THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF TANZANIA
FACULTY OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
OEV 111: ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS AND PHILOSOPHY
(Aristotélēs 384 BC – 322 BC)
Musana, E. Y. and Saria, J. A.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................ii
General Introduction ........................................................................................................................... ix
Module Content .................................................................................................................................. ix
How to use this Manual ........................................................................................................................ x
Module objectives ............................................................................................................................... x
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................ xi
PART TWO .........................................................................................................................................1
Introduction to Environmental Ethics and Philosophy .............................................................................1
LECTURE ONE ....................................................................................................................................2
1
Philosophy .......................................................................................................................................... 2
1.1
Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 2
1.2
Background to Philosophy............................................................................................................. 2
1.3
Branches of Philosophy ................................................................................................................ 3
LECTURE TWO ................................................................................................................................. 14
2
Environmental Philosophy ................................................................................................................... 14
2.1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 14
2.2
Background to the Concept ........................................................................................................ 14
2.3
Fundamental Questions of Environmental Philosophy ................................................................... 15
2.4
Branches of Environmental Philosophy ........................................................................................ 16
ii
LECTURE THREE .............................................................................................................................. 20
3
Pioneers of the Philosophy of Nature ................................................................................................... 20
3.1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 20
3.2
Mary Hunter Austin..................................................................................................................... 20
3.3
Ralph Waldo Emerson ............................................................................................................... 21
3.4
Aldo Leopold............................................................................................................................. 21
3.4
John Muir .................................................................................................................................. 23
3.5
Henry David Thoreau................................................................................................................. 24
3.6
Rachel Carson ........................................................................................................................... 25
3.7
Garret Hardin ............................................................................................................................. 26
LECTURE FOUR ................................................................................................................................ 28
4
Ecofeminism ...................................................................................................................................... 28
4.1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 28
4.2
Background to the Concept ......................................................................................................... 29
4.3
The Central Principle of Ecofeminism .......................................................................................... 29
4.4
Historical Background of Ecofeminism ......................................................................................... 31
4.5
Interconnection of Woman and Nature ......................................................................................... 31
4.6
The Significance of Ecofeminism ................................................................................................. 35
LECTURE FIVE .................................................................................................................................. 39
5
Ecotheology ...................................................................................................................................... 39
5.1
Introduction............................................................................................................................... 39
5.2
Meaning of Ecotheology ............................................................................................................. 40
5.3
Historical Background of Ecotheology .......................................................................................... 40
5.4
The Christological Dimension of Ecology ...................................................................................... 42
iii
5.5
Re-evaluation of Christian Theology............................................................................................. 43
LECTURE SIX .................................................................................................................................... 47
Environmental Ethics................................................................................................................. 47
6
6.1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 47
6.2
Background to Environmental Ethics ............................................................................................ 47
6.3
Fundamental Questions Addressed by Environmental Ethics ......................................................... 48
6.4
Categories of Environmental Ethics ............................................................................................. 49
6.4.2
Ecologic extension ..................................................................................................................... 49
6.5
Conservation Ethics................................................................................................................... 50
6.6
Perspectives on Environmental Ethics.......................................................................................... 50
6.7
Status of the Field ...................................................................................................................... 52
PART TWO ....................................................................................................................................... 54
ETHICAL PRINCIPLES........................................................................................................................ 54
LECTURE SEVEN .............................................................................................................................. 55
7
Relativism ........................................................................................................................................ 55
7.1
Introduction............................................................................................................................... 55
7.2
Background to Ethical Relativism ................................................................................................. 55
7.3
Essence of Ethical Relativism...................................................................................................... 57
7.4
Criticisms against Relativism ...................................................................................................... 57
LECTURE
8
EIGHT ........................................................................................................................... 62
Nihilism ............................................................................................................................................. 62
8.1
Introduction............................................................................................................................... 62
8.2
The Essence of Nihilist Perspectives............................................................................................ 62
iv
8.3
Forms of Nihilism ....................................................................................................................... 64
8.4
Implication of Nihilist Perspectives on the Environment ................................................................. 65
LECTURE NINE .................................................................................................................................. 68
9
Utilitarian Theory ................................................................................................................................ 68
9.1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 68
9.2
Principles of Utilitarianism ........................................................................................................... 68
9.3
Types of Utilitarianism ................................................................................................................ 69
9.4
Critical Evaluation of Utilitarianism ............................................................................................... 70
LECTURE TEN .................................................................................................................................. 73
10
Universalism ...................................................................................................................................... 73
10.1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 73
10.2
Sources of Universalism ............................................................................................................. 73
10.3
Global Universal Values.............................................................................................................. 74
10.4
Implication of Universalism on the Environmental Management ..................................................... 76
LECTURE ELEVEN ............................................................................................................................ 81
11
Environmental Theories of Moral Responsibility ................................................................................... 81
11.1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 81
11.2
Categories of Traditional Ethical Theories..................................................................................... 81
11.3
Consequentialist Ethical Theories ................................................................................................ 84
11.4
Deontological Ethical Theories .................................................................................................... 85
11.5
Virtual Ethical Theories ............................................................................................................... 86
PART THREE .............................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
PERSPECTIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS ..................................................................................... 89
v
LECTURE TWELVE ............................................................................................................................ 90
12
Deep ecology .................................................................................................................................... 90
12.1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 90
12.2
Background to the Concept ......................................................................................................... 90
12.3
Historical Development of Deep Ecology ...................................................................................... 91
12.4
Deep Ecology Core Principles ..................................................................................................... 92
LECTURE THIRTEEN .......................................................................................................................... 97
13
Animal Rights .............................................................................................................................. 97
13.1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 97
13.2
Background to the Concept ......................................................................................................... 97
13.3
The Main Philosophical Approaches to Animal Rights.................................................................... 99
LECTURE FOURTEEN ...................................................................................................................... 101
14
Non Western Traditions Ethical Thought............................................................................................ 101
14.1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 101
14.2
Relevancy of Western Environmental Ethical View in LDCs......................................................... 101
14.3
The African Environmental Perspectives .................................................................................... 102
PART THREE .............................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
MAJOR ISSUES IN ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS AND MOVEMENTS ...................................................... 108
LECTURE FIFTEEN .......................................................................................................................... 109
15
Environmental Racism ...................................................................................................................... 109
15.1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 109
15.2
Background to Environmental Racism ........................................................................................ 109
15.3
Classic Cases of Environmental Racism Across the World ........................................................... 110
vi
15.5
Why is this Happening? ........................................................................................................... 115
15.6
Recommendations for Environmental Racism ............................................................................ 116
LECTURE SIXTEEN .......................................................................................................................... 119
16
Environmental Justice....................................................................................................................... 119
16.1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 119
16.2
Background to Environmental Justice Concept ........................................................................... 119
16.3
Fundamental Environmental Justice........................................................................................... 120
16.4
Emergence of Environmental Justice Movement ......................................................................... 123
16.5
Transnational Movement Networks for Environmental Justice ...................................................... 126
LECTURE SEVENTEEN .................................................................................................................... 130
17
Toxic Colonialism ......................................................................................................................... 130
17.1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 130
17.2
Background to the Concept ....................................................................................................... 130
17.3
Forms of Pollution in Africa ....................................................................................................... 131
17.4
Implications ............................................................................................................................. 133
LECTURE EIGHTEEN ....................................................................................................................... 137
18
The Balance of Nature .................................................................................................................. 137
18.1
Introduction............................................................................................................................. 137
18.2
Meaning of Nature ................................................................................................................... 137
18.3
The Balance of Nature Theory .................................................................................................. 138
LECTURE NINETEEN .............................................................................................................................. 142
19
The Resilience of Nature................................................................................................................... 142
19.1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 142
19.2
Resilience............................................................................................................................... 142
vii
19.3
Aspects of Resilience ............................................................................................................... 143
19.4
Human Impacts on Resilience ................................................................................................... 144
LECTURE TWENTY .......................................................................................................................... 149
20
Science and Technology ................................................................................................................... 149
20.1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 149
20.2
Background to Science and Technology ..................................................................................... 149
20.3
The Scientific Method Concept .................................................................................................. 150
20.4
The Benefits of Science and Technology .................................................................................... 152
20.5
Evils of Science and Technology ............................................................................................... 156
20.6
What should be Done? ............................................................................................................ 157
Appendix 1:
Additional Reading Materials ...................................................................................... 160
Appendix 2:
Glossary of Terms Used ............................................................................................. 161
viii
General Introduction
This module has been prepared to meet the needs of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) students who are
studying environmental studies taking Course OEV 111. Environmental ethics gives a broad way of thinking
about how a human being “ought to” act responsibly, in order to achieve a good life through environment.
Just as philosophy was concerned from time in memorial to answer questions: What is reality? What
constitutes knowledge? What are values and what constitutes truth of argument? Philosophy is also
concerned with questions like why? How? In the same vain philosophy of environment raises rational
questions emanating from wonder about, why society is including ours, destroying the ecosystem that
support human life? How and why rational beings advanced technologically should let destruction to
happen at all?
This module bridges the two key concepts of environmental ethics and environmental philosophy. Authors have tried
to raise important issues and they have used a rich supplement of past and current knowledge to enable learners to
meet their academic needs. It introduces the basic questions, tells compelling stories, and offers a range of
philosophical responses as complementary not antagonistic and exploratory strategies vital to growing
environmental issues.
Module Content
For easy reading of this module, it is divided it into four broad parts: Introduction to environmental Ethics
and Philosophy, Ethical Principles, Perspectives of Environmental Ethics and Major Issues in
environmental Ethical Movements. In each part several lectures have been covered making a total of
twenty lectures. Each lecture section begins with a general introduction which invites readers to the new or
intended concept. This is then followed by a set of performance objectives. These specific objectives are
stated in a straightforward manner highlighting what students/readers are expected to cover. The main
body follows in a systematic order or subsections. After the main body we have a summary of each lecture.
This covers mostly what was covered in the lecture. In order to enable students to comprehend the
ix
concept, a good number of activities are provided that students/readers may use to test their
understanding. Lastly in each lecture we have provided a list of materials for further reading. Most of these
reference materials were used in designing this module. Therefore we encourage students/readers to visit
them because we have selected available materials for their references. At the end of this module we have
provided additional references that we thought may be useful to readers. A list of glossary of terms used in
this module is provided at the end of this manual.
How to use this Manual
This valuable study material is designed to help students to recognize their learning style; how to read,
classify, and create a problem and practice problem solving skills. For the purpose of OUT students the
manual is divided into four parts where parts 1 to 2 will be used by those intending to do Main Timed Test.
This part will also be evaluated during Student Progress Portfolio (SPP) assessment. After covering the
remaining parts, students will be ready for the Annual Examination for the course.
Module objectives
After completion of the module, students are expected to be able to:
•
Explain the relationship between environmental management and ethical Behaviour of individuals
and society as a country,
•
Describe principles of environmental ethics and philosophy,
•
Compare and contrast how different ethical perspectives shape our environmental behaviour,
•
Explain biocentrism, enocentrism, egocentrism and ecofeminism, and what each says about
human/nature relationships,
•
Summarize the methods, application and limitations of the scientific methods,
•
Demonstrate an understanding of the role of technology in causing environmental problems as well
as help us solve them.
x
We hope readers will find this manual to be a valuable source of information about our global environment, as well as
an inspiration for solutions to the dilemmas we face. Everyone has a role to play in this endeavor as: a student, an
educator, a researcher, an activist or a consumer. Each one of us can find ways to contribute in solving our
environmental problems rationally.
Acknowledgements
Many people have contributed in a variety of ways in making this manual. We are indebted to all OUT students and
staff. To students from Mbeya, Dar es Salaam, Rukwa, Kigoma, Singida and many other Regional Centres, we
express our gratitude for your constructive ideas because all of us owe a great debt to the many scholars whose
work forms the basis of understanding of environmental ethics and philosophy.
Unfortunately space did not permit us to include the names of everyone but it is hard not to indicate the name of our
best friend and colleague, Dr Noorali T. Jiwaji, who entirely encouraged us to write this manual and edited some
topics. As Albert Schweitzer wrote:
“The essence of goodness is to maintain and cherish life, and the essence of evil is to destroy and
damage life. All living beings have the will to live, and all living beings with the will to live are sacred,
interrelated and of equal value. It is, therefore, an ethical imperative for us to respect and help all life
forms” (Schweitzer, 1923).
