Some topics concerning ethics and the environment we. Article 31, luxembourg, 2012 deborah oughton see debates in holmesrolsten iii, environmental ethics, 1988. Edited by andrew fiala, this book includes essays written by important scholars in the field of peace studies, pacifism, and nonviolence, including michael allen fox, andrew fitzgibbon, bill gay, and. The first part of this study is devoted to analysing the prevailing western ethical systems and to a comparison of them with a conception of a new environmental ethics. Much environmental ethics might be l cast in terms of rights. Ethical extensionism generally involves drawing one or more lines of moral standing. Mccloskey, john passmore, moral extensionism, moral. Extensionism in environmental ethics chapter 8 defending. Hinman this philosophy selector, a free online personality quiz, is a creation of exodus101 and for amusement purposes only. Presentday environmental ethics advocates for moral extensionism, speaks of biospheric egalitarianism at. Ethics, on the other hand, involves the study of those standards and judgments which people create.
And obviously, environmental ethics takes up ethics in considering what moral obligations humans have to nonhuman nature. This is based on the idea that ethical systems vary to just in their precepts or rules do not. By classical accounts, ethics is people relating to people in justice and love. Includes an extended introduction that provides an historical and thematic introduction to the field of environmental ethics features a selection of brief original. Worldviews sets of basic beliefs, images and understandings that shape how we see the world around us. As environmental ethics continued to grow in the twenty. This paper aims to provide an overview of the key theories and concepts and critically evaluate the extent of their application in tourism studies. Abstract this paper addresses the problem of extending ethical obligations. Apr 30, 2020 robert elliot discussed humancentred, nonhumancentred and consequentialist environmental ethics before this section and virtuebased environmental ethics afterwards. Environmental ethics has become an established subject of philosophy in recent decades in response to the contemporary environmental crisis. Baird callicott, the search for an environmental ethics in william shaw, social and professional ethics, 2nd ed. For more information on environmental ethics, read this helpsavenature article. A pluralistic approach to moral theory by lawrence m. Moral extensionism argues for the expansion of that consideration to members of nonhuman animal and plant species or to ecosystems as a whole.
Edited by andrew fiala, this book includes essays written by important scholars in the field of peace studies, pacifism, and nonviolence, including michael allen fox, andrew fitzgibbon, bill gay, and others. There are ethical dilemmas we realise, such as a conflict between. As a field of study, it assumes that humans have certain responsibilities to the natural world, and it seeks to help people and their leaders become aware of them and to act responsibly when they do things that impact the natural world. Environmental ethics deals with our moral obligations to the world around us. In short, it is argued that ethical extensionism remains too humancentered, because it takes human beings as the paradigm examples of entities with moral. What are environmental ethics and whats your role in. Moral extensionism is an argument in environmental ethics that moral standing ought to be extended to things animals, plants, species, the earth that traditionally are not thought of as having moral standing. Ethical extensionism under uncertainty of sentience. While numerous philosophers have written on this topic throughout history, environmental ethics only developed into a specific philosophical discipline in the 1970s. The basic strategy of extensionist ethics is to argue that certain widely shared moral beliefs require us, in light of the principle of universalizability, to extend moral. Each one of these approaches deals differently with both the criteria for deciding who or what has moral standing, and the adjudication amongst those with moral standing. From the moment it was born, environmental ethics has been an area in which different ideas and perspectives compete with each other. Ecophilosophical principles for an ecocentric environmental.
Environmental ethics humans, body, water, earth, life. From the moment it was born, environmental ethics has been an area in which different ideas. According to the principle of moral extensionism, human beings should consider environmental issues as an area of moral concern rather than regarding the them purely from the standpoint of utility to humans. Environmental ethics is defined as the moral relationship between humans and the natural. Penultimate draft encyclopedia of environmental ethics and. Ethics is a branch of philosophy that deals with morals. Unesco eolss sample chapters environment and development vol. It implies respect for fellow members and also respect for the community as such j. The anthropocentric perception is widespread and is considered to be responsible for severeenvironmental crisis ranging from global warming, ozone depletion and water scarcity to the loss ofbiological diversity.
The field of environmental ethics concerns human beings ethical relationship with the natural environment. Feb 24, 2017 environmental ethics is a branch of environmental philosophy that studies the ethical relationship between human beings and the environment. The traditional approach to rights and moral status is anthropocentric in so far as it restricts moral considerations to human beings. Val plumwoods critique of moral extensionism, environmental ethics 32, no.
Ethics assumes that the standards exist and seeks to describe them, evaluate them, or evaluate the premises upon which those standards exist. Ultimate worth of actions or things what is the good of life. Ethics are typically defined as the rules or standards governing the. Philosophy 2300 environmental ethics covered the philosophy of the environment from the perspective of kantian deontology, utilitarianism, and rawlsian social justice theory. The essays collected in the peace of nature and the nature of peace consider connections between ecology, environmental ethics, nonviolence, and philosophy of peace. Through a series of multidisciplinary readings, environmental ethics. Ethical extensionism is an argument in environmental ethics that moral standing ought to be extended to things animals, plants, species, the earth that traditionally are not thought of as having moral standing. Pdf introduction to environmental science ppt free. Dec 18, 2012 singer states that if a nonhuman animal would be able to follow his framework of utilitarianism then it should lead to moral extensionism. I sketch the major debates in the field from its inception in the 1970s to today, explaining both the central tenets of the schools of thought within the field and the arguments. Finally in the realm of normative ethics, there is applied ethics. Although kinship arguments provide for the moral standing and thus the possible preservation of some species, they do so only by analogy with human capacities or specific differences. In this respect, most environmental ethics is antiextensionist, by.
