Outline for 19 January 2004

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Outline for 19 January 2004

• Survey of ethics
• Traditional western ethics
• Resource Ethics
• Alternative paradigms

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Environmental Ethics

• Definitions of ethics
• a rule of conduct
• Principles on which to base ones actions

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• Is it morally wrong for humans to pollute and
  eliminate parts of the natural environment?
• If it is morally wrong, is it because a
  sustainable environment is essential to human
  well-being? Or is the behavior wrong because the
  natural environment has certain value in its own
  right and these values ought be respected and
  protected regardless of the outcome to humans?
  Justify your response.
• If it is not morally wrong, justify your
  response.
• ________________________________________
• Please take the next 10 minutes and answer these
  questions. Hand in your responses along with
  your name. THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG ANSWER.

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• Why study ethics?
• Learn philosophical concepts and positions useful
  to thinking about actions, practices, policies
• Develop critical thinking skills
• Clarify your own beliefs and values regarding the
  environment and be able to intelligently
  articulate them.

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Traditional western ethics

• Anthropocentric - human centered.
• Humans have higher value than non-humans.
• Aristotle nature has made all things
  specifically for the sake of man
• Bible, Book of Genesis and have dominion over
  fish of the sea, and fowl over the air, and over
  every living creature that moveth upon the earth.

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Traditional western ethics

• Humans are apart from nature
• Humans are superior to other species
• Nature must be conquered
• Increased production and consumption is better
  for humans
• The ethic of North American colonists

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• Alternative belief systems
• Buddhism all life is connected and therefore
  equal
• Hinduism -

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Resource ethics

• Teddy Roosevelt
• Conservation
• Sustainable yield
• Extracting resources such that they will remain
  in perpetuity
• Boone and Crockett Club
• The ethic of fair chase
• Fundamental to hunting is the concept of
  conservation of natural resources
• The hunter engages in a one on one relationship
  with his or her quarry and should be guided by a
  hierarchy of ethics

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Resource ethics

• Boone and Crocket fair chase statement
• The ethical, sportsmanlike and lawful pursuit and
  taking of free-ranging wild, native North
  American wildlife in a manner that does not give
  unfair advantage to the hunter over animals.

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Resource ethics

• Sustainable yield.
• Environmental destruction damages the well being
  (now and future) of humans.
• Wise-use movement.
• Natural resources should be extracted with regard
  only to economic considerations
• Logic question - What kind of world do we want to
  leave our grandchildren?

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Modern environmental ethics

• Influential literature
• A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold
• Silent Spring, Rachel Carson
• The Population Bomb, Paul Erlich
• Posed a challenge to traditional anthropocentrism
• Challenged the assumed moral superiority of
  humans over other species
• Assigned intrinsic value to the natural
  environment and its nonhuman contents

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• Instrumental value vs. intrinsic value
• The first is the value of things as a means to
  further some end.
• The second is the value of things as ends in
  themselves regardless of their value as a means
  to an end.
• Anything with intrinsic value has a right to
  exist.

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Alternative paradigms

• Deep ecology
• Ethical philosophy developed in Scandinavia
• All things are alike by having intrinsic value.
• Humans should receive satisfaction from the close
  partnership with other forms of life
• Identification of the human ego with nature.
• First formal paradigm to justify and formalize
  Leopolds position of a land ethic.
• Criticized as being elitist.

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Alternative paradigms

• Ecofeminism
• A feminist issue is any issue that contributes to
  understanding the oppression of women.
• Male dominated cultures oppress women, cultural
  minorities, animals and nature.
• Male centered cultures and human centered ethics
  (resource ethics) have the common characteristic
  of domination over the environment

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Compromise ethics prudential anthropomorphism

• Sustainable development
• In rural, third world countries that want
  economic development
• Equally considering the interests of humans and
  the carrying capacity of natural resources
• Do societies have to go through a pioneer ethic
  as they develop?

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Alternative paradigms

• Animal rights vs. animal welfare
• Animal rights animals have rights equal to
  those of humans
• Any form of management or use is unethical
• No supplemental feeding of deer during a hard
  winter
• No pets
• Animal welfare correct handling and humane
  treatment of animals
• Consumptive use and experimentation ok, but must
  be rigorously justified
• IACUC Institutional Animal Care and Use
  Committee