The relation of persons to nature is a complex array of epistemological, moral, and metaphysical relationships. Indeed, the very definition of “persons” and “nature” pre-determines philosophical discussions of this question, so in choosing our orientation, we have already “stacked the deck.” Acknowledging the latent, and profound effect of any such choice, this course will examine the roots of a dominant romantic formulation that has given rise to a tributary of modern environmentalism and its various conceptual, aesthetic, and spiritual progeny. To understand the persistent influence of German Idealism, we will explore how Kant, Fichte, Schelling and their followers influenced our own neo-Romantic notions of Man and Nature. More specifically, we will focus on how the Idealists formulated their respective metaphysics and epistemologies (i.e., various modes of rationality, self-consciousness, knowledge) whereby they understood the world and their experience of it.
