Abstract
In reviewing the rise of environmental issues as a matter both of educational concern and philosophical interest, this chapter analyses the evolving motivations that have led to changes in their character and conceptualization – for example, from ‘nature study’ to ‘education for sustainable development’. The influence of ideas deriving from a range of sources such as Romanticism, the science of ecology, indigenous perspectives and rising concern over anthropogenic global environmental degradation are examined, and the significance of what is argued to be the underlying fundamental issue of our relationship with nature is explored. Debates concerning the character of nature, for example, whether it is properly regarded as socially constructed or transcendent, and the senses in which it properly is to be regarded as possessing its own integrity, agency and intrinsic value are described and their implications for education and the philosophy of education are explored. The discussion is illustrated by reference to some of the key ideas that currently feature in the literature of philosophy of environmental education, such as sustainability, ‘place’, anthropocentrism, eco-centrism, eco-justice, instrumentalism, post-humanism, post-ecologism and scientism. Also, reference will be made to the differing perspectives that inform the debates around these ideas, such as scientific/technocratic, systems thinking, socio-cultural, postmodern and phenomenological. The significance of the issues that arise for education and the character of philosophy of education more broadly are discussed, including contemporary claims that philosophy of education itself needs to be ‘ecologized’.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abbs, P. (2003). Against the flow: Education, the arts and postmodern culture. London: Psychology Press.
Abram, D. (1997). The spell of the sensuous. New York: Vintage Books.
Affifi, R., Blenkinsop, S., Humphreys, C., Joldersama, C. (Eds.). (2017). Studies in philosophy and education special issue: Ecologizing the philosophy of education, 36(3)
Arrows, F. (2016). The CAT-FAWN connection: Using metacognition and indigenous worldview for more effective character education and human survival. Journal of Moral Education, 45(3), 1–15.
Ashley, M. (2006). Finding the right kind of awe and wonder: The metaphysical potential of religion to ground an environmental ethic. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 11, 88–99.
Bai, H. (2009). Reanimating the universe: Environmental education and philosophical animism. In M. McKenzie, P. Hart, H. Bai, & B. Jickling (Eds.), Fields of Green. Restorying culture, environment, and education. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
Bai, H. (2012). Reclaiming our moral agency through healing: A call to moral, social, environmental activists. Journal of Moral Education, 41(3), 311–327.
Barnacle, R. (2009). Gut instinct: The body and learning. In G. Dall’Alba (Ed.), Exploring education through phenomenology. Diverse approaches (pp. 16–27). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Bateson, G. (2000). Steps to an ecology of mind (pts V and VI). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bell, D. (2004). Creating green citizens? Political liberalism and environmental education. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 38(1), 37–53.
Blenkinsop, S. (2012). Four slogans for cultural change: An evolving place-based, imaginative and ecological learning experience. Journal of Moral Education, 41(3), 353–368.
Bluhdorn, I. (2002). Unsustainability as a frame of mind – And how we disguise it: The silent counter-revolution and the politics of simulation. The Trumpeter, 18(1), 59–69.
Bonnett, M. (2002). Education for sustainability as a frame of mind. Environmental Education Research, 8(1), 9–20.
Bonnett, M. (2004). Retrieving nature. Education for a post-humanist age. Oxford: Blackwell.
Bonnett, M. (2007). Environmental education and the issue of nature. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 39(6), 707–721.
Bonnett, M. (2013). Normalising catastrophe: Sustainability and scientism. Environmental Education Research, 19, 187.
Bonnett, M. (2015). Transcendent nature and the character of truth and knowledge in education. In P. Kemp & S. Frolund (Eds.), Nature in education. Zurich: LIT VERLAG.
Bowers, C. A. (1995). Toward an ecological perspective. In W. Kohli (Ed.), Critical conversations in philosophy of education. London: Routledge.
Bowers, C. (2002). Toward an eco-justice pedagogy. Environmental Education Research, 8(1), 21–34.
Bowers, C. A. (2012). Questioning the idea of the individual as an autonomous moral agent. Journal of Moral Education, Special Issue: Moral Education and Environmental Concern, 41(3), 301–310.
Brundtland Commission. (1987). Our common future. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Casey, E. S. (1997). The fate of place: A philosophical history. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Chapman, R. (2007). How to think about environmental studies. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 41(1), 59–74.
Crist, E. (2008). Against the social construction of nature and wilderness. In M. Nelson & J. Callicott (Eds.), The wilderness debate rages on (Vol. II). Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press.
Dearden, R. (1968). The philosophy of primary education. London: Routledge.