We gratefully acknowledge the constructive criticisms from many colleagues and readers of this book.
xi
PART ONE
Introduction to Environmental Ethics and Philosophy
1
LECTURE ONE
1
Philosophy
1.1
Introduction
In our day to day life, we are used to the term philosophy being mentioned by different people. We have
also come to realize that at least many aspect of life that one pursues have a philosophical entity behind.
Even different courses we study in our university are underpinned with philosophical stance that guides
them. Therefore, before we take off in this course, it is important that we revisit the philosophical concepts
at least in a nut shell. By doing so, we will be in a position of linking the philosophical knowledge acquired
in this lecture with what we will be discussing in the rest of this course.
At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. Describe in detail the term “philosophy” as applied in our daily life.
2. Identify four branches of philosophy
3. Analyze each one of the four branches of philosophy
4. Distinguish between philosophies, philosophy and specialization
5. Discuss five type of philosophical theories
1.2
Background to Philosophy
Let us start by defining the term philosophy. Philosophy has several definitions; one common connotation is
it is a study of general and fundamental problems. Example of these problems is those connected with
existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of
addressing problems by its methods including speculation, critical analysis, description and prescription. As
a social science it uses critical analysis, general systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument.
Etymologically, the word philosophy emanate from roots of Greek words “Philo” means “wisdom” and
2
“Sophia” means “Love of”. Therefore when two senses are combined Philosophy connotes “Love of
Wisdom”.
The Greek thinker by the name of Pythagoras believed to be one of the founders of the word philosophy.
The ascription is said to be based on a passage in a lost work of Herakleides Pontikos, a disciple of
Aristotle. It is considered to be part of the widespread body of legends of Pythagoras of this time.
While philosophy used to refer any pursuit of knowledge, the field covered by philosophy has decreased
over time. It means that before scientific revolution, philosophy was regarded as a mother of all knowledge
where all fields of knowledge belong to it. As more facts were agreed upon or became available, the term
natural philosophy was then separated into natural sciences such as physics, chemistry and biology and
social science such as psychology, beginning from eighteen to twentieth century’s.
We can conclude by saying, philosophy is a study about four fundamental questions: What is reality
(Metaphysics), what is knowledge (Epistemology), what are values (Axiology), and what is truthful
argument (Logic). The four questions lead us to consider four branches of philosophy below.
1.3
Branches of Philosophy
After learning about the definition and origin of philosophy, let us have a look on the main branches of
philosophy. The main areas of study in philosophy include epistemology, logic, metaphysics, and axiology.
What these major branches means is elaborated below:
1.3.1
Metaphysics
The word ‘metaphysics’ is derived from two Greek words “meta” means beyond, upon or after and physika
means physics. Metaphysics is a study about reality. Reality refers to those issues including existence, the
relationship between mind and body, objects and their properties, events and causation. The most
interesting aspect of metaphysics is its role of studying "being qua being". Traditional sub-branches
3
metaphysics include five; cosmology which is a study about universal concepts in universe; ontology a
study of beings; theology a study about super natural power eg God, Satan; Theodicy a study about super
natural beings. Theology differs from theodicy by methods. While Theology studies Gods by way of faith,
theodicy studies God by way of critical reasoning. The last sub-branch is anthropology. This is the study of
ethnicity concepts among human beings. All these five sub-branches have being placed under metaphysics
because all study abstract entities or things that are beyond five human senses of eye, hearing, skin, nose
and tongue.
All concepts belong to field of metaphysics because of their nature “abstractness”. Concepts being
abstract, they represent real things in the real world eg a concept of “tree” represent real tree outside the
mind or brain. The problem of universals disturbed Plato who concluded that reality exist in the mind where
all concepts emanate. For Plato the real things we see are shadows. This position is known as idealism.
The problem that Plato faces led to fundamental question of “What is a reality”.
Particulars are those objects that are said to exist in space and time, as opposed to abstractions, such as
numbers. Universals are properties held by multiple particulars such as readiness or a gender. The type of
existence, if any, of universals and abstract objects is an issue of debate. Realism is sometimes used to
support their existence while nominalism is sometimes used to stand for the denial of universals,
abstractions or both. Conceptualism holds that universals exist, in the mind as perceptions. The question of
whether or not existence is a predicate has been discussed since the Early Modern period. Essence is the
set of attributes that make an object what it fundamentally is and without which it loses its identity. Essence
is contrasted with accident: a property that the substance has contingently, without which the substance
can still retain its identity.
4
1.3.2
Epistemology
Epistemology coming from two Greek words “episteme” means knowledge and “ology” means a “study of”
Therefore, epistemology is a study of knowledge. It is concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge,
such as the relationships between truth, belief, and theories of justification. Philosopher Münchhausen
indicated that the three options to soundly prove any truth are not satisfactory. One is the regress argument
where, by infinite regression, each proof requires a further proof. Infinitism claims that the chain can go
forever. Another is foundationalism, where justification eventually rests on unproven basic beliefs or
axioms.
There are many types of epistemological theories like Atomism theory. You can refer back to your form one
chemistry about Dalton theory which says Matter can neither be created nor destroyed. They went further
saying matter is made up of small indivisible particles called atom. Logical atomism theory spell the same
that, there are logical "facts" (or "atoms") that cannot be broken down any further. The other method of
justification involves the circular argument, in which theory and proof support each other. Coherentism
claims a belief is justified if it coheres with the larger belief system. More specifically, the coherence theory
of truth states that, what is true is that which coheres with some specified set of propositions. Rationalism is
the emphasis on reasoning as a source of knowledge. Empiricism is the emphasis on observational
evidence via sensory experience as the source of knowledge.
1.3.3
Axiology
This branch comes from Greek words “Axial” means Custom and “Ology” means “study of”. Therefore axiology is the
study of customs, culture or generally values. Axiology is further divided into two sub-branches Ethics “ethos” or
morals and Aesthetics which is the study of beauties of the world eg arts.
5
1.3.3.1 Ethics
You can recall back in your working place or school, your supervisors normally insists about ethics. Before we define
what is ethics you should bear in mind that ethics in other words is also known as moral philosophy. Therefore, we
can define ethics as a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending and recommending concepts of
right and wrong behavior. In a simple language ethics or moral philosophy is concerned primarily with the
question how does a human being “ought to” act? The issue of “ought to” is central in ethics.
The main branches of ethics are meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Meta-ethics concerns
the nature of ethical thought, such as the origins of the words good and bad, and origins of other
comparative words of various ethical systems, whether there are absolute ethical truths, and how such
truths could be known.
Normative ethics is more concerned with the questions of how one “ought to” act and what the right course
of the action. This is where most ethical theories are generated. Lastly, applied ethics goes beyond theory
and step into real world ethical practice such as questions of whether or not abortion is correct. Ethics is
also associated with the idea of morality, and the two are often used interchangeably.
One of controversial that has attracted the attention of moralists in the modern era has been between
consequentialism (actions are to be morally evaluated solely by their consequences) and deontology
(actions are to be morally evaluated solely by consideration of agents' duties, the rights of those whom the
action concerns, or both). However, in promoting this idea they also necessarily promoted the broader
doctrine of consequentialism.
1.3.3.2 Aesthetics
Aesthetics is defined as "critical reflection on art, culture and nature," dealing with the nature of beauty, art,
and taste, and with the creation and admiration of beauty. Great thinkers tells us that when one says something
6
is beautiful, it must consist of the following qualities (a) strength of the parts to some design; (b) diversity in as many
ways as possible; (c) consistency, regularity or proportion, which is only beautiful when it helps to defend the
character of suitability; (d) simplicity or focus, which gives happiness not in itself, but through its enabling the eye to
enjoy range with ease; (e) sophistication, which provides employment for our dynamic energies, leading the eye on
"a unjustifiable kind of pursue"; and (f) quantity or scale, which draws our consideration and produces admiration.
Therefore, it is more logically to defined aesthetics as the study of sensory or sensory-emotional values;
every now and then aesthetics is called a judgment of sentiments and taste.
1.3.4
Logic
Logic comes from a Greek word “logike” etymologically refers to Greek words “logia or logike” means
argument. Consequently, logic is a science about truthful argument and fallacies in arguments. In other
words logic means a formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning.
Today the subject of logic has two broad divisions: mathematical logic (formal symbolic logic) and what is
now called philosophical logic.
Formal logic the abstract study of propositions statements or forcefully used sentences and of deductive
arguments. The discipline abstracts from the content of these elements the structures or logical forms that
they represent. The logician customarily uses a symbolic notation to express such structures clearly and
explicitly and to enable manipulations and tests of validity to be more easily applied. Symbolic logic is by far
the simplest kind of logic it is an enormous time-saver in argumentation. Additionally, it helps avoid logical
misunderstanding when dealing with complex arguments. Although the following discussion freely employs
the technical notation of modern symbolic logic, its symbols are introduced gradually and with
accompanying explanations so that the serious and attentive general reader should be able to follow the
development of ideas (table 1 below shows common basic logic symbols used).
7
Table 1:
Symbol
⇒
→
Basic logic symbols
Name
Should be read as
Category
material implication
implies; if .. then
propositional logic, Heyting
algebra
≡
↔
¬
˜
material equivalence
if and only if; iff; means the
same as
propositional logic
negation
not
propositional logic
!
∧
•
&
∨
A ⇒ B is true just in the case that
either A is false or B is true, or
both.
Examples
x = 2 ⇒ x2 = 4 is true, but x2 = 4 ⇒ x =
2 is in general false (since x could be −2).
→ may mean the same as ⇒ (the
symbol may also indicate the
domain and codomain of a
function; see table of mathematical
symbols).
⊃
⇔
Explanation
logical conjunction
and
propositional logic
⊃ may mean the same as ⇒ (the
symbol may also mean superset).
A ⇔ B is true just in case either
both A and B' are false, or both A
and B are true.
x + 5 = y +2 ⇔ x + 3 = y
The statement ¬A is true if and
only if A is false.
¬(¬A) ⇔ A
x ≠ y ⇔ ¬(x = y)
A slash placed through another
operator is the same as "¬" placed
in front.
The statement A ∧ B is true if A
and B are both true; else it is false.
n < 4 ∧ n >2 ⇔ n = 3 when n is a
natural number.
logical disjunction
or
propositional logic
The statement A ∨ B is true if A or
B (or both) are true; if both are
false, the statement is false.
n ≥ 4 ∨ n ≤ 2 ⇔ n ≠ 3 when n is a
natural number.
exclusive disjunction
xor
propositional logic, Boolean
algebra
Tautology
top
propositional logic, Boolean
algebra
The statement A ⊕ B is true when
either A or B, but not both, are
true. A ⊻ B means the same.
(¬A) ⊕ A is always true, A ⊕ A is always
false.
The statement ⊤ is unconditionally
true.
A ⇒ ⊤ is always true.
The statement ⊥ is unconditionally
false.
⊥ ⇒ A is always true.
F
Contradiction
bottom
propositional logic, Boolean
algebra
0
∀
universal quantification
∀ x: P(x) means P(x) is true for all
∀ n ∈ N: n2 ≥ n.
+
ƠƠ
⊕
⊻
⊤
T
1
⊥
8
∃
∃!
:=
≡
for all; for any; for each
predicate logic
existential quantification
there exists
first-order logic
uniqueness quantification
there exists exactly one
first-order logic
definition
is defined as
everywhere
x.
∃ x: P(x) means there is at least
one x such that P(x) is true.
∃ n ∈ N: n is even.
∃! x: P(x) means there is exactly
one x such that P(x) is true.
∃! n ∈ N: n + 5 = 2n.
x := y or x ≡ y means x is defined
to be another name for y (but note
that ≡ can also mean other things,
such as congruence).
cosh x := (1/2)(exp x + exp (−x))
A XOR B :⇔ (A ∨ B) ∧ ¬(A ∧ B)
:⇔
()
⊢
⊨
precedence grouping
everywhere
Turnstile
provable
propositional logic, first-order
logic
double turnstile
entails
propositional logic, first-order
logic
P :⇔ Q means P is defined to be
logically equivalent to Q.
