Environmentalism and Public Virtue

Treanor, Brian

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-0420-6_3

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Because environmental problems are presented in the text as being largely caused by individual action, the suggested solutions appear commensurate with the problems. They are also in agreement with the mainstream environmentalist discourse that tends to present environmental action as personal virtue (Treanor, ). This discourse implicitly assumes that an individual is an autonomous agent in sole possession of her agency, and her carbon footprint reflects her freely chosen lifestyle.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 87%

Human–Nature Relationships in School Science: A Critical Discourse Analysis of a Middle‐Grade Science Textbook

Sharma

Buxton

2015

Science Education

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Science education has a central role to play in preparing a scientifically literate citizenry that is capable of understanding complex environmental challenges facing human societies and making well-informed and evidence-based decisions that help resolve these challenges. However, evidence suggests that most Americans are poorly equipped with the knowledge necessary for informed environmental action. In this study, we attempted to understand how the language of science textbooks works to represent the world for students in distinct ways that have serious implications for their ecological literacy. Using a methodological framework based on critical discourse analysis and systemic functional linguistics, we focused on clarifying the textual representations of the relationships between natural and social systems as portrayed in a seventh-grade science textbook that is widely adopted in middle schools in Georgia, United States. Results indicate that this science textbook offers outdated representations of natural systems' relationships with social systems and the role of human agency in these relationships. We discuss implications of these textual representations and call for reformed science textbooks that underscore the ecological embeddedness of the social world. C 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 2015

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 87%

Human–Nature Relationships in School Science: A Critical Discourse Analysis of a Middle‐Grade Science Textbook

Sharma

Buxton

2015

Science Education

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“…The common interest is not the generalized individual interest; instead, the citizens are agents of the common interest. Good citizens are virtuous, invest resources to solve commons dilemmas and act beyond their self-interest and self-restraint (Foster 2002;Sokolon 2006;Marquez 2010;Treanor 2010;Bina and Vaz 2011). Politics secures social cohesion (successful symbiosis) at the collective level and has a two-way relationship with Ethics, which concerns the personal level.…”

Section: Within Aristotle's Mind: Commons Emotions Virtuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Certain virtues, phronesis in particular, are indispensable for the development and exercise of so-called public or political virtues; i.e. those concerning relationships with equals and ability to govern others for the common good (Treanor 2010;McCoy 2013), such as friendship and justice. Distributive and redistributive/corrective justice, expressed through obedience to state laws, is indispensable for the existence of a symbiotic community and, together with equity, constitute the two principal criteria of the good (right) political regime (Wolff 1991).…”

Section: Within Aristotle's Mind: Commons Emotions Virtuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They are, thus, motivated to act, to engage in virtuous praxis 35 through which they develop virtues and flourish, i.e. achieve eudaimonia (Golden 1973;Belfiore 1985;Treanor 2010). This sequence, starting with emotional arousal and ending with relief and freeing of the undesirable effects of these emotions, has been paralleled to a sort of homeopathetic cure.…”

Section: "A Tragedy Then Is … "mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Catharsis of the Commons

Briassoulis

2019

International Journal of the Commons

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Using Aristotle's definition of the tragedy as a metaphor, the essay interprets the tragedy of the commons to highlight the critical role and socio-political importance of the emotions of fear and pity for its resolution and for furthering personal and collective eudaimonia (good life) of and in the commons. Synthesizing the Aristotelian scholarship with pertinent contemporary literature, it presents Aristotle's engagement with the commons, emotions and virtues, discusses the key notions of the tragedy and offers an Aristotelian rendering of the tragedy of the commons applying a dramaturgical-interpretivist approach. The emotions-driven learning process of catharsis clarifies the causality of the tragedy, motivates action, forms virtuous citizens, 'cleans'/relieves/purifies the commons of their ills, thus, engendering their catharsis. The comparison of the Aristotelian-inspired with the contemporary institutionalist, moral and phronetic approaches reveals their commonalities and differences. The analysis suggests that emotions should be integrated into current approaches or they might be synthesized into an emotions-centered institutionalist-phronetic approach to the study and governance of the commons. Education of and in the emotions to influence the perception of commons dilemmas, values and morals, coupled with institutional arrangements grounded on phronesis and sufficiency, emerge as contemporary policy priorities. Future interdisciplinary research directions conclude the essay.

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“…The same can be said within the philosophy of well-being. Bryan Little and Brian Treanor argue that a more comprehensive notion of well-being would include impacts on other people and on the environment surrounding the life that we are evaluating (Treanor 2010;Little 2014), since one poor aspect of that individual's life may nullify the successes. As much as I might be inclined to say that "life" might be a metric that does what other metrics cannot, there are still shortcomings if "life" would be suggested as a concept that singularly replaces all other metrics or stands alone as a guiding value in policy decisions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%