Doddington, C., & Hilton, M. (2007). Child-centred education: Reviving the creative tradition. London: Sage Publications.
Elliott, J. (1999). Sustainable society and environmental education: Future perspectives and demands for the educational system. Cambridge Journal of Education, 29(3), 325–340.
Foster, J. (2002). Sustainability, higher education and the learning society. Environmental Education Research, 8(1), 35–41.
Grange, L. L. (2012). Ubuntu, ukama, environment and moral education. Journal of Moral Education, 41(3), 329–340.
Greenwood, D. (2013). A critical theory of place-conscious education. In R. Stevenson, M. Brody, J. Dillon, & A. Wals (Eds.), International handbook of research on environmental education. New York: Routledge.
Gruenewald, D. (2009). Place: The nexus of geography and culture. In M. McKenzie, P. Hart, H. Bai, & B. Jickling (Eds.), Fields of Green. Restorying culture, environment, and education. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
Haraway, D. (1991). Simians, cyborgs, and women. The reinvention of nature. London: Free Association Books.
Heise, U. (2008). Sense of place and sense of planet. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
IUCN et al. (1980). World conservation strategy. IUCN-UNEP-WWF. Gland: Switzerland.
Jensen, B. B., & Schnack, K. (1997). The action competence approach in environmental education. Environmental Education Research, 3(2), 163–178.
Jickling, B. (2015). Self-willed learning: Experiments in wild pedagogy. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 10(1), 149–161.
Jickling, B., & Stirling, S. (2017). Post-sustainability and environmental education – Remaking education for the future. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kemp, P. (2015). The animal – My partner. In P. Kemp & S. Froland (Eds.), Nature in education (pp. 81–89). Zurich: LIT Verlag.
Kopnina, H. (2012). Education for sustainable development (ESD): The turn away from ‘environment’ in environmental education? Environmental Education Research, 18(5), 699–717.
Leopald, A. (1949). A sand county almanac. New York: Oxford University Press.
Louv, R. (2010). Last child in the woods. London: Atlantic Books.
Lovelock, J. (1979). Gaia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Matthews, F. (1994). The ecological self. London: Routledge.
Merchant, C. (1992). Radical ecology. London: Routledge.
Murdoch, I. (1959). The sublime and the good. Chicago Review, 13(3), 42–45.
Naess, A. (1989). Ecology, community and life style. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ontong, K., & Le Grange, L. (2014). The role of place-based education in developing sustainability as a frame of mind. South African Journal of Environmental Education, 30, 27–38.
Ophuls, W. (1977). Ecology and the politics of scarcity. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.
Orr, D. (1994). Earth in mind: On education, environment, and the human prospect. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Payne, P. G., & Wattchow, B. (2009). Phenomenological deconstruction, slow pedagogy and the corporeal turn in wild environmental/outdoor education. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 14, 15–32.
Postma, D. W. (2002). Taking the future seriously: On the inadequacies of the framework of liberalism for environmental education. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 36(1), 41–56.
Postma, D. W. (2006). Why care for nature? In Search of an ethical framework for environmental responsibility and education. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
Postma, D. W., & Smeyers, P. (2012). Like a swallow, moving forward in circles: On the future dimension of environmental care and education. Journal of Moral Education, 41(3), 399–412.
Pulkki, J., Dahlin, B., & Varri, V. (2016). Environmental education as a lived-body practice? A contemplative pedagogy perspective. Journal of Philosophy of Education. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9752.12209
Reid, A., Teamey, K., & Dillon, J. (2002). Traditional ecological knowledge for learning with sustainability in mind. The Trumpeter, 16(1), 41–56.
Robottom, I. (2005). Critical environmental education research: Re-engaging the debate. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 10(Spring), 62–78.
Shiva, V. (1992). Recovering the real meaning of sustainability. In D. Cooper & J. Palmer (Eds.), The environment in question. London: Routledge.
Stables, A. (2001). Who drew the sky? Conflicting assumptions in environmental education. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 33(2), 245–256.
Stables, A., & Scott, W. (2002). The quest for holism in education for sustainable development. Environmental Education Research, 8(1), 53–60.
Taylor, P. (1986). Respect for nature: A theory of environmental ethics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
UNCED. (1992). Agenda 21. New York: UNCED.
Waite, S. (2013). Knowing your place in the world: How place and culture support and obstruct educational aims. Cambridge Journal of Education, 43(4), 413–433.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bonnett, M. (2018). Ecology and Environmental Education. In: Smeyers, P. (eds) International Handbook of Philosophy of Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72761-5_75
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72761-5_75
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-72759-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-72761-5
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)