Perform the operations inside the
parentheses first.
x ⊢ y means y is provable from x
(in some specified formal system).
x ⊨ y means x semantically entails
y
(8/4)/2 = 2/2 = 1, but 8/(4/2) = 8/2 = 4.
A → B ⊢ ¬B → ¬A
A → B ⊨ ¬B → ¬A
Probably the most natural approach to formal logic is through the idea of the validity of an argument of the
diversity known as deductive. A deductive argument can be roughly characterized as one in which the
claim is made that some proposition (the conclusion) follows with strict necessity from some other
proposition or propositions (the premises) i.e., that it would be inconsistent or self-contradictory to assert
the premises but deny the conclusion.
In deductive form of reasoning, an argument is constructed to flow from general to specific conclusions.
Deductive argument owes to Aristotle hence called Aristotelian Logic. For example “all human die. Juma is
a human; therefore conclusion will be Juma will die”. Such an argument is called a syllogism. An argument
is termed valid if its conclusion does indeed follow from its premises, whether the premises are true or not,
while an argument is said to sound truth if its conclusion follows from premises that are true.
9
In inductive form of logic an argument is constructed to flow from specific to general conclusion. This is
when a speaker argues by facts obtained from grass root view to generalize thereafter. Such an argument
is very popular in research.
Inferences from premises require rules of inference, such as the most popular method, modus ponens.
Simple propositional logic involves inferences from propositions, which are declarations that are either true
or false. Predicate logic deals with inferences from variables that need to be qualified by a quantifier as to
when they are true and when they are false. Inductive reasoning makes conclusions or generalizations
based on probabilistic reasoning.
1.3.5
Specialization in Philosophy
This is a process whereby individuals acquire exceptional knowledge of, or skills in, a particular subject as
a result of constant and intensive study of subject. In this category we can explain some of them like
language, education, political, law, mind, religion and science. For example, the philosophy of language
explores the nature, the origins, and the use of language. In other words this type inquires into the nature of
meaning, and seeks to give explanation on what it means by "mean" of something. The philosophy of law
(jurisprudence) explores the varying theories, which elucidate the nature and the interpretations of the law
in society.
Political philosophy is the study of government and the relationship of individuals (or families and clans) to
communities including the state. It includes questions about justice, law, property, and the rights and
obligations of the citizen. Politics and ethics are traditionally inter-linked subjects, as both discuss the
question of what is good and how people should live. From ancient times, and well beyond them, the roots
of justification for political authority were inescapably tied to outlooks on human nature.
10
In The Republic, Plato presented the argument that the ideal society would be run by a council of
philosopher-kings, since those best at philosophy are best able to realize the good. Even Plato, however,
required philosophers to make their way in the world for many years before beginning their rule at the age
of fifty.
For Aristotle, humans are political animals (i.e. social animals), and governments are set up to pursue good
for the community. Aristotle reasoned that, since the state (polis) was the highest form of community, it has
the purpose of pursuing the highest good. Aristotle viewed political power as the result of natural
inequalities in skill and virtue.
Lastly, is the philosophy of science. In this category is concerned with the assumptions, foundations,
methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the utilization/application and advantage of
knowledge. Scientists have raised two basic questions (1) what is the aim of knowledge and (2) how should
one interpret the results of knowledge?
Summary
In this lecture, we have touched generally on what philosophy is all about. We have found that, although
there are many definitions of the term philosophy, the most agreeable term however is that which refer
to the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge,
values, reason, mind, and language.
There are only four branches of philosophy and specializations. This lecture has exposed you to these
four branches of philosophy namely metaphysics, epistemology, axiology and logic philosophy. and
political. Just to make you integrate these important concepts in your cognitive structure we have
discussed that;
Metaphysics has been defined as the study of reality, such as those including existence, the
relationship between mind and body, objects and their properties, events and causation while ethics
11
is concerned primarily with the question of the best way to live, and secondarily, concerning the
question of whether this question can be answered.
While Epistemology is concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge, such as the relationships
between truth, belief, and theories of justification on the other hand logic has been defined as the
study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning.
Axiology studies mainly two kinds of principles: ethics and aesthetics. Ethics investigates the
concepts of "right" and "good" in individual and social behavior. Aesthetics studies the concepts of
"beauty" and "harmony."
Logic refers to both the study of form of reasoning (which are valid and which are fallacious)
and the use of valid reasoning. In the latter sense, logic is used in most intellectual
activities, including philosophy and science, but in the first sense is studied primarily in the
disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics and computer science.
Activity
1. What do you understand by the term Philosophy?
2. Using concrete examples from the local environment, differentiate the following terms: (a) Epistemology and Logic
(b) Metaphysics and ethics
(c) Political philosophy and Moral philosophy
3. “In informal logic a fallacy is usually an error in reasoning often due to a misconception
or a presumption. Some so-called fallacies are not rhetorically intended to appeal to
reason but rather to emotion or a more nuanced disposition”. With vivid examples
discuss the meaning of the above statement and give brief explanation the meaning and
difference between verbal, deductive and material fallacies.
12
References:
1. Sainsbury, R. M.k (2001). Logical forms: an introduction to philosophical logic. Wiley-Blackwell.
2. Ramsey, F. P. (1931). The Foundations of Mathematics and Other Logical Essays. London: Kegan
Paul.
3. Njoroge R. J and Bennars G. A., (1996): Philosophy and Education in Africa, Transafrica Press, Nairobi.
Further Reading
Audi, R. (1999), The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 2nd Edition, Cambridge, University
Press, Cambridge.
Heilbrour, R. (1996), Teachings from the Worldly Philosophy, W.W. Norton and Company Ltd,
London.
Chambliss, J.J., (1996), Philosophy of Education. An Encyclopedia, Routledge, London.
Kant, I. (1985), Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, Hackett Publishing Company.
Kelly, M. (1998), Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, Oxford University Press New York.
13
LECTURE TWO
2
Environmental Philosophy
2.1
Introduction
Commonly understood, environment refers to the surroundings of an object. Many people use the terms
'nature' and 'environment' interchangeably. However, the word environment may refer to the physical,
cultural, social, political, and economic and so forth. All these categorization are of concern to us and for
the sake of this course, our main focus as far as the term environment is of concern will be on the physical
environment, which means surroundings of human beings. Having studied what is philosophy and
branches of philosophy, it is hoped that after knowing philosophy and its branches you are able now to
articulate philosophical concepts as foundation of environmental philosophy.
Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to: 1. Define the term environmental philosophy
2. Address the fundamental questions in environmental philosophy.
3. Describe different branches of environmental philosophy.
2.2
Background to the Concept
Environmental philosophy is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with the natural environment and
humans' place within it. Environmental philosophy is an application of philosophical fundamental questions
to understand environmental ethics. We have learned in Chapter one basic philosophical question like:
What is reality? What is knowledge? What are values? What is logic? Consequently, the fundamental
questions in environmental philosophy will be: What is environmental reality? (metaphysics of
environment); What is the content of knowledge about environment
14
or what do we know about
environment? (Epistemology of en environment); What are values that underlie environment (Axiology of
environment)? What are truthfulness arguments vs fallacies on the theories of environment? (Logic of
environment).
As it was presented above, part of environmental philosophy is therefore, exploring what we know and
believe about the environment. As such, environmental philosophy requires us to develop wisdom about
the environment. This means, discussing what is best for the environment, especially with respect to our
own actions within the environment.
2.3
Fundamental Questions of Environmental Philosophy
We have seen in the above definitions there are four philosophical questions: What is reality? What is
knowledge? What are values? What is logic? There are two types of questions that we must ask in
environmental philosophy, first, are there values to us in identifying and studying natural environments?
Hence, does preservation of natural environments matter? Second, is there an ethics of balance in which
humans are mutually involved with all the other objects of the world?
The word, environment' means "that which environs us." Being "environed" is being encircled or
surrounded. Broadly speaking, the environment is the overall physical and emotional context in which we
are located. Most of the environmental abuse, today, starts within and is caused by the contemporary fact
that we are short-sighted and ignorant about the specific environs that nurture us.
Humans are fully natural creatures. They have been a part of natural landscapes for more than three million
years. This being the case then, we should not view nature as something from which humans are inherently
absent; and wilderness, as a natural place from which all trace of humans is absent.
We can summarize that environmental philosophy as the field that brings together the development of
wisdom with a specific awareness in the environment. The process involves exploring what we know and
15
justifiably believe about the environment. This requires us to develop knowledge about the environment
discussing what is best for the environment and what we can do to restore the natural beauty of the
environment.
2.4
Branches of Environmental Philosophy
Environmental philosophy can be analyzed in different ways. However, for the purpose of this study,
environmental philosophy covers environmental ethics, ecofeminism, ecotheology as well as aesthetics. I
will introduce some of these concepts here but detailed explanations will be discussed in details in other
lecture series that will follow.
2.4.1
Environmental Ethics
This is the part of environmental philosophy which considers extending the traditional boundaries of ethics
from solely including humans to including the non-human world. It exerts influence on a large range of
disciplines including law, sociology, theology, economics, ecology and geography. The academic field of
environmental ethics grew up in response to the work of scientists such as Rachel Carson and events such
as the first Earth Day in 1970, when environmentalists started urging philosophers to consider the
philosophical aspects of environmental problems.
2.4.2
Ecofeminism
This is a social and political movement which points to the existence of considerable common ground
between environmentalism and feminism, with some currents linking deep ecology and feminism.
Ecofeminists argue that important experiential, theoretical, and linguistic parallels exist between the
oppression and subordination of women and nature in Western cultural tradition through the transformation
of differences into culturally constructed conceptual binaries and ideological hierarchies that allow a
systematic justification of domination ("power-over power") by subjects classed into higher-ranking
categories over objects classed into lower-ranking categories (e.g. man over woman, culture over nature).
16
Beyond this nature/culture, male/female dualisms, ecofeminists posit that the Western cosmology
dichotomizes all aspects of perceived reality; in examples without a cultural "opposite," the category "x" is
split into "x" and "not-x" or the absence of "x." Ecofeminists also explore the intersectionality between
sexism, the domination of nature, racism, speciesism, and other characteristics of social inequality.
In some of their current work, ecofeminists argue that the capitalist and patriarchal systems that
predominate throughout the world reveal a triple domination of the Global South (people who live in the
Third World), women, and nature. This domination and exploitation of women, of poorly resourced peoples
and of nature sits at the core of the ecofeminist analysis.
Ecotheology is a form of constructive theology that focuses on the interrelationships of religion and nature,
particularly in the light of environmental concerns. Ecotheology generally starts from the premise that a
relationship exists between human religious/spiritual worldviews and the degradation of nature. It explores
the interaction between ecological values, such as sustainability, and the human domination of nature. The
movement has produced numerous religious-environmental projects around the world. The burgeoning
awareness of environmental crisis has led to widespread religious reflection on the human relationship with
the earth. Such reflection has strong precedents in most religious traditions in the realms of ethics and
cosmology, and can be seen as a subset or corollary to the theology of nature.
Summary
In this lecture we have discussed that Environmental philosophy is a branch of philosophy that is
concerned with the natural environment and humans' place within it and that it includes among others
environmental ethics, environmental aesthetics, ecofeminism and environmental theology. The major
interests of the environmental philosophy is on how we can give a proper definition of environment in
17
nature, how to value the environment, determination of the moral status of animals and plants, how
to protect endangered species, environmentalism and deep ecology learning the aesthetic value of
nature restoration with the full consideration of the future generation.
The most important basic questions that we need to tackle are to whether there are values to us in
identifying and studying natural environments and whether are there any ethics of balance in which
humans are mutually involved with all the other objects of the world.
Environmental philosophy can be sub categorized into environmental ethics which is the part of
environmental philosophy which considers extending the traditional boundaries of ethics from solely
including humans to including the non-human world, Ecofeminism which is a social and political
movement which points to the existence of considerable common ground between environmentalism
and feminism, with some currents linking deep ecology and feminism and Ecotheology which is a
form of constructive theology that focuses on the interrelationships of religion and nature, particularly
in the light of environmental concerns.
Activity
1. Define the term environmental philosophy.
2. With examples describe the major fundamental questions in environmental
philosophy.
3. Give a detailed description of the different branches of environmental philosophy.
4. Justify the contention that it is always important to conserve the nature.
References
18
1. Barry, A. (2008), Artifice and Design: Art and Technology in Human Experience. Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Pres.
