Theories Of Environmental Ethics Research Articles

Tackling Environmental Problems from the Root: An Ibuanyidanda Perspective

There are series of reports in the media, books, conferences, symposia, et cetera of the deplorable condition of our natural environment. This crisis afflicting the environment occasioned by increasing human activities has reached the level that, the survival of the human species itself is threatened. Urgent remedies, therefore, need to be sought for. Though, many attempts have been made to remedy the situation, unfortunately environmental crisis continues to deepen, because the root problem (defective mindset) has not yet been fully tackled. This article presents an ethic from Asouzu’s Ibuanyidanda philosophy, which sees realities as missing links and argues that this ethic can guide human actions toward environmental sustainability. What could be garnered from Asouzu’s Ibuanynidanda philosophy is that environmental problems could be traced to defective mindsets that human beings are imbued with. Thus, unlike most other environmental ethical theories that aim at controlling human actions towards the environment, Ibuanyidanda theory believes the present environmental crisis could only be resolved if the root cause (the mind) is tackled. This is because, it is better to tackle the root cause of our negative actions (mind) than to concentrate on the actions themselves. When a change of our present divisive and hegemonic mindset, is thoroughly affected as prescribed by Ibuanyidanda philosophy, environmental sustainability instead of degradation would become the byproduct of our development.

But Can I Take a Selfie?: Utilizing Photography as an Interdisciplinary Approach to Environmental Philosophy Assignments

This paper discusses the value in implementing photography as a means of assessment in philosophy courses. I specifically discuss how I utilize this interdisciplinary method in my honors environmental philosophy course with encouraging results, and how it can be easily employed in other philosophy courses as well. Photography is the basis for one of my larger course projects, the environmental philosophy in photo project (EPPP). The EPPP offers students novel methods of applying and understanding environmental ethical theories and new ways of making meaning. In the following, I offer a defense of photographic methods for philosophical assessments, project instructions, student learning objectives and feedback, overall effectiveness of the project, and potential uses of photographic methods in other philosophy courses.

Finding Eden in a Cost Benefit State

This Article explores the role of the law in the evolution of environmental values. The Article compares and contrasts the ‘intrinsic value’ and the ‘welfarist’ approaches, the two leading methodologies for valuing nature in environmental law and policy. Proponents of intrinsic value argue that nature is morally significant and holds intrinsic value as an end in itself. In contrast, welfarists view nature not as intrinsically valuable but simply as a means to a human end. After evaluating the merits and demerits of each approach, the Article concludes that their flaws caution against using either as the sole rationale underlying environmental policies. Instead, I advocate for value pluralism in environmental law and policy. I develop a pragmatic theory of environmental ethics that identifies human experience as the source of environmental values. Based on this theory, the Article argues that legal frameworks play an important role in the evolution of environmental values. Through the structure of human relationships, social institutions, and physical environments, the law influences the experiences which make up an individual’s worldview and ethical thinking. Therefore, to “get our morals right,” we must embrace environmental pluralism and experimentation. Using legal theory and qualitative analysis, the Article identifies communal management of resources as the only viable governance approach for promoting meaningful environmental pluralism and experimentation. Based on this understanding, the Article advocates for communitarian reform in American law and policy.

Environmental ethics for tourism- the state of the art

PurposeEnvironmental ethics has become an established subject of philosophy in recent decades in response to the contemporary environmental crisis. This paper aims to provide an overview of the key theories and concepts and critically evaluate the extent of their application in tourism studies.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a systematic literature review of published academic papers that link environmental ethics to tourism. It subsequently attempts to provide a comprehensive review of what is currently a nascent field of research enquiry to comprehend and evaluate the relevance and implications of environmental ethics for tourism. Using a theoretical ethical framework of libertarian extensionism, eco-holism and the conservation ethic, moral debates that arise from their use in tourism are analysed. As a field of academic study that presently lacks research enquiry areas for future research investigation are subsequently identified.FindingsThe paper forms a part of the “State of the Art” series and subsequently does not present empirical findings. However, through critical evaluation, it demonstrates the complexity of the application of environmental ethics to tourism through differing perspectives within the subject and when nature’s interests are juxtaposed to concerns of anthropic ethics. To develop a stronger environmental ethics amongst tourism stakeholders that recognises the intrinsic value of nature, it is recommended that ecological virtue and literacy are key elements in this process.Originality/valueThe originality of the paper rests in providing a comprehensive overview of the existing level of application of the theories of environmental ethics to tourism; the appliance of theory to debates of tourism’s environmental challenges; and identifying research directions to help fill knowledge gaps.

