ATS2871 Environmental ethics
Faculty of Arts
ATS2871 Environmental ethics is a level 2, 6-credit-point, undergraduate unit from the Faculty of Arts, offered in 2025 in Semester 2 at Clayton. It has no prerequisites.
- Credit points
- 6
- Offered in 2025
- Semester 2
- Clayton
- Assessment
- No exam
- 4 tasks
- Workload
- 144 hours
- per semester
This is the 2025 handbook entry. See the 2027 entry.
Reviews
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Requisites
Before ATS2871
Prohibitions
You can't enrol if you have passed any of these.
After ATS2871
No unit lists ATS2871 as a prerequisite in the 2025 handbook.
Enrolment rules
Prerequisite: Twelve credit points of first-year Arts units.
Prohibition: ATS3871, AZA2871, AZA3871
Overview
The current global environmental crisis poses both philosophical and urgent political challenges. This unit examines the implications of environmental concerns for our moral concepts and our current way of life. Should non-human animals have rights? What about species or ecosystems? What is the value of wilderness? How might our values, institutions, and way of life have to change in order for humanity and other species to have a future?
Offerings in 2025
| Teaching period | Campus | Mode |
|---|---|---|
| Second semester | Clayton | On campus |
Assessment
- Argumentative Writing ExerciseExercise15%
- EssayWritten40%
- Weekly Critical EngagementExercise10%
- Final TestQuiz / Test35%
Learning outcomes
When you finish this unit, you should be able to:
- 1
On successfully completing this unit, you should have a good understanding of the ethical issues raised by environmentalism and by the ethical limits placed on human behaviour by our environment.
Workload and teaching
- Tutorials24 hours
- Lectures12 hours
- Teaching approachActive learning
- Teaching approachProblem-based learning
Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.
This unit engages you in actively applying your knowledge, skills and attributes in interactive, collaborative and reflective activities.
This unit includes problem-based learning approaches, where you engage in research, integrate theory and practice and apply knowledge and skills to develop viable solutions in response to a problem or set of problems.
Where it fits
ATS2871 is part of 5 areas of study in the 2025 handbook.
- BIOETHIC04Level 2 and 3 elective unitsBioethicsNo reviews yet
- HUMNGEOG06Level 2 and 3 elective unitsHuman geographyNo reviews yet
- HUMNGEOG09Level 2 and 3 elective unitsHuman geographyNo reviews yet
- PHILSPHY07Level 2 and 3 elective unitsPhilosophyNo reviews yet
- PHILSPHY08Level 2 and 3 elective unitsPhilosophyNo reviews yet
Contacts
- Unit Coordinators
- Scott Robinson
- Chief Examiners
- Professor Robert Sparrow
Common questions
What are the prerequisites for ATS2871?
ATS2871 has no prerequisites, but enrolment rules apply.
When is ATS2871 offered?
In 2025, ATS2871 runs in Semester 2 at Clayton.
How much work is ATS2871?
The handbook expects about 144 hours of study across the semester. No students have rated its difficulty yet.
Does ATS2871 have an exam?
No. ATS2871 has 4 assessment tasks and no exam.
Which majors and minors include ATS2871?
ATS2871 is part of Bioethics, Human geography and Philosophy.