Environmental Ethics

Ethics
• Ethical Behavior • Unethical Behavior
– honesty – stealing
– truthfulness – lying
– concern for others – killing
– hard work – cheating
– laziness
 Ethics
• Ethics is a branch of philosophy that tries
to define what is fundamentally right and
wrong, regardless of cultural differences.
 Morals
• Morals differ somewhat from ethics in that
they reflect the predominant attitudes and
feeling of a culture about ethical issues.
Definitions
• Moral Agents
– Those who have the
freedom and rational
capacity to be
responsible for choices
– Those capable of moral
reflection and decision.
– Example: adult humans of
sound mind
• Infants and mentally infirm
adults are NOT moral
agents
Definitions
• Moral Standing:
– If you have moral
standing:
• Your continued existence or
welfare is valuable in itself
(intrinsic value)
• Your interests and well-being
must be weighed when
deciding what is permissible
to do.
– Example: humans of all
kinds
• Babies, children, adults, old
people, etc.
• Women, different races,
different cultures
Definitions

• Moral Duties
– That which is owed
by moral agents to
those with moral
standing.
– Example: It is wrong
to kill our children
because we have a
moral duty toward
them
 Homo Economicus and
Homo Ecologicus
• 3 Ways of life: Consumption, Conservation,
Preservation
• Consumption—Use resources as you see fit
• Conservation—Wise use, shepherd resources,
enlightened anthropocentrism
• Preservation—Preserve wilderness for its own
sake
 Philosophical Issue
• Who or what has moral
standing, and why?
– Does the environment
have moral standing?
– Must look at criteria for
moral standing
• What moral duty do we
(moral agents) have
toward those with moral
standing?
– Different ethical positions
suggest different moral
duties.
Yosemite National Park
Ideas on Criteria for Moral
Standing
• Membership in the
species Homo sapiens
– Humans have a soul
– Humans are moral agents
• and are responsible for
knowing right from wrong
– Humans are intelligent
– Humans have personhood
• and self-consciousness
– Humans have language
Ideas on Criteria for Moral
Standing
• Sentience, the ability
to feel pain
– Therefore extend
moral standing to
animals
Ideas on Criteria for Moral
Standing
• Being alive
– Therefore extend
moral standing to
animals and plants:
– All living things.
Ideas on Criteria for Moral
Standing
• Being part of nature
– Therefore extend
moral standing to the
• earth
• ecosystems
• rocks
• rivers
• plants animals
• the entire natural
world
 Ethics and the environment
• Development: Resource development
improves nature
• Preservation: Nature is worth preserving
due to its intrinsic value
• Conservation: Nature should be managed
for multiple uses indefinitely

How does one decide how much to destroy

• By 1900, 90% of US forests had been cut

• The US environmental ethic: Development

Founder of the • “Father of

“Father of National • Governor of

“Preservationist” • “Conservationist”

Gifford Pinchot
• Mayor of San Francisco
• Proposed damming
Hetch Hetchy valley in
1890
John Muir • Argued for dam in 1906
after the “Great San
Francisco Earthquake”
• Later US senator
• “Developer”
 Worldviews and the environment
• Anthropocentric (human-centered)
– Organisms and natural resources have instrumental
Value

• •Biocentric (life-centered)
Organisms have intrinsic value and inherent rights

• • Ecocentric (environment-centered)
The environment has inherent rights
Humans are members of the environment

• • Stewardship (other-centered)
Humans are considered caretakers of nature
Holistic Approaches
• Biocentrism
– life-centered ethics
• Ecocentrism
– ecosystem-centered ethics
• Deep Ecology
– ‘identification’ and kinship
ethics
Ethical Positions
• Anthropocentrism:
Human centered
morality
– Only humans have
intrinsic value and
moral standing.
– The rest of the
natural world has
instrumental value
(use to humans).
Anthropocentrism
– We can best protect
nature by looking out for
human needs.
• Ex: Ducks Unlimited
preserves wetlands
• Ex: Saving the
rainforests will provide
O2 and medicines for
humans.
– Problem: Would you
blow up the world if you
were the last human
Ethical Positions
• Sentio-centrism:
Sentient-being
centered morality
– All and only sentient beings
(animals that feel pain) have
intrinsic value and moral
standing.
– The rest of the natural world
has instrumental value.
– Both humans and sentient
animals have rights and/or
interests that must be
considered
Ethical Positions
• Biocentric
Individualism: Life-
centered morality
– All and only living beings,
specifically individual
organisms (not species or
ecosystems) have intrinsic
value and moral standing.
– Humans are not superior to
other life forms nor
privileged, and must respect
the inherent worth of every
organism
– Humans should minimize
harm and interference with
nature: eat vegetarian since
less land needs to be
cultivated.
Ethical Positions
• Eco-centric Holism:
ecosystem centered
morality
• Non-individuals (the earth as an
interconnected ecosystem,
species, natural processes)
have moral standing or intrinsic
value and are deserving of
respect.
• Individuals must be concerned
about the whole community of
life/nature,
• Humans should strive to
preserve ecological balance and
stability.
Deep Ecology
• Humans are deeply
connected with nature.
• If humans identify with
nature, then taking care
of the natural world will
become part of taking
care of one's self.
Deep Ecology Basic ideas
– All life systems are sacred and valuable
-- apart from their usefulness to human
beings
– All life evolved in the same way and thus,
all are kin, with kinship obligations
– All species should be allowed to flourish
and fulfill their evolutionary destinies
 Deep Ecology
The problem & solution
• Anthropocentrism (and reformist
approaches) destroy nature
• A transformation of consciousness is
needed, replacing anthropocentrism with a
broader sense of the self
– identity should be grounded nature
• When we understand that we are part of
nature, eco-defense, as self-defense, will
follow
Three Deep Ecological Theses
• Everything is connected to everything (and
human changes to natural systems are usually
detrimental)
• Nature is more complex than we can ever think
or understand
• Nature knows best
The Gaia Hypothesis
• We have discovered a living being
bigger, more ancient, and more
complex than anything from our
wildest dreams.
• That being, called Gaia, is the Earth.
• James Lovelock , Sydney Epton,
Lynn Margulis, James Kirchener
 Gaia and Mother Earth
• Take seriously the view that the earth is
the mother of all living things.
• The physical conditions on earth that allow
for life as we know it are unique in the
solar system.
• The evolutionary history of the planet
suggests a system that regulates the
conditions that allow life.
 Threats to Gaia
• Continued life requires maintaining the balance
of the system.
• Human actions present a real threat to the
system that makes life possible.
– Atmospheric change
– Climate change
– Water cycle change
• SO, human actions must be regulated for the
good of life.
 Gaia Hypotheses
• Three strong theses
• Homeostatic Gaia—The interaction
between biota and the abiotic
environment is stabilizing. Negative
feedback loops.
• Teleological Gaia—The homeostatic
atmosphere has a purpose or design.
• Optimising Gaia—Biota manipulate the
abiotic environment for their own good.
 Lovelock’s holistic planetary
Gaia theory
• Arguing the earth is a self-regulating living system
that maintains the conditions for the perpetuation of
life, James Lovelock advanced the Gaia
Hypothesis.
• Although not intended as an ‘ethics,’ a biosphere-
centered (large-ecocentric) ethics has been
deduced from it, claiming:
– People ought not degrade this wonderful system in
such a way that it can not function to keep its
systems within the various delicate margins
necessary for life
Bioregionalism
• Lead a simple life with
local production of food
and other products by
people that you know
– Increases environmental
awareness and caring
– decreases exploitation of
the environment and
people.