INTRODUCTION TO THE ETHICAL SYSTEM
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INTRODUCTION
“The environmental crisis is in part a crisis of concepts as well…We are many things: men or
women, Americans or other nationalities, as well as mammals, animals, life forms, earth beings.
Could we not as well say that we must invariably think as earth beings, since we are earth beings
too? …
In fact we can escape the crisis. We can return to the community of life, we can re-situate
ourselves, in thought and experience, within and not against the more-than-human world. But
we will not do so if we continue to suppose that we face only a practical problem: how to recycle
better or pollute less or save the forests…all of this is crucial too…the environmental crisis
ultimately lies deeper, challenges us more profoundly, more philosophically and offers us
unsuspected and fabulous opportunities…Welcome to the adventure.”
- Anthony Weston
An Invitation to Environmental Philosophy, Oxford
University Press, 1999.
Thus begins a book on Environmental Philosophy. This area of study in itself – calling it philosophy – is
important. Philosophy is the “love of wisdom,” and it is wisdom, perhaps more than knowledge, that is central if
we are to think and act constructively in our environment. Where is this wisdom to be had? Part of it is indeed
clear knowledge about the systems that make up the environment – natural, anthropogenic, technological,
ethical, and social – and the complex interactions among them now, in the past, and evolving into the future. In
addition to what we normally call "knowledge"-scientific, empirical, expressible in terms of words and numbers,
we also ought to look inward into our spiritual feelings about nature, our inherent understanding of place, and of
the passage of time.
The ethic we use toward nature and towards each other – as people or countries – will ultimately decide our fate
as a civilization and even as a species. Recently some authors have argued that “ecological integrity” needs to be
our ethic in order that we and subsequent generations of humans and all the beings on Earth co-exist in health
and peace.
When we think of the environment, we think of all that surrounds us (en- viron-) as if we too are not part of it.
Perhaps nature would be a better word to describe our topic of study. But as we separate areas of study, human
psychology, sociology, physiology, sometimes even biology, and certainly philosophy have come to represent the
study of different aspects of the human condition. And, all of these lie outside what we typically think of as
“nature” or as “study of the environment.” The study of the environment is often thought of in terms of science,
even engineering and architecture. Even ecology, the study of natural systems, is a recent addition to science.
This too is revealing that it is an addition to science rather than to philosophy. However, our wisdom on this
score is dawning. Environmental ethics, environmental history, and even ecological economics have joined the
ranks of environmental studies.
In this unit, we examine the values, attitudes and behaviors we hold toward the environment as individuals,
societies – and as exhibited in social systems such as economics and technology – that we have adopted as part
of our civilization.
The root word of ethics is ethos, meaning “fundamental spiritual characteristics of a culture.” This “culture” can
be an organization or a discipline, so that we say the academic ethos or scientific ethos. The word ethic derived
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from ethos, refers to a precept or a founding or practiced principle. Thus we might refer to the justice ethic or
care ethic, or say that someone has a certain work ethic. Ethics is the study and definition of formal systems of
thought and practice that define and elaborate obligations and duties. These obligations are based on a
fundamental set of values that may be organized as a religion, or be part of a belief and practice system, often
containing unarticulated tacit knowledge and values or a mythology that prescribes behaviors. Ancient religions
and spiritual practices tend to be of this category. They often represent nature anthropomorphically as Mother
Earth or gods and goddesses. However, most of these depictions and belief systems are not anthropo centric.
Thus environmental ethics refers to the study of formal frameworks that examine human relationships to the
environment.
In this section, we use the term ethical system very broadly, to stand for the different belief and value systems
that have represented human attitudes and shaped our behaviors towards the environment as individuals and as
societies. Thus we touch on the fundamental religious tenets that defined our relationship to the environment
through positioning of nature in the religion and through practices. We also describe the informal sets of
attitudes and behaviors toward the environment and formal systems like economics and values such a
competition that have guided these.
Environmental ethics and environmental philosophy are newcomers as academic fields. For ages, ethics and
philosophy have dealt exclusively with human relationship to each other. Philosophy for the ancient Greeks
encompassed what we call political science, natural science, sociology, and psychology today. It was about the
way humans formed communities and states and about obligations of individuals to each other and to the state.
Ethics was part of it. (Aristotle’s definitions of ethics) The natural sciences, which later divided into disciplines
such as chemistry, physics, and biology, were all part of “natural philosophy.”
As philosophy grew more and more apart from science, it became extremely anthropocentric, dealing with
human issues—cognitive, political, and logical. Ethics separate as a field of inquiry into what we “ought” to do,