CONVERGENCE AND DIVERGENCE BETWEEN ECOCENTRISM AND SENTIENTISM CONCERNING NET VALUE

Animal and environmental ethics should converge on the following three value judgments: natural ecosystems generally involve more good than harm; predation in nature tends to yield positive net benefits; and, at least on a global scale, livestock farming is destroying more value than it is creating. But the ecocentric criteria of environmental ethics and the sentientist criteria of animal ethics may have divergent implications for capitalism’s main effect on the world: the collapse of wild nature due to explosive growth in the human economy. Sentientism risks counting this effect as a net gain, whereas ecocentrism surely rates it a massive net loss. While supporting the above claims, I show how they fit into a larger argument in favour of the broader, ecocentric value theory of environmental ethics and against the narrower, sentientist axiology of animal ethics.

DESIGNING AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITIES IN SUBURBS OF JAPAN

In Japan, the suburbs face issues of depopulation, loss of culture, identical and interchangeable scenery due to the prevalence of chain stores and weak relationships between members of the community, contrast to the heavy concentration of populations in major cities. In tackling these issues, the conventional approach of community revitalisation leans heavily on economic, technological and administrative measures. This study proposes a new paradigm to address community autonomy of suburbs in order to accommodate contemporary values and lifestyles. The proposed paradigm is based on the concept of the apron diagram developed by Arne Naess in deep ecology, one of the theories of environmental ethics. The diagram induces a paradigm shift in the way of thinking where individuals with different fundamental philosophies can share the principle and take diverse action for community autonomy. Also, the concept of Self-realisation proposed in deep ecology is applied to the premise of community governance. Self-realisation is the extension of the individual self to the larger Self and encompasses the essence of community autonomy. This theoretical approach is supported by an interview survey conducted by the authors in Itoshima City, Fukuoka. The survey observed Self-realisation in the voluntary actions of community members. Keywords: community autonomy, deep ecology, apron diagram, Self-realisation, suburb

Study on Ecological Moral Responsibilities of Sustainable Development Based on Chinas Ancient Great Thinkers Thought on Ecological Ethics

The nuclear contents of the ecological thought of ethics are harmonious development between man and nature, which is the basic demand for constructing the harmonious society. The Confucianists have all along attached great importance to the relations between man and nature. Tsunzi, a master on the Confucianism, made the conception of sustainable development penetrate into his ecological ethics thoughts on the basis of philosophical thinking of distinction between heaven and man. He not only put forward the consciousness of ethics practice-Adapting the law of heaven and making use of it.; but also advocate ecological moral responsibility-Prudently observing the ban on seasonal rules of nature.There will be some significant enlightening value for us to not only establish the theory of environmental ethics but also solve the increasing ecological crises facing humanity.

Study on Ecological Value of Sustainable Development Based on China's Ancient Great Thinker's Thought on Ecological Ethics

Ecology is the science of studying the relationship between the living organisms and their environment. And the Environmental Science, which reveals the basic law of the harmonious development of society, economy and environment, is the discipline studying the interaction of people and environment. Ecology is not only the basic disciplines of environmental science, but also the scientifically recognized theoretical basis of environmental ethics. Tsunzi, a master on the Confucianism, one of the most distinguished Confucianists of the pre-Qin period, made the conception of sustainable development penetrate into his ecological ethics thoughts on the basis of philosophical thinking-Nature has its true law. If we hackle, inherit, comprehend, and utilize critically Tsunzis thought on ecological ethics, there will be some significant enlightening value for us to not only establish the theory of environmental ethics but also solve the increasing ecological crises facing humanity.