2. Brian, A. W. (2009), The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves, New York, Free Press.
Further Reading
1. Keller, E.A and Botkin, D.B., (2007): Environmental Science, John Willy and sons,
inc. London.
2. Beckman, T. (2000), What Is Environmental Philosophy?
http://www2.hmc.edu/~tbeckman/essays/position.htm (accessed on 7th March 2012)
3. Sandler, R. (2007), Character and Environment: A Virtue-Oriented Approach to
Environmental Ethics, New York: Columbia University Press.
4. Schmidtz, D. and Willott, E. (2002), Environmental Ethics: What Really Matters, What
Really Works, New York: Oxford University Press.
19
LECTURE THREE
3
Pioneers of the Philosophy of Nature
3.1
Introduction
The natural philosophy owes its existence to many people who devoted their life and time in order to
defend the nature. This lecture intends to introduce to you some of the prominent pioneers of natural
philosophy. Many of the ideas contained in this course owe their existences..
Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to: 1. Identify and describe different pioneers of the philosophy of nature.
2. Describe the role of each philosopher towards the development of the present day
environmental philosophy.
3. Discuss the impact of each contribution to the present day environmental condition.
3.2
Mary Hunter Austin
Mary Hunter Austin (September 9, 1868 – August 13, 1934) known as “The Women Who Make Our Novel
s” was one of the early nature writers of the American Southwest. Her typical novel “The Land of Little
Rain” she wrote in 1903, describes the fauna, flora and people – as well as evoking the mysticism and
spirituality of the region between the High Sierras and the Mojave Desert of southern California. Austin was
20
a prolific novelist, poet, critic, and playwright, as well as an early feminist and defender of Native American
and Spanish-American rights.
3.3
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882), was an American lecturer, essayist, and poet. He
is best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as
a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he
disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across
the United States. Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his
contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay,
Nature.
3.4
Aldo Leopold
Aldo Leopold (January 11, 1887 – April 21, 1948), was an American ecologist, forester, and
environmentalist. Influential in the development of modern environmental ethics and in the movement for
wilderness conservation, his ethics of nature and wildlife preservation had a profound impact on the
environmental movement, with his biocentric or holistic ethics regarding land. He emphasized biodiversity
and ecology and was a founder of the science of wildlife management.
Early on Leopold was assigned to hunt and kill bears, wolves, and mountain lions. Local ranchers hated
these predators because of livestock losses. However, Leopold came to respect the animals. He developed
an ecological ethic that replaced the earlier wilderness ethic that stressed the need for human dominance.
Rethinking the importance of predators in the balance of nature resulted in the return of bears and
mountain lions to New Mexico wilderness areas.
21
By the early 1920s, Leopold had concluded that a particular kind of preservation should be embraced in the
national forests of the American West. He was prompted to this by the rampant building of roads to
accommodate the "proliferation of the automobile" and the related increasingly heavy recreational demands
placed on public lands.
He was the first to employ the term wilderness to describe such preservation. Over the next two decades
he added ethical and scientific rationales to his defense of the wilderness concept. In one essay, he
rhetorically asked "Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" Leopold saw a
progress of ethical sensitivity from interpersonal relationships to relationships to society as a whole to
relationships with the land, leading to a steady diminution of actions based on expediency, conquest, and
self-interest. Leopold thus rejected the utilitarianism of conservationists like Gifford Pinchot and Theodore
Roosevelt.
By the 1930s Leopold was the nation's foremost expert on wildlife management. He advocated the
scientific management of wildlife habitats by both public and private landholders rather than a reliance on
game refuges, hunting laws, and other methods intended to protect specific species of desired game.
Leopold viewed wildlife management as a technique for restoring and maintaining diversity in the
environment rather than primarily as a means of producing a shootable surplus. He viewed the wilderness
as an arena for a healthy biotic community, including wolves and mountain lions. In 1935 he helped found
the Wilderness Society, dedicated to expanding and protecting the nation's wilderness areas. He regarded
the society as "one of the focal points of a new attitude—an intelligent humility toward man's place in
nature.
22
3.4
John Muir
John Muir (21 April 1838 – 24 December 1914) was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early
advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His activism helped to save the Yosemite
Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. In his later life, Muir devoted most of his time to
the preservation of the Western forests. He petitioned the U.S. Congress for the National Park Bill that was
passed in 1899, establishing both Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks.
Because of the spiritual quality and enthusiasm toward nature expressed in his writings, he was able to
inspire readers, including presidents and congressmen, to take action to help preserve large nature areas.
He is today referred to as the "Father of the National Parks.
Muir was noted for being an ecological thinker, political spokesman, and religious prophet, whose writings
became a personal guide into nature for countless individuals, making his name "almost ubiquitous" in the
modern environmental consciousness. According to author William Anderson, Muir exemplified "the
archetype of our oneness with the earth"
Muir understood that if he hoped to discover truth, he had to turn to what he believed to be the most
accurate sources. In his book, The Story of My Boyhood and Youth (1913), he writes that during his
childhood, his father made him read the Bible every day. Muir eventually memorized three quarters of the
Old Testament and all of the New Testament.
Muir became attached to the American natural landscapes and he began to see another "primary source
for understanding God: the Book of Nature." in nature, especially in the wilderness, Muir was able to study
the plants and animals in an environment that he believed "came straight from the hand of God,
uncorrupted by civilization and domestication." Muir's belief in this "Book of Nature" compelled him to tell
the story of "this creation in words any reader could understand." As a result, his writings were to become
23
"prophecy, for [they] sought to change our angle of vision." Muir's philosophy and world view rotated around
his perceived dichotomy between civilization and nature.
During his career as writer and while living in the mountains, Muir continued to experience the "presence of
the divine in nature," Every particle of rock or water or air has God by its side leading it the way it should
go; The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness; In God's wildness is the hope of the
world." His personal letters also conveyed these feelings of ecstasy. He successfully took the biblical
language and inverted it to proclaim the passion of attachment, not to a supernatural world but to a natural
one. To go to the mountains and sequoia forests, for Muir, was to engage in religious worship of utter
seriousness and dedication."
3.5
Henry David Thoreau
Henry (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862), was an American author, poet, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister,
development critic, surveyor, historian, philosopher and leading transcendentalist. He is best known for his
book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an
argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.
Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting
contributions were his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and
findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern day environmentalism.
His literary style interweaves close natural observation, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic
meanings, and historical lore; while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and "Yankee"
love of practical detail. He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in the face of hostile elements,
historical change, and natural decay; at the same time imploring one to abandon waste and illusion in order
to discover life's true essential needs.
24
He was a lifelong abolitionist, delivering lectures that attacked the Fugitive Slave Law while praising the
writings of Wendell Phillips and defending abolitionist John Brown. Thoreau's philosophy of civil
disobedience influenced the political thoughts and actions of such later figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma
Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Thoreau is sometimes cited as an individualist anarchist.
Though Civil Disobedience seems to call for improving rather than abolishing government – "I ask for, not
at once no government, but at once a better government"– the direction of this improvement aims at
anarchism: "'That government is best which governs not at all;' and when men are prepared for it, that will
be the kind of government which they will have."
3.6
Rachel Carson
Rachel (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964), was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose
writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement. Carson began her career as a
biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. She widely
praised 1951 bestseller The Sea around Us won her financial security and recognition as a gifted writer.
Her next book, The Edge of the Sea, and the republished version of her first book, Under the Sea Wind,
were also bestsellers. Together, her sea trilogy explores the whole of ocean life, from the shores to the
surface to the deep sea.
In the late 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation and the environmental problems caused by
synthetic pesticides. The result was Silent Spring (1962), which brought environmental concerns to an
unprecedented portion of the American public. Silent Spring, while met with fierce denial from chemical
companies, spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy—leading to a nationwide ban on DDT and other
pesticides—and the grassroots environmental movement the book inspired led to the creation of the
25
Environmental Protection Agency. Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom
by Jimmy Carter.
3.7
Garret Hardin
Garrett (April 21, 1915 – September 14, 2003), was an American ecologist who warned of the dangers of
overpopulation and whose concept of the tragedy of the commons brought attention to "the damage that
innocent actions by individuals can inflict on the environment". He was most well known for his elaboration
of this theme in his 1968 paper, The Tragedy of the Commons.
A major focus of his career, and one to which he returned repeatedly, was the issue of human
overpopulation. This led to writings on controversial subjects such as abortion, which earned him criticism
from the political right, and immigration and sociobiology, which earned him criticism from the political left.
In his essays he also tackled subjects such as conservation and creationism.
Hardin, who suffered from a heart disorder, and his wife Jane, who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease,
were members of End-of-Life Choices, formerly known as the Hemlock Society, and believed in individuals
choosing their own time to die. They committed suicide in their Santa Barbara home in September 2003,
shortly after their 62nd wedding anniversary. He was 88 and she was 81.
Summary
This lecture has introduced you to the most important philosophers of nature who contributed
enormous towards the development of the present day environmental philosophy.
Mary Austin was a prolific novelist, poet, critic, and playwright, as well as an early feminist and
defender of Native American and Spanish-American rights. She is best known for her tribute to
the deserts of the American Southwest, The Land of Little Rain.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American lecturer, essayist, and poet, best remembered for
26
leading the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of
individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society.
Aldo Leopold is Influential in the development of modern environmental ethics and in the
movement for wilderness conservation. His ethics of nature and wildlife preservation had a
profound impact on the environmental movement, with his biocentric or holistic ethics regarding
land.
John Muir is credited for being an ecological thinker, political spokesman, and religious prophet,
whose writings became a personal guide into nature for countless individuals, making his name
"almost ubiquitous" in the modern environmental consciousness.
David Henry Thoreau is best known for his contribution on natural history and philosophy. He
contributed towards the development of the modern day methods and findings of ecology and
environmental history. His works forms important sources of modern day environmentalism.
Activity
1.
With examples describe the contributions of the following nature philosophers towards the development of the
present modern day Environmental philosophy
a. David Henry Thoreau
b. John Muir
c. Ralph Aldo Emerson
d. Rachel Carson
e. Garret Hardin
2.
In which ways does the work of Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson shaped the conservation of nature
movement as it is today?
3.
Using John Muir’s point of view, justify the contention that nature adoration and conservation is but another
way of worshipping the true GOD.
4.
Discuss the concept of the tragedy of the common and show this problem come about in many rural areas of
sub Saharan Africa.
5. Discuss the significance of Rachel Carson, the silent spring towards the current world movement on nature
conservation.
Further Reading
27
Heilbrour, R., (1996): Teachings from the Worldly Philosophy, W.W. Norton and Company Ltd,
London.
Hardin, G. (1968). The Tragedy of the Commons Science 162 (3859): 1243–1248 (available on
http://dieoff.org/page95.htm)
Adamson, L. G. (!999), Notable Women in American History: A Guide to Recommended Biographies
and Autobiographies, Greenwood Press.
LECTURE FOUR
4
Ecofeminism
4.1
Introduction
The past few decades have witnessed an enormous interest in both the women's movement and the
environmental movement. Many feminists have argued that the goals of these two movements are mutually
reinforcing; ultimately they involve the development of worldviews and practices that are not based on
male-biased models of domination.
In this lecture we would like to find out the extent to which our environment are interconnected with the
feminist issue and what makes it to be so.
Lecture Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to: (1) Define the term Ecofeminism and describe the essence of the philosophy.
(2) Critically show the extent to which feminism is connected to nature.
(3) Discuss the significance of ecofeminism towards nature sustainable development.
28
4.2
Background to the Concept
The term ecofeminism was coined in 1974 by Françoise d'Eaubonne to refer to the philosophy and
movement born from the union of feminist and ecological thinking. Most of sociologists indicate
ecofeminism is the social movement that regards the oppression of women and nature as interconnected.
They have developed a theory “ecofeminism theory”, which have extended their analyses to think about the
interconnections between sexism, the domination of nature (including animals), and also racism and social
inequalities. As a result it is now believed as a movement working against the interconnected oppressions
of gender, race, class and nature. The philosophy is premised on the belief that, the social mentality that
leads to the domination and oppression of women is directly connected to the social mentality that leads to
the abuse of the natural environment.