mostly with respect to other humans. Early ethics stayed closely tied to the religious sphere.
Environmental ethics began to emerge as a result of the early writings of Thoreau, Emerson, and John Muir,
(founder of the Sierra Club (link)), conservationists who lived and worked in the first half of the last century, but
really gained momentum with the environmental movement of the 1960s, following the publication of Rachel
Carson’s “Silent Spring” in 1962. Since 1970’s, environmental ethics has progressed far due to he works of
Holmes Rolston, the founding editor of the journal Environmental Ethics; Anthony Westin, Val Plumwood, Carolyn
Merchant, George Sessions, Jim Cheney, and others. Scientists, historians, economists, and educators have
contributed to clarifying the questions and issues of this new filed. Prominent among them are Barry Commoner,
Lynn White, _________ Nash, Herman Daly, David Orr, and Stephen Kellert.
Exercise:
1. Construct a timeline of ten pioneers of environmental ethics, the premises of
each of their “ethic” toward the environment, and the environmental ethic of each.
2. What are the feelings that come to your mind first when you think of the
environment? What are the factors that shape these? Why?
VALUES AND CULTURES
The word “value” means worth. It also means the set of ethical precepts on which we base our behavior. Values
are shaped by the culture in which we live and by experiences. However, there are values that are held high by
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most cultures. These include fairness and justice, compassion and charity, duties and rights, human species
survival and human well-being.
While values guide our behavior, there are many behaviors we get habituated to because of the society, culture,
and conditions in which we live. We may not explicitly examine our environmental values, for example, when we
decide whether to live close to or far away from work. Or, perhaps it is more correct to say that we think of more
our economic or social environment and comfort and convenience when we make this choice. Such decision
making by large numbers of people have had many serious environmental impacts such as air pollution from
large commuting populations, deterioration of the built environment in cities, and problems of environmental
inequities.
In his book Toward Better Problems, philosopher Anthony Westin suggests that rather than exploring the validity
of inherent or intrinsic values, environmental ethics needs to view all the values we possess and interpret them
together as an “ecology of values.” He writes, “The idea is to trace the relations of values as a system, thus
interweaving a complex and varied set of values into a loose pattern, intricate and indeed still in conflict as it
may be. Thus we might do for values themselves what the science of ecology does for the multiple forms of life:
uncover their organic places within larger wholes. Indeed, I propose to call such a project an ‘ecology of
values.’” Weston’s ethic suggests that he ultimate “grounded” value may be as much in the interdependence
between values as in the value itself.
A tension – or even a strong conflict – can occur between individual values and societal ones. As larger
centralized technical systems are used for convenience and become a part of everyday life, one might find it hard
to keep up with living in conformity with one’s individual values. The environmental impacts of suburban living
noted above is an example of this. Economic and social conditions may cause large numbers of people to have
to ignore or compromise their environmental values. On another level, the lack of knowledge about
environmental impacts may lead o decisions that have cumulative negative impacts on the environment.
In his book The Value of Life, Stephen Kellert developed a "Typology of Basic Values" (Table 1) with nine values of
nature used as taxonomy for examining various views of nature and diversity of life. These values, considered
biological in origin, signify basic structures of human relationship and adaptation to the natural world developed
over the course of human evolution." (Kellert 37, 26) This typology is a good example of Weston's "ecology of
values." Kellert does not try to explain the inherent or intrinsic good in the value but rather presents the values
for the purpose of studying public values of nature. He found during his research, however, that the foundation
of these values seemed to be in the very biological nature of the human being. These values are influenced by
learning and experience and if not developed through connections with nature could potentially harm our
biological growth.
VALUE
Utilitarian
DEFINITION
Practical and material
FUNCTION
Physical sustenance/security
exploitation of nature
Naturalistic
Direct experience and
Curiosity, discovery,
exploration of nature
recreation
EcologisticScientific
Systematic study of structure,
Knowledge, understanding,
function
observational skills
Aesthetic
Physical appeal and beauty of
Inspiration, harmony,
nature
security
Use of nature for language and
Communication, mental
thought
development
Strong emotional attachment
Bonding, sharing,
and "love"
cooperation, companionship
Symbolic
Humanistic
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INTRODUCTION TO THE ETHICAL SYSTEM
Moralistic
Dominionistic
Negativistic
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Spiritual reverence and ethical
Order, meaning, kinship,
concern for nature
altruism
Mastery, physical control,
Mechanical skills, physical
dominance of nature
prowess, ability to subdue
Fear, aversion, alienation from
Security, protection, safety,
nature
awe
Table 1: A Typology of Basic Values
How we value nature and the environment determines our personal environmental ethic as well as our
development as human beings. The following exercises will help develop your ideas about environmental values
and their application.
Exercise