Aspects of Environmental Awareness Training in the Elementary Teaching System

Abstract The role of contemporary school becomes fundamental in the context of environment's issue, mostly concerning the future, when the education must become more boldly opened towards the environment and its issues, by intensifying ecological education, focusing on attitudes towards values rather than knowledge. Ecological education must be implemented on a profound level in the preschool and primary education. It must be based on a program of which fundamental objective is to awaken the sensibility of the child to the environment, while he learns to read, write and count. This study aims to conduct a thorough analysis of how the theories of environmental ethics can infuse the Romanian curriculum at primary level, and an analysis of the practical parts of the environmental awareness training to students.

Ecotourism, Animals and Ecocentrism: A Re-examination of the Billfish Debate

The aim of this paper is to discuss the topic of who, or what, is deserving of moral consideration in nature as this applies to the emerging discourse on tourism, animals and ethics. The paper focuses primarily on deep green or ecocentric ethics, and more specifically, on how this perspective differs from other theories of environmental ethics—especially animal liberation—when it comes to the treatment of animals used for tourism. The debate on billfishing as ecotourism is resurrected for the purpose of explaining (i) why it is important to understand key differences between ecocentric and animal liberation ethics; and (ii) how both theories could have been used to better inform the billfishing debate that took place over a decade ago. The paper concludes with a call for the continued use of environmental ethics theory in clarifying whether certain human- animal practices should be viewed as ecotourism or not.

Respect for Nature: A Theory of Environmental Ethics

Paul Taylor’s Respect for Nature was first published 1986 when environmental ethics was a relatively new field. In it he defended a deontological biocentric environmental ethic predicated on the idea that all living beings have inherent value. It was a groundbreaking work in non-anthropocentric ethics, and since then it has been frequently anthologized and used in ethics and environmental philosophy courses taught around the world. The Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition of Respect for Nature (2011) contains a two-page forward by Dale Jamieson, who notes the continued urgency for intellectuals to consider the meaning of “respect for nature.” When Respect for Nature was first published, most professional ethicists were unclear on how to think about our moral duties to the non-human world. Taylor has provided us a unique way of thinking about such matters that is still relevant today.

An environmental ethical conceptual framework for research on sustainability and environmental education

This article suggests that environmental ethics can have great relevance for environmental ethical content analyses in environmental education and education for sustainable development research. It is based on a critique that existing educational research does not reflect the variety of environmental ethical theories. Accordingly, we suggest an alternative and more nuanced environmental ethical conceptual framework divided into Value-oriented Environmental Ethics and Relation-oriented Environmental Ethics and present two pragmatic schedules for analyses of the value and relation contents of e.g. classroom conversations, textbooks and policy documents. This framework draws on a comparative reading of some 30 key books and 20 key articles in academic journals in the field of environmental philosophy and reflects main traits in environmental ethics from the early 1970s to the present day.

EXTENSION AND OBFUSCATION: TWO CONTRASTING ATTITUDES TO THE MORAL BOUNDARY

EXTENSION AND OBFUSCATION: TWO CONTRASTING ATTITUDES TO THE MORAL BOUNDARY

Environmental Footprint of Foods: The Duty to Inform

In this paper we argue that there is a duty to inform consumers about the environmental impact of foods, and discuss what this duty entails and to whom it falls. We analyze previous proposals that justify ethical traceability with arguments from sustainability and the respect for the autonomy of consumers, showing that they cannot ground a duty to inform. We argue instead that the duty rests on the right of consumers not to be harmed, insofar as consumers have an interest in the morality of their own agency that is frustrated if they are not informed about the environmental impact of the production and transport of what they consume. Our argument detaches the regulation of labeling from substantive theories of environmental ethics or perfectionist conceptions of citizens’ responsibility, thus defending a case for labeling that is compelling also for those who take the role of the state to be limited to the prevention of harm.