Ecofeminism represents the union of the radical ecology movement, or what has been called 'deep
ecology', and feminism. The word 'ecology' emerges from the biological discipline of natural environmental
systems. It examines how these natural communities function to sustain a healthy web of life and how they
become disrupted, causing death to the plant and animal life. Human intervention is obviously one of the
main causes of such disruption.
Thus ecology emerged as a combined socio-economic and biological study in the late sixties to examine
how human use of nature is causing pollution of soil, air and water, and destruction of the natural systems
of plants and animals, threatening the base of life on which the human community itself depends.
4.3
The Central Principle of Ecofeminism
The central principle of ecofeminism is male ownership of land which led to a dominator culture manifesting
itself in food export, over-grazing, the tragedy of the commons, exploitation of people and an abusive land
ethic where animals and land are valued only as economic resources. Other ecofeminists claim that the
29
degradation of nature contributes to the degradation of women. To provide concrete evidence in this
regard, Thomas-Slayter and Rocheleau use the Kenyan case to show the extent of this truth.
According to them, the capitalist driven export economy in Kenya has caused most of the agriculturally
productive land to be used for monoculture cash crops. This led to intensification of pesticide use, resource
depletion and relocation of subsistence farmers, especially women, to the hillsides and less productive
land, where their deforestation and cultivation led to soil erosion, furthering the environmental degradation
that hurts their own productivity.
Basing on the above belief, ecofeminists argues that, there is a connection between women and nature
comes from their shared history of oppression by a patriarchal society. This connection also comes from
the positive identification of women with nature which can be argued from an essentialist position,
attributing it to biological factors, or from a position that explains it as a social construct.
It is claimed that, women have a special connection to the environment through their daily interactions with
it that has been ignored. Women in subsistence economies, producing and reproducing wealth in
partnership with nature, have been experts in their own right of holistic and ecological knowledge of
nature’s processes.
Feminist environmentalists study gender interests in natural resources and processes based on their
different roles in daily work and responsibilities. Social feminists focus on the role of gender in political
economy by analyzing the impact of production and reproduction of men and women’s relation to economic
systems. Feminist poststructuralists explain gender’s relation to the environment as a reflection of beliefs of
identity and difference such as race, class, gender, age, and ethnicity. In this way they try to explain the
relation of gender and development.
30
4.4
Historical Background of Ecofeminism
Up to 5,000 years ago, the earth was a matriarchate, based on the worship of the Goddess. Women and
men were equally valued. These societies were "not warlike and they were also not societies where women
were subordinate to men. The earth was by then not viewed as an object for exploitation and domination.
This golden age was a partnership society, where no one was dominated or dominator and diversity was
not equated with inferiority or superiority. This period of peace and harmony came to an end when men
emerged as the dominator. It was further aggravated by the coming in force of industrial revolution. From
then, women and nature alike turned into object of exploitation.
As for now, the dominator society is depicted as continuing without any signs of stopping or slowing. In fact,
the rush to development has put more and more peoples and animals under its control and pushed the
ever giving earth to the point of crisis. There is some recognition of the crisis for people in developing
nations, but overall concern is for the animals of the world. All life is connected; the destinies of the oak
trees and all the peoples of the Earth are wrapped together. But more importantly is that all life is sacred.
The destruction of any living being is a disaster.
Ecofeminists dramatize the loss of species, the wearing of furs and feathers and the needless death of
animals for food as signs of the destruction of the earth. Under the men dominion, the earth is being
exploited and harmed. To end this tragedy, we need to develop the earth-centered consciousness.
4.5
Interconnection of Woman and Nature
One great thinker Ruether, Rosemary Radford in 1993, indicated that ecofeminism is a social and political
pressure group claiming a significant common ground between environmentalism and feminism, with some
currents involving ecology and feminism. There are many ways in which women and nature are
interconnected:
31
4.5.1
Historical, Typically Causal, Connections:
These are the prototypical patterns of domination that begun with the invasion of Indo-European societies
by nomadic tribes from Eurasia about 4500 B.C. and the cultural and scientific changes that occurred more
recently during the scientific revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: it was then that an older
world order characterized by cooperation between humans and nature was replaced by a reductionist,
"mechanistic world view of modern science," which sanctioned the exploitation of nature, unchecked
commercial and industrial expansion, and the subordination of women.
4.5.2
Conceptual Connections
The historical and fundamental links between the dominations of women and nature are located in
conceptual structures of domination that construct women and nature in male-biased ways. Basically three
such conceptual links have been offered.
(i) Account locates a conceptual basis of the twin dominations of women and nature in value dualisms
and value hierarchies. Frequently cited examples of these hierarchically organized value dualisms
include reason/emotion, mind/body, culture/nature, human/nature, and man/woman dichotomies.
Proponent of this position argue that, whatever is historically associated with emotion, body, nature,
and women is regarded as inferior to that which is (historically) associated with reason, mind,
culture, human (that is male) and men.
(ii) Expands on the first by housing the problematic value dualisms and value hierarchies in larger,
oppressive conceptual frameworks that is ones that are common to all social "isms of domination"
(for example sexism, racism, classism, heterosexism as well as "naturism," i.e., the unjustified
domination of nonhuman nature.
(iii) Locates a conceptual basis in sex-gender differences, particularly in differentiated personality
formation or consciousness Proponents in this position asserts that, female bodily experiences (for
32
example of reproduction and childbearing), not female biology per se, situate women differently with
respect to nature than men. This sex-gender difference is (allegedly) revealed in a different
consciousness in women than men toward nature. It is rooted conceptually in "paradigms that are
uncritically oriented to the dominant western masculine forms of experiencing the world. These
sociopsychological factors provide a conceptual link due to the fact that; they are embedded in
different conceptualization structures and strategies, coping strategies and ways of relating to
nature for women and men. A goal of ecofeminism then, is to develop gender-sensitive language,
theory, and practices that do not further the exploitative experiences and habits of dissociated,
male-gender identified culture toward women and nature.
4.5.3
Empirical and Experiential Connections
Many ecofeminists have focused on recognition empirical evidence linking women with environmental
destruction. Some point to various health and risk factors borne disproportionately by women, children,
racial minorities and the poor caused by the presence of low-level radiation, pesticides, toxics, and other
pollutants. Others provide data to show that First World development policies result in policies and
practices regarding food, forest, and water, which directly contribute to the inability of women to provide
adequately for themselves and their families. Feminist animal rights scholars argue that, factory farming,
animal experimentation, hunting, and meat eating are tied to patriarchal concepts and practices. Some
connect rape and pornography with male-gender identified abuse of both women and nature. Appeal to
such empirical data is intended both to document the very real, felt, lived "experiential" connections
between the dominations of women and nature and to motivate the need for joining together feminist critical
analysis and environmental concerns.
33
4.5.4
Symbolic Connections
Some ecofeminists have explored the symbolic association and devaluation of women and nature that
appears in religion, theology, art, and literature. Documenting such connections and making them integral
to the project of ecofeminism is often heralded as ecofeminism most promising contribution to the creation
of liberating, life-affirming, and post patriarchal worldviews and earth-based spiritualities or theologies.
Ecofeminism is then presented as offering alternative spiritual symbols, spiritualities or theologies, and
even utopian societies. Appreciating such symbolic woman-nature connections involves understanding the
politics of women's spirituality.
4.5.5
Epistemological Connections
The various alleged historical, causal conceptual, empirical, and symbolic woman-nature connections
(discussed above) have also motivated the need for new, ecofeminist epistemologies. Typically these
emerging epistemologies build on scholarship currently under way in feminist philosophy, which challenges
mainstream views of reason, rationality, knowledge, and the nature of the knower.
4.5.6
Political (Praxis) Connections
Ecofeminism has always been a grassroots political movement motivated by pressing pragmatic concerns.
These range from issues of women's and environmental health, to science, development and technology,
the treatment of animals, and peace, antinuclear, antimilitarist activism. The varieties of ecofeminist
perspectives on the environment are properly seen as an attempt to take seriously such grassroots
activism and political concerns by developing analyses of domination that explain, clarify, and guide that
praxis.
4.5.7
Ethical Connections
Most of the philosophical literature on woman and nature connections has appeared in the context of
environmental philosophy known as "environmental ethics." The argue that the interconnections require a
34
feminist ethical analysis and response. The goal of ecofeminist environmental ethics is to develop theories
and practices about humans and the natural environment that are not male-biased and provide a guide to
action in the pre feminist present. This may involve developing an ecofeminist ethic of care and appropriate
reciprocity, ecofeminist kinship ethics ecofeminist animal rights positions, an ecofeminist social ecology or
ecofeminist bioregionalism. As Plumwood and Warren claim in their essays, mainstream environmental
ethics are inadequate to the extent that they are problematically anthropocentric or hopelessly androcentric.
4.5.8
Theoretical Connections
The varieties of alleged woman-nature connections discussed above have generated different, sometimes
competing, theoretical positions in all areas of feminist and environmental philosophy. Nowhere is this more
evident than in the field of environmental ethics. These include the traditional consequentialist and nonconsequentialist or deontological positions, as well as challenges to them by nontraditional approaches.
Such is also the case in environmental ethics. There are consequentialist and non-consequentailist
approaches that extend traditional ethical considerations to include animals and the nonhuman
environment. There also are nontraditional approaches that raise considerations underplayed or omitted
entirely from mainstream philosophical ethics. Feminists who address environmental issues can be found
advocating positions within this broad philosophical range.
4.6
The Significance of Ecofeminism
The preceding account identifies eight sorts of connections between the domination of women and the
domination of nature that have been defended by ecofeminists. It also indicates both generally and
specifically the nature of the challenges that acceptance of these connections poses for contemporary
feminism, environmentalism, and environmental philosophy. But if the power and promise of ecological
feminism runs as deep as many ecofeminists suppose, there must be implications of ecofeminism for
mainstream philosophy as well. This subsection discusses briefly on some of these implications.
35
(a) The historical links suggest that data from the social sciences on women, development, and the
environment are important undertakings in many areas of philosophy. For instance, in ethics such
data raise important issues about anthropocentric and androcentric bias. Can mainstream normative
ethical theories generate an environmental ethic that is not male-biased?
(b) In epistemology, data on the "indigenous technical knowledge" of women, forestry, water collection,
farming and food production raise issues about women's "epistemic privilege" and the need for
"feminist standpoint epistemologies."
(c) In metaphysics, data on the cross-cultural variability of women-nature connections raise issues about
the social constructions of conceptions of both women and nature and the human-nature dichotomy
of at least dominant Western philosophy.
(d) In political philosophy, data on the inferior standards of living of women globally raise issues about
political theories and theorizing: What roles do unequal distributions of power and privilege play in the
maintenance of systems of domination over both women and nature. How do they affect the content
of political theories and the methodology of political theorizing?
(e) In the history of philosophy, data on the historical inferiorization of what is both female-gender and
nature identified raise issues about the anthropocentric and andocentric biases of philosophical
theories in any given time period.
(f) In philosophy of science, particularly philosophy of biology, such data raise issues about the
relationships between feminism and science, particularly ecological science. As Carolyn Merchant
asks, "Is there a set of assumptions basic to the science of ecology that also holds implications for
the status of women? Is there an ecological ethic that is also a feminist ethic?" Are there important
parallels between contemporary ecofeminist ethics and ecosystem ecology that suggest ways in
which the two are engaged in mutually supportive projects
36
These are the sorts of questions ecofeminism raises for traditional fields in mainstream philosophy.
Perhaps the most serious challenges to mainstream philosophy are at the level of conceptual analysis and
theory. Ecofeminism raises significant issues about the philosophical conceptions of the self, knowledge
and the knower, reason and rationality, objectivity, and a host of favored dualisms that form the backbone
of philosophical theorizing, even the conception of philosophy itself.
These notions will need to be reexamined for possible male-gender bias. The challenge to philosophy is to
replace conceptual schemes, theories, and practices that currently feminize nature and naturalize women
to the mutual detriment of both with ones that do not. That is what ecofeminists generally, present as a
basic argument.
Summary
This lecture has exposed you to the general premises of the ecofeminism as philosophy and
movement. As you have seen, ecofeminism contends that, the male domination cases
exploitation of both women and the nature. As Up to 5,000 years ago, the earth was a
matriarchate, based on the worship of the Goddess. Women and men were equally valued.