Make a list of the values for inter-human behavior that you consider
important for the maintenance of a "good" human society and include
your definition of good.

Which of these do we implement, or apply as guidance for our behavior
towards the environment? How would these "environmental" values be
implemented to reflected in individual or societal behavior?

Which of these are presumed or reflected in governmental decision
making in the United States?

Think of a course or other instance in which a teacher or decision maker
has ascribed a (implicit or explicit) value to nature, or to parts of it. How
would you classify this (set of) value(s)?

Think of an example in which you make a decision affecting nature.
Explain briefly how you would classify your value system in that instance.

Choose one environmental regulation of the United States. In two or three
sentences, describe the main objective of this regulation. Describe briefly
the set of values embedded in it.
Figure 1, taken from Chapter 3 of Kellert (page 41), shows a rough estimate from his studies of these classes of
values towards living diversity in American Society. The data (frequency of values) represent over 3000 interviews
in 49 states of the U.S.
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Environmental Ethic: Worldviews (People and Nature)
Man as part of Nature (Native American)
Land Ethic (Aldo Leopold)
Gaia (James Lovelock)
Global Sustainability (Brundtland)
Colby's stages of environmental ethic
Distributional equity, environmental justice
Results of World-view
Indifference to:
*
locale (space) - transportation
*
rates of consumption, speed of devices (time) (metabolism)
Linear processes instead of cyclical
Environment as source or sink, no awareness of environmental burden, carrying capacity
Brief History of Environmental Ethics
Environmental ethics developed slowly in western culture; however, for most indigenous people their
environmental ethic was built into their cultural system. The early peoples of North America depended directly on
nature for sustenance. This direct contact gave them a sense of value and respect for habits such as restoring
used land, and using natural resources (including the animals they hunted) completely and without waste.Ê Even
today the ethic of the Native Americans is based on a belief that they are one part of the huge web of life. They
believe that all parts of nature worked together to keep the Earth balanced and in harmony. Unlike the scientific
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belief of a dead earth in which inanimate objects are regarded as lifeless therefore their only value is seen as a
resource for humankind, Native Americans believe that even the stones have stories to tell. They believed that
everything in nature embodied a spirit and if they used a stone, tree, or plant, they must appease the spirit
ritualistically. Ethically they believed it necessary to thank the animal or plant that offered themselves as food in
order that the two-leggeds would survive. The Native American ethic can be heard in their language when they
refer to stones as the stone people, or when they refer to animals as brothers or sisters. For the Native American,
the Earth was original mother. And one of their most important ethics was based in the belief that their actions
should be based on how they would affect the next seven generations.
In his essay “The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis,” Lynn White wrote "Christianity is the most
anthropocentric religion the world has seen." Judeo-Christian religion was monotheism which limited their belief
to a single, all-powerful God, who gave them dominion over the earth. Pantheist religions believed everything
possessed a deity and therefore had a sacred quality. (Nash 91) The monotheistic belief of the Judeo-Christian
religion, set forth in the sacred scriptures of the Bible, that man had dominion over the earth, created a dualism
that separated man and nature. White believed Christians had been using for centuries, the belief that as masters
of the earth and the only entity on earth made in the image of God, to justify the exploitation of nature. He also
hoped that the same Christian religion that ended slavery could change itself again and stop the destruction and
exploitation of the earth.
The ethic of the early European-American had strong Christian overtones but was focused on the natural rights
of man. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, England began to follow a logical trajectory, going
from the unalienable natural rights of man to the unalienable nature rights of animals and other parts of nature.
In addition, Darwin's theory of evolution moved the human being as a divine dominator of nature back to just
another member of nature.
America, on the other hand, was preoccupied with settling and laying claim to the tremendous tracks of
wilderness between it's ocean borders. American's had an anthropocentric view of nature supported by the
Christian ethic and believed it a resource that provided not only pleasant vistas for human eyes but plenty of
commodities that would enhance the quality of life for all Americans.
A convergence of thought was taking place between European and America, were many men were questioning
the anthropocentric role of the human being in the natural environment.
John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, believed in nature for the sake of nature. That everything that existed on
the planet earth had the right to exist simple for it's own sake. His focus on saving the beauty of the
environment for the sake of human enjoyment came later in an effort to influence political groups to support his
efforts to protect national parks.
Environmental Ethics and Professional Codes
Ethics and Environmental Justice
Ethical Framework for Decision Makers
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(I wasn’t sure where this next section was supposed to be inserted)
Values and Ethic toward the Environment
“That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be
loved and respected is an extension of ethics. That land yields a cultural
harvest is a fact long known, but latterly often forgotten.”
- Aldo Leopold in the Foreword to
Sand County Almanac (1948)
The academic field we call environmental ethics is relatively recent. The earliest articulation in formal
environmental ethics may be Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic, a apart of his Sand County Almanac that is a timeless
statement about the need for change in our ethic toward nature, and the difficulties in effecting change. “No
important change in ethics was ever accomplished,” he wrote, “without an internal change in our intellectual
emphasis, loyalties, affections, and convictions. The proof that conservation has not yet touched these
foundations of conduct lies in the fact that philosophy and religion have not yet heard of it.” (page 209 in the
Special Commemorative Edition of 1989).
Aldo Leopold wrote this in 1948, the year he died, after a life dedicated to conservation. IN the quote at the
beginning of this section, he states that the “land yields a cultural harvest.” This is something recognized and
respected by older civilizations that lived with and by the land and respected what it gave them. Respect for the
land was not, however, restricted to ancient civilizations. Henry David Thoreau (American, 1817-1862), John
Muir (Scottish American, 1838-1914), Jean Jacques Rousseau (French, 1712-1778 are three examples of
writer/philosopher/naturalists who reflected on the value of nature in shaping human intellect and affect.
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