A Jamesian Approach to Environmental Ethics

James's moral philosophy is a valuable resource for environmental philosophy because it reveals and impugns some deep, unhelpful assumptions about the relationship between moral theory and the moral life. In particular, James's ethics demonstrates that the debates in environmental ethics are better regarded as disputes about ideals of the kind of self and world we want, rather than as disputes over abstract propositions about the intrinsic of nature.1. IntroductionAmong the classical pragmatists, William James might not seem to be best the candidate to contribute to current environmental ethics debates. Besides sporadic remarks about non-human animals and experiences of nature, he says little that would lead one to believe that he was concerned with issues like the intrinsic of nature. His writings on pragmatism espouse a human-centered account of truth according to which those beliefs that satisfy human needs or, as James puts it, agreeably lead us, count as true. And, in the Philosopher and Moral Life, he explicitly says that the essence of good is the satisfaction of demand. If one confines one's attention to the that essay, it is easy to attribute to him a kind of desire -satisfaction utilitarianism according to which the best action is the one that maximizes as many demands as possible. Among its claims, this essay defends the following two normative propositions:1) EG: The essence of good: Whatever satisfies a demand is a good.2) JONT: James's objective normative truth: We are morally obligated to satisfy as many demands as possible. Or, among our available actions, we should take the one that frustrates the fewest demands.Given these claims, it would be easy to think of James's ethics as an early version of the many preference utilitarianisms developed in the twentieth century. Such views are prominent in economic and public policy. Sagoff criticizes one such approach - contingent valuation - on the grounds that it treats moral beliefs as preferences. The idea, in brief, is that environmental managers or policy-makers should include the preferences of environmentalists into the mix of those players who might have a stake in some environmental issue such as development or pollution. One might determine what policy would satisfy the most preferences by, for example, doing surveys about what environmentalists might be willing to pay to go to a park versus what developers might pay to develop it. The error, Sagoff argues, is treating moral beliefs as preferences.1 For one thing, a belief that it is morally obligatory to preserve a bit of untouched nature is typically not a desire for anything like the welfare of the believer. Even more fundamentally, moral beliefs are not mere preferences but rather conclusions of arguments that offer more or less persuasive reasons. Thus, to treat moral convictions as mere preferences to be included with other consumer wants in a maximizing decision procedure is to make a fundamental category mistake. The very content of the moral beliefs of many environmentalists are about the objectively intrinsic of nature. This moral belief contradicts the idea that decisions about nature are simply decisions about how to satisfy the most preferences possible. James's definition of the good in terms of demand satisfaction appears vulnerable to Sagoff s criticisms. Moreover, it would seem that James's ethics is at odds with the mainstream eco -centric environmental ethical theories that would be used to defend moral beliefs about the intrinsic of nature which, according to Sagoff, are not to be treated as mere preferences or desires. Most such ecocentric ethics defends two basic claims: the of non-sentient nature and the of wholes such as ecosystems and species. James's ethics appears to reject these claims. He seems to be an individualist about the locus of moral values - it is the desires of individuals that count. And, he seems to reject the notion that non-sentient nature has intrinsic value, at least if that claim is read as value independent of conscious valuers. …

Environmental ethics: An African understanding

Global concerns about the current environmental cri sis have culminated into some controversial environmental ethical theories, i.e., normative env ironmental ethics, sentientist ethics, biocentric ethics, ecocentric ethics and eco-feminist ethics. One of the fundamental underlying features connecting these environmental ethical theories is their grounding in Western perspectives and cultural experiences. Given that environmental conc erns are global concerns, and that the imperative of environmental ethics is challenging t hose life-threatening concerns, critical explorations of environmental ethics need to go bey ond the Western horizon. But with respect to the African perspective to environmental ethics and the people’s cultural understanding of the environmental crisis, little has been done in this penultimate area. However, Segun Ogungbemi and Godfrey Tangwa have pioneered philosophical discussions on environmental ethics from an African vantage point. Hence, Ogungbemi defends what he calls “ethics of nature-relatedness,” while Tangwa proposes “eco-bio-communitarianism” as a definitive theory of an African orientation to environmental ethics. This paper is therefore a contribution to the consolidation of an African orientation to environmental ethics thro ugh a critique and reconstruction of some of the misrepresentations of the African perspective to th e environment, implicit in the arguments of Ogungbemi and Tangwa.

