Syllabus

Short Course Description

"Ecological Firmness" is a seminar that strives to develop an alternative to current environmental discourse by emphasizing the connection between body, consciousness and environment. This approach critically examines the ethical and rational aspects that influence environmental policy on the, and in particular the pressumptions of this policy regarding science, health, the concept of Human & Human nature, health and more.
The term "firmness" refers to the connection between the body of consciousness and the environment (Mishori, 2018), beyond the current discussion of "health and the environment", which takes place within the basic presumptions of disciplinary science, which has difficulty with multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary discussions. The term "Makom" "place" refers to the environment in which we are (only in Hebrew a place is also a name for the Absolute). Both are related to the concept "Ecological Firmness", as an alternative to the concept of "sustainability". Instead of sustainability, emphasis will be placed on issues and research (science) that currently have difficulty finding their place in the disciplinary academy such as eco / bio-hacking), and the connection of these issues to eco-ethics, including the proper treatment of animals, ecology and the environment: biophilia and ecophilia.
The seminar assumes a direct connection between the body, consciousness and place. This connection is realized through involvement in the world, which is intended to improve the quality of society and the quality of the place, and therefore emphasis will be placed on practical aspects and the development of projects of social-environmental involvement.
The connection between the body of consciousness and the environment exists in environmental research only in part through the discussion of health and the environment, but it exists within the framework of the basic assumptions of disciplinary science, which has difficulty in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary discussions. This course will be devoted to multidisciplinary discussion and cross-influence, contradictory influence and biases of moral judgment in the environmental context.
Ethically, the concept of "DAAT" דעת will be introduced in the biblical sense of knowing good and evil (epistemological ethics, or ethical epistemology), and the test that also appears in the sources: "and you have chosen life."
The seminar includes an experiential practice of the theoretical principles of " Firmness ", including physical movement, proper posture, proper breathing, and an ecologically firm lifestyle.
The second part of the seminar is devoted to social involvement and environmental activism, and if possible to "action research", practice for the development and implementation of projects of socio-environmental involvement by students, and especially on issues that have not yet received research attention, including the reasons discussed in the first part of The seminar.
Special emphasis in projects will be given to issues of public space, on issues such as radiation, noise, visual / mental pollution, biomass increase, environmental literacy, biophilic environment and behavioral practices.