Keller, 9781405176385, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. When enquiry is directed towards the principles of moral judgement or the criteria for the ethical analysis of morality, then we talk about fundamental ethics. The big questions contextualizes environmental ethics within the history of western intellectual tradition and traces the development of theory since the 1970s. It poses a challenge to anthropocentrism, an outlook that assumes moral superiority of humans over other species, and thus is related to animal rights. An overview katie mcshane colarado state university abstract this essay provides an overview of the field of environmental ethics.
Moral extensionism extends rights and moral standing to animals and other parts of the natural environment. Relations with nonhuman beings mouchang yu, yi lei encyclopedia of life support systems eolss norton b. Christian diehm, page 3 finding a niche for species in nature ethics, ethics and the environment 17, no. Environmental ethics starts with human concerns for a quality. Tom regan, the case for animal rights berkeley, university of california. Environmental philosophers have tried to reason their way towards such moral accord by devising arguments for environmental ethics. Deontological ethical theories tend to focus on doing whats right and on moral duties, principles, rules and rights, largely independent of consequences.
Ethical extensionism is an approach to environmental and animal ethics in which the scope of ethical theories is extended to cover beings traditionally thought to. Australian ecoactivist john seed famously insists that in acting to save the rainforest i. Ethical extensionism1 ethical extensionism is an approach to environmental and animal ethics in which the scope of ethical theories is extended to cover beings traditionally thought to fall outside the purview of those theories. Because utilitarians recognize only the intrinsic value of pleasure or desire satisfaction, the commitment to intrinsic value in environmental ethics has also driven a rather deep wedge between environmental ethics and the ethics of utilitarianism. Environmental ethics for tourism the state of the art.
The ecological roots of ethics and religion freya mathews abstract in the face of environmental crisis we urgently need agreement, across cultures and nations, on the moral significance of the biosphere. I argue i for all living organisms, there is a nonzero probability of sentience and consciousness, and ii we cannot justify excluding beings from consideration on the basis of uncertainty of their sentience, etc. This field has given a new dimension to the topics of conservation of natural resources and protection of the environment. Environmental ethics takes up aesthetics insofar as it concerns questions about the beauty of nature. Principles of utilitarianism should apply to all nonhuman animals. Environmental ethics is a branch of environmental philosophy that studies the ethical relationship between human beings and the environment. Ecocentrists are holists whose theory locates the primary site of value in biological communities or ecosystems and who tend to regard actions interfering with the progress of an ecosystem toward its mature equilibrium state as prima facie wrong. Ethical extensionism is an argument in environmental ethics that moral standing ought to be extended to things animals, plants, species, the earth that traditionally are not thought of as having moral standing for example, while many cultures differ as to what, exactly, is murder, all cultures take it as wrong to commit murder. The result is a set of facets, key categories and features that offer an integrated and synoptic view of how ecocentric environmental education eee could be based on ecophilosophical principles. What are environmental ethics and whats your role in saving. An example of ethical extensionism would be to extend to dogs. Sep 27, 2016 moral extensionism is an argument in environmental ethics that moral standing ought to be extended to things animals, plants, species, the earth that traditionally are not thought of as having moral standing. Because utilitarians recognize only the intrinsic value of pleasure or desire satisfaction, the commitment to intrinsic value in environmental ethics has also driven a rather deep wedge between environmental ethics.
Environmentalism, also called environmental ethics, is an applied and theoretical philosophy about how humans should interact with nature. A manifesto anthony weston 25 the familiar centrisms in environmental ethics aim to make ethics progressively more inclusive by expanding a single circle of moral consideration i propose a radically different kind of geometry. Deontological environmental ethics environmental responsibility. It remains one of the most widely read and influential statements of environmental ethics ever written. This is where the field of ethics is broken down into descriptive ethics, normative ethics and. Ethical extensionism is an argument in environmental ethics that moral standing ought to be extended to things animals, plants, species, the earth that. Environmental ethics is a branch of philosophy that considers the moral relations between human beings and their natural environment.
Ecotage, ecodefense, and deep ecology, the trumpeter 27, no. Environmental ethics deals with the moral relationships between humans and the. The topics discussed were the moral circle, humanism, anthropocentrism, moral extensionism animal rights, the land ethic, and environmental justice. The three main approaches in environmental ethics are.
Utilitarianism is the best approach to environmental ethics discussenvironmental ethics surrounds the ethical relationship between people and the world we live in. Whereas tom regan bases is beliefs on kantian structures. Environmental ethics internet encyclopedia of philosophy. While a persons moral code is usually unchanging, the ethics she practices can be otherdependent. In the area of morals and ethics, people cannot exercise moral judgment without being given a choice. Anthropocentric, extensionist, and holistic nonextensionist.
Singer states that if a nonhuman animal would be able to follow his framework of utilitarianism then it should lead to moral extensionism. As traditionally understood, the dominant moral theories in western philosophy. Some topics concerning ethics and the environment we may consider include. Some are tempted to say that the problem just sketched is the general one that affects ethical extensionism as the method for generating an environmental ethic, namely that things go awry when we focus on individual entities at too finegrained a level. Moral extensionism extends rights and moral standing to. People need some sort of a moral guide through life. Jun 12, 2019 environmental ethics has become an established subject of philosophy in recent decades in response to the contemporary environmental crisis. Feb 20, 2014 utilitarianism is the best approach to environmental ethics discuss environmental ethics surrounds the ethical relationship between people and the world we live in. For example, while many cultures differ as to what, exactly, is murder, all cultures take it as wrong to commit murder. Regarding the latter most, we will examine intrinsic value approaches to environmental ethics, instrumental value approaches to environmental ethics, and finally, a few select environmental ethical issues. People use moral reasoning to make moral judgments or to discover right actions. Environment and society chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 flashcards.
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