ENSb1311 Deep ecology I: from thinking to the sensuous world

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
0/3/0. 4 credit(s). Recommended Type of Completion: k (colloquium). Other types of completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. et Mgr. Ľuboš Slovák (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Karel Stibral, Ph.D.
Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Mgr. Kateřina Hendrychová
Supplier department: Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Fri 21. 2. 12:00–13:40 U35, Fri 28. 2. 12:00–13:40 U35, Fri 7. 3. 12:00–13:40 U35, Fri 14. 3. 12:00–13:40 U35, Fri 21. 3. 12:00–13:40 U35, Fri 28. 3. 12:00–13:40 U35, Fri 4. 4. 12:00–13:40 U35, Fri 11. 4. 12:00–13:40 P22, Fri 25. 4. 12:00–13:40 U35, Fri 2. 5. 12:00–13:40 U35, Fri 9. 5. 12:00–13:40 U35, Fri 16. 5. 12:00–13:40 U35
Prerequisites (in Czech)
TYP_STUDIA(B)
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 14/15, only registered: 2/15, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/15
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 14 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
Introduce deep ecology as a kind of response to the ecological crisis.
To introduce heterodox perspectives on nature.
To gain experience with approaches to the world not based on data but on personal bodily experience.
Explore the possibilities of such approaches for overcoming the alienation between humans and the non-human world.
Learning outcomes
By completing the course, the student* will gain:
- The ability to critically distance themselves from established ways of knowing and relating to nature;
- A basic understanding of non-mainstream scientific, primarily biological, theories and interpretations;
- Ability to know the world through personal, bodily, sensory, and aesthetic experience.
Syllabus
  • Introduction to deep ecology: inquiry into the deeper causes of environmental problems, deep ecology's answer;
  • Systems theory, symbiogenesis theory, Gaia theory, and deep time. Imagination as a source of knowledge;
  • Rehabilitation of sensory experience. Acoustic ecology, ecophenomenology. Knowledge through the senses;
  • Other perspectives on nature: aesthetic biology, wood wide web, plant perception, traditional ecological knowledge. Knowledge through personal and aesthetic experience;
  • Reciprocity of the living world: relationality and communication. Knowledge through corporeality;
  • Language in the  human and non-human world. Perpetuating language and reciprocal speech;
  • Ecology and spirituality. Ontopoetics. Ritual as a tool for integrating the human and the non-human in indigenous communities.
Literature
  • SIMARD, S. Hledání mateřského stromu : pouť za moudrostí lesa. Translated by Vojtěch Ettler. 1. vydání. Brno: Kazda, 2022, 381 stran. ISBN 9788076700871. info
  • KIMMERER, Robin Wall. Naslouchání mechu : přírodní a kulturní historie mechorostů. Translated by Vojtěch Ettler. 1. vydání. Brno: Kazda, 2021, 200 stran. ISBN 9788076700406. info
  • SHELDRAKE, Merlin. Propletený život : jak houby utvářejí svět, mění naši mysl a ovlivňují budoucnost. Translated by Vojtěch Ettler. 1. vydání. Brno: Kazda, 2020, 317 stran. ISBN 9788088316930. info
  • KIMMERER, Robin Wall. Braiding sweetgrass. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Milkweed editions, 2013, x, 390. ISBN 9781571313355. info
  • ABRAM, David. Kouzlo smyslů : vnímání a jazyk ve více než lidském světě. Edited by Jiří Zemánek, Translated by Michaela Melechovská. 1. vyd. Praha: DharmaGaia, 2013, 407 s. ISBN 9788074360244. info
  • ABRAM, David. Becoming animal : an earthly cosmology. 1. ed. New York: Pantheon Books, 2010, 313 s. ISBN 9780375421716. info
  • HARDING, Stephan. Animate earth : science, intuition and Gaia. 2nd ed. Totnes: Green Books, 2009, 286 s. ISBN 9781900322546. info
  • PLEŠTIL, Dušan. Okem ducha : živá příroda v přírodovědných spisech Johanna Wolfganga Goetheho. Vyd. 1. Praha: OIKOYMENH, 2006, 452 s. ISBN 807298148X. info
  • MARGULIS, Lynn. Symbiotická planeta : nový pohled na evoluci. Translated by Zdeněk Urban. Vyd. 1. Praha: Academia, 2004, 150 s. ISBN 8020012060. info
  • LOVELOCK, James. Gaia : živoucí planeta. Translated by Anton Markoš. 1. vyd. Praha: Mladá fronta, 1994, 221 s. ISBN 8020404368. info
  • NAESS, Arne. Ekologie, pospolitost a životní styl :náčrt ekosofie. Edited by David Rothenberg, Translated by Jiří Hrubý. Vyd. 1. Tulčík: Abies, 1993, 310 s. ISBN 80-88699-09-6. info
  • SEED, John, Joanna MACY, Pat FLEMING and Arne NÆSS. Myslet jako hora : shromáždění všech bytostí. Translated by Jiří Holuša, Illustrated by Dailan Pugh. Vydanie prvé. Prešov: Nadácia Zelená nádej, 1993, 144 stran. ISBN 8088699010. info
Teaching methods
Transformative learning, place-based experience, field diary, reading, reflection on experience.
Assessment methods
The course is mainly about your own experience. The student* will creatively transform this into entries in the field diary and will reflect on it continuously in the seminars. She will then present her field diary as part of the colloquium and then reflect on her experiences throughout the course. Assessment will be given on the basis of the completed diary and reflection on the recorded experiences at the colloquium.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2023.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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