These societies were not warlike and they were also not societies where women were
subordinate to men. The earth was by then not viewed as an object for exploitation and
domination. This golden age was a partnership society, where no one was dominated or
dominator and diversity was not equated with inferiority or superiority. This period of peace and
harmony came to an end when men emerged as the dominator.
Chief indicators of female- nature interconnections are well reflected in many facets including
the historical, empirical, conceptual, symbolic, epistemological, political and theoretical
connections. Such connections provides the extent to which female are connected to nature.
The lecture end up by showing you the significances of ecofeminist movement and calls for
need to main stream ecological feminism in philosophy.
37
Activity
(1) Using examples from the world trace the origin and development of Ecofeminist
philosophy.
(2) Critically show the extent to which feminism is connected to nature.
(3) Discuss the significance of ecofeminism towards nature sustainable development.
Further Reading
Griffin, S. (1978). Woman and nature: The roaring inside her. New York: Harper and Row.
Lahar, S. (1991). Ecofeminist theory. Hypatia, 6, 29-43.
Nash, R. F. (1989). The rights of nature: A history of environmental ethics. Madison:
University of Wisconsin Press.
Diamond, I. & Orenstein, G. F. (Eds.). (1990). Reweaving the world: The emergence of
ecofeminism. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.
Thomas-Slayter, B. and D. Rocheleau. (1995) Gender, Environment and Development in
Kenya: A Grassroots Perspective.
Ruether, R. R. (1993). "Ecofeminism: Symbolic and Social Connections of the Oppression of
Women and the Domination of Nature". In Carol J. Adams. Ecofeminism and the Sacred.
New York:
38
LECTURE FIVE
5
Ecotheology
5.1
Introduction
When you read a bible, Exodus 1:28 claims that GOD gave man the power to dominate the world and
exploits for his survival and prosperity. This mandate that was given to man is said to have been misused
and for times has been responsible for causing environmental degradation. While this contention has
remained so, there are however different thinking over the matter.
This lecture wish to take you aboard into these realities and we hope at the end of the lecture, you will
probably have a clear picture of the whole thing.
At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. To trace the evolution of ecotheology in the world.
2. Argue for or against the relationship between Christianity and environmental
conservation.
3. Describe the contribution of Christianity doctrine on nature conservation.
39
5.2
Meaning of Ecotheology
The term ecotheology came into prominence in the late twentieth century, mainly in Christian circles, in
association with the emergent scientific field of ecology. Ecotheology describes theological discourse that
highlights the whole "household" of God's creation, especially the world of nature, as an interrelated system
(eco is from the Greek word for household, oikos). The philosophy arose in response to the widespread
acknowledgment that an environmental crisis of immense proportions was threatening the future of human
life on the earth. It also arose in response to what has been called "the ecological complaint" against
Christianity.
Some scholars and critics maintain that the Christian faith helped set the stage for the global environmental
crisis by instructing generations of believers that God transcends nature that humans likewise transcend
nature, and that nature therefore has meaning in the Christian schema only as an instrument for God's
purposes with humans. The signature Christian teaching in this respect was the theology of human
dominion over nature (also called stewardship), a theology that encouraged manipulation, even
exploitation, of nature for the sake of human purposes. According to these scholars and critics, Christianity
is unavoidably anthropocentric, no longer relevant to the ecological world, and even, in a sense, spiritually
dangerous.
5.3
Historical Background of Ecotheology
Christians have held a variety of views about nature, all of them rooted in widely divergent socioeconomic
and cultural situations. A nuanced understanding of Christian attitudes to nature must address those
differing contexts as well as the explicit theological teachings themselves.
A critical case is the Christian understanding of human dominion over nature. The meanings of this
teaching varied substantially from one period to another. From about 1500 to 1750, human dominion was
40
understood in terms of survival in the midst of a threatening world. Much economic life in those times was
carried on at a subsistence level, highly dependent on the precarious cycles of small-scale agriculture.
Except for the wealthiest, the vast majority of the people had to struggle, with minimal aid from technology
and with pervasive dependence on farm animals, such as oxen, in order to hack out agricultural spaces
from the primeval forests, where threatening predators, such as wolves, roamed freely, and where a
sustainable level of agricultural productivity was highly uncertain. Moreover, although many people lived in
the same buildings with their farm animals, which were part of their domestic world, their attitudes toward
wild animals tended to be negative, especially within the ranks of the wealthy, who sometimes fostered a
hunting culture predicated on delight in killing.
In this socioeconomic context, the biblical idea of human dominion over the earth would have been read
and enacted in terms of a life-and-death struggle with the vicissitudes of nature. After the mid eighteenth
century, towns and cities emerged in significant numbers in Europe, and human dominion over nature was
no longer interpreted in the context of an agricultural struggle for survival, but more in terms of an
increasingly crowded urbanized world that was predicated on the exploitation of nature, a world that
sometimes prompted a romantic nostalgia for the remembered beauties and purities of life in the country.
Human dominion over nature came to be viewed by some believers as a problem, rather than as a selfevident mandate in the quest for survival.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, trends of massive urbanization and industrialization, constantly
expanding applications of earthshaking technologies, especially in mining and agriculture, and concomitant
pollution of the land, sea, and air in virtually every region of the planet had increased to the breaking point.
Issues of human survival on the earth began to emerge, heightened by a growing awareness of the related
problems of global poverty, exhaustion of nonrenewable natural resources, and enormous population
41
growth. This global crisis, in turn, posed unprecedented questions to Christian communities around the
world.
The Christian teaching of human dominion over the earth came under attack, both by believers and by
critics hostile to the Christian tradition, because it seemed to symbolize much that was wrong with the way
humans had chosen to live on the earth. By the end of the twentieth century, the theme of human dominion
over nature had become, in the eyes of many, a scandal. On the other hand, the same theme continued to
be affirmed by a few leading Christian theologians and by numerous prominent Christian public policymakers, who wrote and acted as if the world needed nothing more than business-as-usual.
Such were the major socioeconomic contexts to which Christian theologians responded, consciously or
unconsciously. Significantly, these trends were made possible by the burgeoning natural sciences, above
all by the mechanistic science championed by Isaac Newton at the turn of the eighteenth century and by
the evolutionary science advocated by Charles Darwin during the nineteenth century. Theology was
buffeted by these cultural forces, too, especially by Darwinism, which sent tidal waves of anti-religious
sentiment coursing through the intellectual world of the times. On the other hand, many theologians thought
of their work not as responding to questions raised by socioeconomic or cultural trends, but as a creative
exposition of the whole body of traditional Christian teachings, according to the tradition's own norms.
5.4
The Christological Dimension of Ecology
If we stop at the idea of God the Creator and do not go forward we will never achieve an ecological
theology that corresponds to the Christian faith. Without Christ nature hides its final secret, its deepest
mystery. That mystery is the Christ-like constitution of nature.
If with God we discover nature as creation with Christ we descry nature enveloped in a higher mystery, the
mystery of salvation. This is what comes of Christology from a salvation-history perspective.
42
(a) By the very fact of Creation the world carries traces of Christ because “All things came to be through
him, and without him nothing came to be” (Jn 1: 3). In him all things hold together (Col 1:, 17; 1 Cor 8:
6). Christ’s incarnation was conceived before every creature; Christ is the “firstborn of all creation” (Col
1: 15) and its supreme archetype.
(b) Through the Incarnation in time Creation was in a sense assumed into and through Christ. It becomes
part of his mystical-ontological constitution. It is his “cosmic body.” This process is called
“recapitulation” and it extends throughout the whole of evolution. In the Holy Eucharist the “natural”
elements of bread and wine become “transubstantiated” into the body of God.
(c) Through the Paschal Mystery the “heavens and the earth” and not just mankind were redeemed by the
blood of Christ and reconciled to their Creator (Cf. Eph 1: 1-20; 2: 14. 16; Col 1: 20). In Christ the whole
world, and not just mankind, is reconciled with God (Cf. 2 Cor 5: 18-19).
(d) Through Christ’s glorification Creation – like human beings – is given an eternal and blessed destiny. It
is for this glorious destiny that Creation sighs in its depths and waits with so much anxiety (Rom. 8: 1821). The Risen Christ represents simultaneously the first-fruits and the guarantee, the model and the
cause of the world’s eschatological apotheosis. If Christ’s incarnation is called “the first-born of all
Creation” his resurrection has the glorious title: “the first-born of the dead” (Col 1: 18).
5.5
Re-evaluation of Christian Theology
There are three levels that can help us re-evaluate ecology from a Christian perspective. The highest level
is spirituality, the middle level is ethics and the lowest level is our daily activity.
(a) Re-discovering the “creatureliness” of things (the spiritual or mystical level): If moving away from the
Creator has led us to disdain nature going back to him will restore our love of nature. If we abandon the
Creator the whole of creation will abandon us. We could say that the fundamental solution to the
ecology problem is a return to the Creator. We must learn again how to look at all things as “creatures”
43
of God. As we said above “Creation” is the authentically religious and theological term Christians use to
speak of the world and the Cosmos.
(b) To re-discover “ecological justice” (the moral or ethical level): We know our moral obligations to others
and to God. But to creation? Is there such a thing as “ecological justice?” There is a fierce debate
about whether the things of nature have rights and duties; are they really ethical or legal subjects?
Michel Serres speaks about a “natural contract” between man and nature.
As creatures things are not without rights. They enjoy an intrinsic dignity and value linked to the nature with
which the Creator has endowed them. Things are ontologically good in themselves. Their worth does not
derive from the use to which they can be put or the financial value they represent as anthropocentrism
would have it. Their worth derives from their very nature and the place they occupy in creation. Of itself
nature has the right to subsist and live, to keep healthy and enjoy its harmony and above all to be spared
suffering and be allowed to grow.
If things have value independent of human beings we can affirm that they are truly independent subjects of
law. Since justice involves respect for the law there must be an ecological justice. Human beings have
ethical obligations to nature. With the image of God, man is the “shepherd of Creation.” He must care for it
“in God’s name” and according to God’s Will. He cannot use nature as he pleases as moderns would have
it. But at the same time he cannot worship nature as neo-pantheists would have it. The source and
measure of ecological justice is neither man nor nature itself but rather God who is the creator of both man
and nature.
(c) New admiration for nature (the esthetic or poetic level): As human being, we need a new sort of that
“eternal romanticism” that dwells in the human soul. We need a romanticism that is more aware of our
feelings of communion with nature as part of a universal brotherhood under the eyes of Christ. We
44
must see everything with the eyes of children, poets and saints. We must once more look at creation
with eyes of wonder.
Summary
This lecture has introduced you to the concept of ecotheology by showing that ecotheology is a
theological discourse that highlights the whole "household" of God's creation, especially the
world of nature, as an interrelated system. We have learnt that this philosophy arose in response
to the widespread facts of environmental crisis that was threatening the future of human life on
the earth. It also arose in response to the ecological complaint against Christianity.
Its historical development can be gauged into three main phase namely the pre industrial era in
which human dominion was understood in terms of survival in the midst of a threatening world,
the industrial era in which human dominion over nature was no longer interpreted in the context
of an agricultural struggle for survival, but more in terms of an increasingly crowded urbanized
world that was predicated on the exploitation of nature. In this era, human dominion over nature
came to be viewed by some believers as a problem, rather than as a self-evident mandate in the
quest for survival.
The third phase is known as the Post industrial period in which Christian ecotheology had
emerged as a theological movement that had begun to speak with a new and powerful voice on
behalf of the whole creation "groaning in travail.
45
Activity
1. Give a brief description of the word ecotheology
2. Trace the evolution of ecotheology in the world.
3. Justify the contention that Christianity is associated with environmental degradation.
4. With examples examine the Christianity doctrine toward the current efforts of nature
conservation.
Further Reading
Moltmann, Jürgen. God in Creation: A New Theology of Creation and the Spirit of God, trans.
Margaret Kohl. San Francisco: Harper, 1985.
Fox, Matthew. The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a
Global Renaissance. New York: Harper, 1988.
Hiebert, Theodore. "Reimaging Nature: Shifts in Biblical Interpretations." Interpretation 50
(1996): 36–46.
Simkins, Ronald A. Creator and Creation: Nature in the Worldview of Ancient Israel. Peabody,
Mass.: Hendrickson, 1994.
