Reducing Pessimism's Sway in The Environmental Ethics Classroom.
Increased awareness of the breadth and depth of existing environmental challenges is part of an environmental education. One effect of this increased awareness that can manifest itself in the environmental ethics classroom is pessimism. I outline two varieties of pessimism that have a tendency to ho...
| Published in: | Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture & Ecology Vol. 8; no. 2/3; pp. 213 - 227 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Brill Academic Publishers
2004
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=15372922&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 15372922 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 13635247 C6T jtl: Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture & Ecology issn: 13635247 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: 2004 vid: 8 iid: 2/3 pid: 639 pub: Brill Academic Publishers artinfo: ui: 15372922 10.1163/1568535042690826 ppf: 213 ppct: 14 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 83KB tig: atl: Reducing Pessimism's Sway in The Environmental Ethics Classroom. aug: au: Sheppard, James W. affil: Department of Philosophy, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 220 Cockefair Hall, 5121 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, Missouri 64111, USA su: Environmental ethics Environmental education Pessimism Classroom environment sug: subj: Environmental ethics Environmental education Pessimism Classroom environment keyword: environmental education environmental ethics John Dewey meliorism PESSIMISM WILLIAM JAMES ab: Increased awareness of the breadth and depth of existing environmental challenges is part of an environmental education. One effect of this increased awareness that can manifest itself in the environmental ethics classroom is pessimism. I outline two varieties of pessimism that have a tendency to hold sway in the environmental ethics classroom: 1) pessimism about the general state of the environment; and, 2) pessimism about being able to do anything about the general state of the environment. After outlining a few of the potential educational and vocational consequences of allowing pessimism to take root, I offer a pedagogical method for reducing the sway of pessimism in the classroom. I argue that William James' and John Dewey's writings on the subject of meliorism offer a framework that, when combined with some of the insights of incrementalism theory in environmental policy, can not only help students to reduce the sway of pessimism in the classroom, but also in their chosen career paths by, among other things, highlighting the "possibility of possibility". pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture & Ecology is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture & Ecology holder: Brill Academic Publishers dt: @attributes: year: 2004 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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