alagona & Simon 2010), field courses. My work on field philosophy draws on a conception of ethics that assumes ethical inclusiveness is an emotional, as well as a rational, enterprise (Hume 2000, Smith 2010, Leopold 1949, Moore 2004). It responds to scholarship in environmental philosophy, feminist ethics, and experiential place-based education that suggests physical contact with the natural world enhances environmental learning by enabling connections to, and possibly the development of an empathetic relationship with, the natural world (Outdoor Philosophy, Preston 1999, UNT). In addition to educating for content, field philosophy aims to help students develop an awareness of the role of environmental ethics in environmental issues, as well as to cultivate an empathetic environmental ethic that might enable them to participate in environmental problem-solving. In this dissertation I first ground field philosophy in the intellectual trajectory of environmental ethics as a meaningful area of study and education, then develop a historical framework for the ideas of environmental ethics to situate the feminist, relational ethics at the core of field philosophy as an emerging path. Using examples from the field philosophy course I developed and teach at Michigan State University1, I describe how—through attention to relationships, emotion, and both the human and natural world—critical ecofeminism and the ethic of care (Warren 1990, Plumwood 1991, Russell & Bell 1996) serve the objectives and curriculum of field philosophy. Next I theorize a pedagogy for field philosophy from literature in environmental and experiential education, the ethic of care, and educational psychological research on emotional engagement. These theoretical chapters ground my empirical work on student learning and ethical development on the Isle Royale field philosophy course. My methodology is grounded in a constructivist revision of grounded theory (Charmaz 2006). Using the constant comparison method (Glaser & Strauss 1969), I conducted a conventional qualitative content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon 2005) of three years of student writing data. I triangulated this data with a pre- and post-course survey and field notes, validated my codebook for inter-coder reliability, and both peer debriefed and memoed throughout my analysis. Results reveal a recurrent process of student learning and ethical development that begins with a dualistic view of environmental issues. Students transcend this lens through a reflective process of self-awareness, which enables them to develop authentic community. This social learning process can allow students to emotionally and cognitively engage the curriculum, which leads to a complex awareness, the transference of course ideas to new environments, a wider moral community, and greater responsibility for environmental action and change. 1 Outdoor Philosophy: Wilderness Ethics in Isle Royale National Park, NSC 490/FW491 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My work is interdisciplinary and collaborative. Everything I know and do is entwined in the relationships that support me, inspire me, love me, challenge me, drive me, and ground me. So thank you. To my family, who trusts my process and makes me laugh, and whose belief in me allows me to believe in myself. To Michael, who taught me to look, and through looking has taught me to care. This journey is our shared journey. To Laurie, my friend and mentor, who finds joy everywhere, and who—through sushi and patience—taught me to be a researcher. To all the members of my committee, who have modeled for me the passion, engagement, and willingness to giggle that are necessary to do good work. To my friends, here and home and all the places I have lived and traveled, who love me for me, regardless of the work. To the mountains, where I grew my love for all things wild and free and cultivated my commitment to do the work that matters. To the wind, that fills me and the sails every summer. And to my students, without whom none of this would be possible. With gratitude. iv Table of Contents List of Tables...........................................................................................................................vii List of Figures .........................................................................................................................vii CHAPTER 1 - FIELD PHILOSOPHY: A MEANINGFUL FUTURE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS LEARNING ...........................................................................1 I. Introduction: The Past, Present, and Future of Environmental Ethics...................1 II. Applied Environmental Ethics: The Role of Experience ........................................9 III. Field Philosophy: Pedagogical Framework..........................................................13 VI. Field Philosophy: The Curriculum.......................................................................17 V. Field Philosophy: The Logistics .............................................................................19 VI. Field Philosophy: Context.....................................................................................21 VII. Conclusion............................................................................................................24 CHAPTER 2 - ANTHROPOCENTRISM OR IN A NUTSHELL: THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS ..............................................................24 I. Introduction .............................................................................................................24 II. Anthropocentrism: What is it? ..............................................................................25 II. Anthropocentrism as an Environmental Ethic......................................................28 III. The Other Lenses: A Wider Moral Community..................................................31 IV. A Changed Relationship With the Natural World...............................................38 V. Why Our Environmental Ethic Matters................................................................44 CHAPTER 3 - EMPATHY EDUCATION ECOFEMINISM, THE ETHIC OF CARE, AND EXPERIENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL PHILOSOPHY .....................................................46 I. Introduction .............................................................................................................46 II. Foundations in Environmental Philosophy ...........................................................48 III. Environmental Pedagogy......................................................................................49 IV. Ecofeminism Foundations.....................................................................................53 V. Spirituality and Essentialist Ecofeminism .............................................................54 VI. Lived Lives and Materialist Perspective ..............................................................56 VII. Critical Ecofeminism, Care, and Relationships..................................................58 VIII. A Pedagogy of Care............................................................................................59 IX. Care in the Field: A Case Study on Isle Royale National Park ...........................61 X. The Pedagogy of Care in Action.............................................................................67 XI. Conclusion .............................................................................................................70 CHAPTER 4 - AN ENVIRONMENTAL PEDAGOGY OF CARE: EMOTION, RELATIONSHIPS, AND EXPERIENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION ETHICS LEARNING.............................................................................................................................71 I. Introduction .............................................................................................................71 II. The Role of Emotion in Learning ..........................................................................73 III. Affective Learning and Experiential Education ..................................................76 IV. Emotional Engagement as Learning Goal............................................................78 v V. The Ethic of Care in the Learning Environment ..................................................81 VI. Field Trips: Experience, Emotion, and Engagement in Practice ........................85
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