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This module focuses on these important cultural and intellectual interactions through an exploration of changing attitudes towards both nature and landscape. The human interaction with the natural world is complex and has changed significantly over time. Humanity depends on natural resources but at the same time seeks to preserve our ‘most important’ landscapes. The changes that took place in England that between 1500 and 1800 will be explored, in addition a broad range of themes and topics.

‘Nature’ and ‘landscape’ are two of the most complex and multi-defined words in the English language. This begins with an attempt to understand the diversity of definitions of these terms. addition, it must be appreciated that humanity’s attitude. This module will focus on western civilisation from the late early modern period onwards and with a particular focus on England. Changing notions of wild nature will be explored in relation the rise of rational science, of classificatory systems and of natural history; changed attitudes to household pets and general cruelty to animals; the increase in planting of trees and flowers for purely emotional purposes; urbanisation and an increasingly capitalistic countryside; the rise of vegetarianism; all combined to challenge established attitudes and beliefs.

This module will also consider the philosophical and religious attitudes to nature, including the attitudes of those who have questioned Enlightenment ideals and called for a ‘return’ to nature, as well as the counter-view that it is human nature to conquer and manipulate nature.

We will also move to explore nature as landscape as shifts in our understanding of this relationship are markers of the wider changes noted above. Here too landscapes will be considered as complex aesthetic, intellectual, political, social and economic statements which also reflected the dominant power relations of the period in question. From this students will develop an appreciation of the ways in which landscape is used as a tool for the establishment and maintenance of power and control.

A student passing this module should be able to:

1.    Demonstrate a critical awareness of ideas about the relationship between human beings and nature; nature and the political state

2.    Critically engage with discursively complex philosophical and ideological debates over the nature of landscape

3.    Show development of the ability to think reflectively and engage with a series of broad-based and wide ranging case studies and to summarise that thinking in a succinct fashion

4.    Gain a systematic knowledge and understanding of the major issues of philosophical, religious and ethical debate and research and its inter-relationship with other fields of study and to demonstrate current understanding of some specialist areas in the field in an in-depth manner

5.    apply a variety of critical methods of study, often adapted from those of other disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences, to the study of texts, practices, religious communities as social and cultural entities, or their diverse art forms, as well as read, analyse and interpret religious and philosophical texts.

The Library Catalogue contains full details of the current reading list for this module. Further details may also be found in the Module Guide.