An African Understanding of Environmental Ethics

Global concerns about the current environmental crisis have culminated in some controversial environmental ethical theories, among which are normative environmental ethics, sentientist ethics, biocentric ethics, ecocentric ethics and eco-feminist ethics. One of the underlying features connecting these environmental ethical theories is their grounding in Western perspectives and cultural experiences. Given that environmental concerns are global, and that the goal of environmental ethics is to address those concerns, critical explorations of environmental ethics need to go beyond the Western horizon. Nevertheless, very few African scholars have investigated the African people’s understanding of the current environmental crisis, and the African perspective on environmental ethics. However, Segun Ogungbemi and Godfrey Tangwa have pioneered philosophical discussions on environmental ethics from an African point of view. Ogungbemi defends what he calls “ethics of nature-relatedness”, while Tangwa proposes “eco-bio-communitarianism”. This paper is a contribution to the consolidation of an African orientation in environmental ethics through a critique and reconstruction of the African perspective on the environment as presented, separately, by Ogungbemi and Tangwa. Key Words Environmental ethics; ethics of nature-relatedness; eco-bio-communitarianism

From Swamp Drainage to Wetlands Regulation to Ecological Nuisances to Environmental Ethics

This essay shows how ecological nuisances should be accepted under longstanding principles of nuisance law. Ecological nuisances build upon the flexible history of nuisance law's response to changed attitudes toward interferences with land use. I use the example of wetlands to illustrate ecological nuisances. Wetlands are an especially appropriate example because they are featured in many recent environmental disputes, and because the societal understanding of wetlands has changed so dramatically during the past century. On the other hand, a theory of ecological nuisances is not limited to wetlands. Ecosystems of all types provide services, and the interference with those services could constitute a nuisance. I begin by describing the swamps that were the bane of societal-including judicial-thought during the late nineteenth century period when Wood wrote his famous nuisance law treatise. Next I review J.B. Ruhl's argument for nuisance law's recognition of the ecosystem services provided by wetlands. I then turn to how theories of environmental ethics - focusing upon the recent work of both Christian writers and legal scholars - can aid an evaluation of ecological nuisances and other legal regulation of wetlands. The essay concludes that ecological nuisances should not be the law's only response to the study of ecosystem services, but they offer a valuable tool that is available to individual landowners as they continue to work out their own understanding of the ethical values of their land.

Human Health and the Environment: In Harmony or in Conflict?

Health policy frameworks usually construe environmental protection and human health as harmonious values. Policies that protect the environment, such as pollution control and pesticide regulation, also benefit human health. In recent years, however, it has become apparent that promoting human health sometimes undermines environmental protection. Some actions, policies, or technologies that reduce human morbidity, mortality, and disease can have detrimental effects on the environment. Since human health and environmental protection are sometimes at odds, political leaders, citizens, and government officials need a way to mediate and resolve conflicts between these values. Unfortunately, few approaches to applied bioethics have the conceptual tools to do accomplish this task. Theories of health care ethics have little to say about the environment, and theories of environmental ethics don't say much about human health. In this essay, I defend an approach to ethical decision-making that gives policy-makers some tools for balancing promotion of human health and protection of the environment.

The Ways that Nature Matters: The World and the Earth in the Thought of Hannah Arendt

One of the many sets of distinctions made by Hannah Arendt was that between the world and the earth. I give two different interpretations of this distinction then set out four different ways in which nature matters to us, depending on whether nature is regarded as world or as earth, and whether humans are seen as biological beings or as beings who create and inhabit a world. These different ways are represented in different forms of environmentalism and theories of environmental ethics. The controversy over wind farms in the UK as an instance in which two of the different ways that nature matters come into conflict with each other.