Nash, James A. Loving Nature: Ecological Integrity and Christian Responsibility. Nashville,
Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1991.
46
LECTURE SIX
6
Environmental Ethics
6.1
Introduction
Environmental ethics is the part of environmental philosophy which considers extending the traditional
boundaries of ethics from solely including humans to including the non-human world. It exerts influence on
a large range of disciplines including law, sociology, theology, economics, ecology and geography.
At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. Trace the development of environmental ethics as a disciple.
2. Describe the fundamental questions addressed by the environmental ethics.
3. Categorize different environmental ethics.
4. Describe the major perspectives of environmental ethics.
6.2
Background to Environmental Ethics
Environmental ethics has developed into a specific philosophical discipline in the 1970s due to the
increasing awareness in the 1960s of the effects that technology, industry, economic expansion and
population growth were having on the environment. The development of such awareness was aided by the
publication of two important books at this time. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring first published in 1962 that
alerted readers to how the widespread use of chemical pesticides was posing a serious threat to public
health and leading to the destruction of wildlife. Of similar significance was Paul Ehrlich’s 1968 book, The
Population Bomb, which warned of the devastating effects the spiraling human population has on the
planet’s resources.
47
6.3
Fundamental Questions Addressed by Environmental Ethics
The two fundamental questions that environmental ethics must address are: What duties do humans have with respect to the environment, and why? In order to tackle just what our
obligations are, it is usually thought necessary to consider first why we have them. For example, do we
have environmental obligations for the sake of human beings living in the world today, for humans living in
the future, or for the sake of entities within the environment itself, irrespective of any human benefits?
Different philosophers have given quite different answers to this fundamental question which, as we shall
see, has led to the emergence of quite different environmental ethics.
The second question addressed is on what obligations do we have concerning the natural environment? If
the answer is simply that we, as human beings, will perish if we do not constrain our actions towards
nature, then that ethic is considered to be “anthropocentric.” Anthropocentrism literally means “humancenteredness,” and in one sense all ethics must be considered anthropocentric. Under these ethics, we
have obligations in respect of the environment because we actually owe things to the creatures or entities
within the environment themselves.
Basing on these principles, it is obvious that, there are many ethical decisions that human beings make
with respect to the environment. For example:
•
Should we continue to clear cut forests for the sake of human consumption?
•
Should we continue to propagate?
•
Should we continue to make gasoline powered vehicles?
•
What environmental obligations do we need to keep for future generations?
48
•
Is it right for humans to knowingly cause the extinction of a species for the convenience of
humanity?
6.4
Categories of Environmental Ethics
There have been a number of scholars who've tried to categorise the various ways the natural environment
is valued. Alan Marshall and Michael Smith are two recent examples of this. For Marshall, three general
ethical approaches have emerged over the last 40 years. The discussion that follows shortly elaborates on
those categories.
6.4.1
Libertarian extension
Marshall’s Libertarian extension echoes a civil liberty approach (i.e. a commitment to extend equal rights to
all members of a community). In environmentalism, though, the community is generally thought to consist
of non-humans as well as humans. Andrew Brennan was an advocate of ecologic humanism (ecohumanism), the argument that all ontological entities, animate and in-animate, can be given ethical worth
purely on the basis that they exist. The work of Arne Næss and his collaborator Sessions also falls under
the libertarian extension, although they preferred the term "deep ecology". Deep ecology is the argument
for the intrinsic value or inherent worth of the environment – the view that it is valuable in itself. Their
argument, incidentally, falls under both the libertarian extension and the ecologic extension.
6.4.2
Ecologic extension
Alan Marshall's category of ecologic extension places emphasis not on human rights but on the recognition
of the fundamental interdependence of all biological (and some abiological) entities and their essential
diversity. Whereas Libertarian Extension can be thought of as flowing from a political reflection of the
natural world, Ecologic Extension is best thought of as a scientific reflection of the natural world. Ecological
Extension is roughly the same classification of Smith’s eco-holism, and it argues for the intrinsic value
49
inherent in collective ecological entities like ecosystems or the global environment as a whole entity.
Holmes Rolston, among others, has taken this approach.
This category includes James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis; the theory that the planet earth alters its geophysiological structure over time in order to ensure the continuation of an equilibrium of evolving organic
and inorganic matter. The planet is characterized as a unified, holistic entity with ethical worth of which the
human race is of no particular significance in the long run.
6.5
Conservation Ethics
Marshall's category of 'conservation ethics' is an extension of use-value into the non-human biological
world. It focuses only on the worth of the environment in terms of its utility or usefulness to humans. It
contrasts the intrinsic value ideas of 'deep ecology', hence is often referred to as 'shallow ecology', and
generally argues for the preservation of the environment on the basis that it has extrinsic value –
instrumental to the welfare of human beings. Conservation is therefore a means to an end and purely
concerned with mankind and intergenerational considerations. It could be argued that it is this ethic that
formed the underlying arguments proposed by Governments at the Kyoto summit in 1997 and three
agreements reached in Rio in 1992.
6.6
Perspectives on Environmental Ethics
Over time, there have different perception on how people ought to view the Environment. These views are
discussed here below.
6.6.1
Applied Theology
The Christian world view sees the universe as created by God, and humankind accountable to God for the
use of the resources entrusted to humankind. Ultimate values are seen in the light of being valuable to
God. This applies both in breadth of scope - caring for people (Matthew 25) and environmental issues, e.g.
50
environmental health (Deuteronomy 22.8; 23.12-14) and dynamic motivation, the love of Christ controlling
(2 Corinthians 5.14) and dealing with the underlying spiritual disease of sin, which shows itself in selfinterest and thoughtlessness. In many countries this association of accountability is symbolized at yield
thanksgiving (Adeney, 1995).
6.6.2
Anthropocentrism
Anthropocentrism simply places humans at the centre of the universe; the human race must always be its
own primary concern. It has become customary in the Western tradition to consider only our species when
considering the environmental ethics of a situation. Therefore, everything else in existence should be
evaluated in terms of its utility for us, thus committing speciesism. All environmental studies should include
an assessment of the intrinsic value of non-human beings.
In fact, based on this very assumption, a philosophical article has explored recently the possibility of
humans' willing extinction as a gesture toward other beings. The authors refer to the idea as a thought
experiment that should not be understood as a call for action. What anthropocentric theories do not allow
for is the fact that a system of ethics formulated from a human perspective may not be entirely accurate;
humans are not necessarily the centre of reality. The philosopher Baruch Spinoza argued that we tend to
assess things wrongly in terms of their usefulness to us. Spinoza reasoned that if we were to look at things
objectively we would discover that everything in the universe has a unique value. Likewise, it is possible
that a human-centred or anthropocentric/androcentric ethic is not an accurate depiction of reality, and there
is a bigger picture that we may or may not be able to understand from a human perspective.
6.6.3
Humanist theories
Following the bio-centric and eco-holist theory distinctions, Michael Smith further classifies Humanist
theories as those that require a set of criteria for moral status and ethical worth, such as sentience. This
51
applies to the work of Peter Singer who advocated a hierarchy of value similar to the one devised by
Aristotle which relies on the ability to reason. This was Singer's solution to the problem that arises when
attempting to determine the interests of a non-sentient entity such as a garden weed.
Singer also advocated the preservation of "world heritage sites," unspoilt parts of the world that acquire a
"scarcity value" as they diminish over time. Their preservation is a bequest for future generations as they
have been inherited from our ancestors and should be passed down to future generations so they can have
the opportunity to decide whether to enjoy unspoilt countryside or an entirely urban landscape. A good
example of a world heritage site would be the tropical rainforest, a very specialist ecosystem or climatic
climax vegetation that has taken centuries to evolve. Clearing the rainforest for farmland often fails due to
soil conditions, and once disturbed, can take thousands of years to regenerate.
6.7
Status of the Field
Environmental ethics became a subject of sustained academic philosophic reflection in the 1970s.
Throughout the 1980s it remained marginalized within the discipline of philosophy, attracting the attention
of a fairly small group of thinkers spread across the world. Only after 1990 did the field gain institutional
recognition at programs such as Colorado State, the University of Montana, Bowling Green State, and the
University of North Texas.
In 1991, Schumacher College of Dartington, England, was founded and now provides a Master of Science
in Holistic Science. These programs began to offer a masters degree with a specialty in environmental
ethics/philosophy. Beginning in 2005 the Dept of Philosophy and Religion Studies at the University of North
Texas offered a PhD program with a concentration in environmental ethics/philosophy. In Tanzania,
environmental ethics is a very young discipline currently taught in very few institutions of higher learning.
52
Basing on the value possessed within the discipline the course ought to be extensively taught in all
institutions of higher learning.
Summary
In this lecture you have learnt that environmental ethics is a part of the environmental philosophy
that consider the extending of the traditional boundaries of ethics from solely humans to
including non human world. As a discipline that environmental ethics has developed into a
specific philosophical discipline in the 1970s due to the increasing awareness in the 1960s of the
effects of technology, industry, economic expansion and population growth.
In this discipline, the most important questions addressed are on duties man have with respect
to environment and obligations one have concerning with the natural environment. You have
learnt too that basing on the Allan Marshall and Michael smith, you can categorize
environmental ethics into three general ethical approaches that have emerged over the last forty
years. These are the libertarian extension, the ecological extension and the conservation ethics.
Furthermore, you have learnt that you can describe environmental ethics with different focus of
which among them is through the use of Christian view of the world, the anthropocentrism and
the humanistic theories.
Activity
1. With examples, trace the development of environmental ethics in the world.
2. Discuss the major fundamental questions addressed by the environmental ethics.
3. Using Marshall and Smith, attempt the categorization of different environmental ethics.
4. Describe the major perspectives of environmental ethics.
Further Reading
53
Adeney, B.T (1995): Global Ethics in New Dictionary of Christian Ethics and Pastoral Theology
1995 Leicester)
PART TWO
ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
54
LECTURE SEVEN
7
Relativism
7.1
Introduction
It is self-evident that across that world, there is a bewildering variety of different moral codes and practices.
Ideas of right and wrong have changed continuously over time. Because of this sheer diversity of moral
codes and practices, it then seems therefore logical that there are no absolute moral truths. The varying
perception on what one believes to be true or wrong is what constitutes ethical relativism that you are about
to read in this lecture.
Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. Describe the concept of ethical relativism.
2. Discuss the essence of ethical relativism.
3. Evaluate different critics raised against ethical relativism.
7.2
Background to Ethical Relativism
Relativism is not a single doctrine but a family of views whose common theme is that some central aspect
of experience, thought, evaluation, or even reality is somehow relative to something else. For example
standards of justification, moral principles or truth are sometimes said to be relative to language, culture, or
biological makeup. Although relativistic lines of thought often lead to very implausible conclusions, there is
something seductive about them, and they have captivated a wide range of thinkers from a wide range of
traditions.
55
Relativism has existed for a long time, with an early proponent in the Ancient Greek Sophist, Protagoras. It
has been in more recent times, however, that Sociologists and Anthropologists have found it useful to help
explain and understand the vast catalogue of moralities amongst the human race, as well as “because they
have often seen at first hand the destruction wreaked on other societies by a crude importation of Western
values.” Because of this, it is said that Relativism promotes tolerance and discourages social criticism.
However, the proponents and detractors of Relativism continue to be divided.
The arguments for Relativism are fairly straightforward. Hospers (1996:28) outlines the two major reasons
for which moral rules and practices are relative, accepted in one society but not in another.
(a) Environmental conditions differ between societies. In this sense, from an evolutionary perspective,
morality may be seen as a means in which humans try to adapt to their environment. Thus, different
environments will result in different moralities. The morality that promotes the good of the group above
all else will often be the successful one. In a desert community, someone who wastes water will be
considered immoral. In a lakeside community, though, wasting water would not be a problem.
(b) Moral rules differ between societies because of different beliefs. A Moslem in Palestine will not eat
pork, because he or she believes that doing so would be infringing the will of Allah. A Hindu in India,
conversely, will eat the pork, but won’t eat any beef, because they believe that cows are sacred.
Although such practices may seem illogical to an outsider, if that outsider had these beliefs, they would
no doubt be doing the same.
