Exploring philosophy: faking nature

Commercial exploitation of nature, such as mining, fracking, or generating hydro-electric power, often damages the way the natural environment looks. What if the environment could be restored to exactly how it looked before? Would that mean no damage had been done, that the natural environment was as valuable as it had been before the commercial exploitation? This free course, Exploring philosophy: faking nature, examines the 'restoration thesis', and provides an insight into philosophical study at postgraduate level.This free course, Exploring philosophy: faking nature, lasts three weeks, with approximately three hours' study time each week. You can work through the course at your own pace, so if you have more time one week there is no problem with pushing on to complete another week's study. You can also take as long as you want to complete it.

• Week1Week 1: Originals and copies
• Introduction
• 1 Key questions
• 2 Your views
• 3 Fake objects and real experiences
• 4 Elliot: Part I
• Summary of Week 1
• Acknowledgements
• Week2Week 2: Restoring nature
• Introduction
• 1 Daisy Dixon
• 2 Elliot: Part II
• 3 Changing perceptions
• 4 The value of originality
• 5 Erich Hatala Matthes
• Summary of Week 2
• Acknowledgements
• Week3Week 3: Art, nature and baselines
• Introduction
• 1 Dixon on art and nature
• 2 Elliot: Part III
• 3 Elliot: Part IV
• 4 Two final issues
• 4.1 The value of nature
• 4.2 The ‘baseline problem’
• 5 Have your views changed?
• 6 End-of-course summary
• References
• Acknowledgements