There is also the idea of the so-called Primacy of De Facto Values. This concept states that morality can be
seen as either de facto, the morals that people actually practice, or ideal, the morals that people should
practice. Stace (1973:193) elaborates on this idea by examining the two meanings of the word ‘standard’ in
relation to ethics – a moral standard, as in what is thought right and a moral standard as in what is actually
right.
56
According to an Absolutist, people may believe in current, relative moral standards, but there is
nonetheless an ultimate, absolute moral standard. Relativists, on the other hand, only acknowledge the de
facto values, the moral standard by which people live. Consequently, a Relativistic view of morality is
perhaps more logical than an Absolutist in that it states that the morals that a particular society already lives
by are the best ones. Ethical evolution, the trial and error of certain ethical rules and practices result in the
most appropriate morals for a certain society, as opposed to an external, absolute set of morals of which
the society may not have ever encountered.
7.3
Essence of Ethical Relativism
Ethical relativism is a meta-ethical theory in that it questions the status of ethical theories as opposed to
simply human behavior (Warburton 1995: 57). It holds also that morality is relative to the norms of one's
culture. That is, whether an action is right or wrong depends on the moral norms of the society in which it is
practiced.
The same action may be morally right in one society but be morally wrong in another. For the ethical
relativist, there are no universal moral standards that are standards that can be universally applied to all
peoples at all times. The only moral standards against which a society's practices can be judged are its
own. If ethical relativism is correct, there can be no common framework for resolving moral disputes or for
reaching agreement on ethical matters among members of different societies. It exists in the sense of
describing relativity in ethics between individuals and between societies.
7.4
Criticisms against Relativism
A common argument against relativism suggests that: (a) It inherently contradicts, refutes, or stultifies itself: the statement "all is relative" classes either as a
relative statement or as an absolute one. If it is relative, then this statement does not rule out
absolutes. If the statement is absolute, on the other hand, then it provides an example of an absolute
57
statement, proving that not all truths are relative. However, this argument against relativism only
applies to relativism that positions truth as relative. More specifically, it is only strong forms of
epistemological relativism that can come in for this criticism as there are many epistemological
relativists who posit that some aspects of what is regarded as "true" are not universal, yet still accept
that other universal truths exist (e.g. gas laws).
(b) Another argument against relativism posits a Natural Law. Simply put, the physical universe works
under basic principles: the "Laws of Nature". Some contend that a natural Moral Law may also exist.
(c) Aside from the general legitimacy of relativism, critics say it undermines morality, possibly resulting in
anomie and complete Social Darwinism. Relativism denies that harming others is wrong in any
absolute sense. The majority of relativists, of course, consider it immoral to harm others, but relativist
theory allows for the opposite belief. In short, if an individual can believe it wrong to harm others, he
can also believe it right–no matter what the circumstances.
(d) Another argument is that if relativism presupposes that "all beliefs are equally valid," it then implies
that any belief system holding itself to be the only valid one is untrue, which is a contradiction.
(e) Some claim that while the moral practices of societies may differ, the fundamental moral principles
underlying these practices do not. For example, in some societies, killing one's parents after they
reached a certain age was common practice, stemming from the belief that people were better off in
the afterlife if they entered it while still physically active and vigorous. While such a practice would be
condemned in our society, we would agree with these societies on the underlying moral principle -- the
duty to care for parents. Societies, then, may differ in their application of fundamental moral principles
but agree on the principles.
(f) Also, it is argued, it may be the case that some moral beliefs are culturally relative whereas others are
not. Certain practices, such as customs regarding dress and decency, may depend on local custom
58
whereas other practices, such as slavery, torture, or political repression, may be governed by
universal moral standards and judged wrong despite the many other differences that exist among
cultures. Simply because some practices are relative does not mean that all practices are relative.
(g) Other philosophers criticize ethical relativism because of its implications for individual moral beliefs.
These philosophers assert that if the rightness or wrongness of an action depends on a society's
norms, then it follows that one must obey the norms of one's society and to diverge from those norms
is to act immorally. This means that if I am a member of a society that believes that racial or sexist
practices are morally permissible, then I must accept those practices as morally right. But such a view
promotes social conformity and leaves no room for moral reform or improvement in a society.
Furthermore, members of the same society may hold different views on practices. In the United
States, for example, a variety of moral opinions exists on matters ranging from animal experimentation
to abortion. What constitutes right action when social consensus is lacking?
(h) Perhaps the strongest argument against ethical relativism comes from those who assert that universal
moral standards can exist even if some moral practices and beliefs vary among cultures. In other
words, we can acknowledge cultural differences in moral practices and beliefs and still hold that some
of these practices and beliefs are morally wrong. The practice of slavery in pre-Civil war U.S. society
or the practice of apartheid in South Africa is wrong despite the beliefs of those societies. The
treatment of the Jews in Nazi society is morally reprehensible regardless of the moral beliefs of Nazi
society.
For these philosophers, ethics is an inquiry into right and wrong through a critical examination of the
reasons underlying practices and beliefs. As a theory for justifying moral practices and beliefs, ethical
relativism fails to recognize that some societies have better reasons for holding their views than others.
59
But even if the theory of ethical relativism is rejected, it must be acknowledged that the concept raises
important issues. Ethical relativism reminds us that different societies have different moral beliefs and that
our beliefs are deeply influenced by culture. It also encourages us to explore the reasons underlying beliefs
that differ from our own, while challenging us to examine our reasons for the beliefs and values we hold.
Summary
In this lecture you have learnt that, ethical relativism is a meta-ethical theory in that it questions
the status of ethical theories as opposed to simply human behavior. The theory holds that,
morality is relative to the norms of one's culture. That is, whether an action is right or wrong
depends on the moral norms of the society in which it is practiced.
Relativism is not a single doctrine but a family of views whose common theme is that some
central aspect of experience, thought, evaluation, or even reality is somehow relative to
something else. It has existed for a long time, with an early proponent in the Ancient Greek
Sophist, Protagoras. In recent times, Sociologists and Anthropologists have found it useful to
help explain and understand the vast catalogue of moralities amongst the human race.
Relativists’ argument is premised on two major reasons which states that environmental
conditions differ between societies and because of that moral rules also tend to vary from one
locality to another. Together with these arguments, several critiques have been raised against
the theory which rejects it. However, even if the theory has been rejected it must be
acknowledged that the concept raises important issues as it reminds us that different societies
have different moral beliefs and that our beliefs are deeply influenced by culture. It also
encourages us to explore the reasons underlying beliefs that differ from our own, while
challenging us to examine our reasons for the beliefs and values we hold.
60
Activity
Attempt the following questions
1. Describe the concept of ethical relativism.
2. Discuss the essence of ethical relativism.
3. Evaluate different critics raised against ethical relativism.
4. Using your own Culture and environment as a case in question, discuss the relevancy of
relativist theory toward environmental management and conservation.
Further Reading
Rachels, J. 1995. The Elements of Moral Philosophy. McGraw-Hill.
Ladd, J. 1973. Ethical Relativism. Belmont, MA: Wadsworth.
Warbuton, N. (1995). Philosophy: The Basics. New York: Routledge.
61
LECTURE EIGHT
8
Nihilism
8.1
Introduction
Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is
often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence. A true nihilist
would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy.
This lecture intends to introduce you on the intricacies of nihilism. What they believe and its environmental
implications.
Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. Trace the historical development of Nihilism.
2. Link the Nihilist perspectives with the current status of our environment.
8.2
The Essence of Nihilist Perspectives
The word “nihilism” comes from the Latin nihil, means nothing. It is a philosophy that originated with
ancient Greek thinkers and evolved through time. Ancient philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, who
urged Greeks to question the world rather than simply accept it, are often credited with being the first to
have nihilistic ideas. The first substantial movement that could be considered nihilist was the Skeptics (c.
400-350 BCE), who suggested that many of man’s beliefs were subjective rather than definitive.
Modern (or European) nihilism, in the sense that it is commonly referred to today, originated during the
nineteenth century. The term itself was popularized by Ivan Turgenev in Fathers and Sons published in
1862. This emergence of nihilism in Russia led to many of the political uprisings during the revolution.
62
Many philosophers agree that the three most prominent and influential nihilist thinkers are the Germans
Stirner, Nietzsche and Heidegger. Chronologically, Max Stirner came first, and inspired many nihilists,
existentialists, and anarchists, including Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche. As suggested by the title,
Stirner’s nihilism focused on the idea of egoism. According to Stirner, “there [is] no objective social reality
independent of the individual; social classes, the state, the masses and humanity are abstractions and
therefore need not be considered seriously, essentially saying that the only concrete object in life is the
self. He wants man to not only recognize but accept that he is alone, and become the ideal Unique One,
who is completely self-centered.
Similarly, Fredrich Nietzsche believes that “the foundations on which humanity’s ideals and values have
been constructed become subjected to critical self-reflection and self-examination and in accordance with
Stirner’s belief that truth is subjective. Although it was never directly asserted, Nietzsche was heavily
influenced by many of Stirner’s declarations. Through self-exploration and questioning of the world around
him, Nietzsche found that the “Christian-moral interpretation of the world” varied from person to person.
Since every individual had different beliefs on God, life, and values, he reasoned that everything was
subjective, and therefore not concretely present. “Every belief, every considering something-true is
necessarily false because there is simply no true world” Nietzsche takes this idea one step further in
declaring that God is dead, along with all morals and values that arose from the belief in God.
Nietzsche certainly did not intend to say that if an actual God existed, that He was now dead, but rather
was declaring that people have reached a stage of questioning. There was no longer blind belief in and
allegiance to religion, and with this skepticism, the concreteness of God was lost. This empty, meaningless
perspective of the world is what people most commonly consider the intention of nihilism.
63
The ideas of an empty world and self-evaluation are not unique to nihilism. In fact, nihilism is an evolution,
or extension, of other preceding philosophies, such as existentialism and atheism. All nihilists are
necessarily atheists, because nihilism is based on the concept that all popular belief, including law, values,
religion, and God are subjective. Just as nihilism is an evolutionary philosophy, it is part of an evolutionary
pattern of individual human thought, in that it is natural for humans to question things, and it is a result of
this constant questioning that nihilism developed.
8.3
Forms of Nihilism
8.3.1
Moral Nihilism
Moral nihilism is the meta-ethical view that morality does not exist as something inherent to objective
reality; therefore no action is necessarily preferable to any other. As an example, if someone kills someone
else, such a nihilist might argue that killing is not inherently a bad thing, bad independently from our moral
beliefs, only that because of the way morality is constructed as some rudimentary dichotomy, what is said
to be a bad thing is given a higher negative weighting than what is called good: as a result, killing the
individual was bad because it did not let the individual live, which was arbitrarily given a positive weighting.
In this way a moral nihilist believes that all moral claims are false.
8.3.2
Existential Nihilism:
Existential nihilism is the belief that life has no intrinsic meaning or value. With respect to the universe,
existential nihilism posits that a single human or even the entire human species is insignificant, without
purpose and unlikely to change in the totality of existence. The meaninglessness of life is largely explored
in the philosophical school of existentialism.
64
8.3.3
Epistemological Nihilism
Nihilism of an epistemological form can be seen as an extreme form of skepticism in which all knowledge
is denied.
8.3.4
Metaphysical Nihilism
Metaphysical nihilism is the philosophical theory that there might be no objects at all, that is to say that
there is a possible world in which there are no objects at all; or at least that there might be no concrete
objects at all, so even if every possible world contains some objects, there is at least one that contains only
abstract objects. An extreme form of metaphysical nihilism is commonly defined as the belief that existence
itself does not exist.
8.3.5
Mereological Nihilism
Mereological nihilism is the position that objects with proper parts do not exist and only basic building
blocks without parts exist, and thus the world we see and experience full of objects with parts is a product
of human misperception.
8.3.5
Political Nihilism
Political nihilism follows the characteristic nihilist's rejection of non-rationalized or non-proven assertions in
this case the necessity of the most fundamental social and political structures, such as government, family,
law and law enforcement. The Nihilist movement in 19th century Russia espoused a similar doctrine.
Political nihilism is rather different from other forms of nihilism, and is actually more like a form of
Utilitarianism, albeit an extreme and radical one.
8.4
Implication of Nihilist Perspectives on the Environment
Nihilistic ideas attempted to explain the failure of humanity to effectively confront the global environmental
crisis, and thereby to show what is required to overcome it. It is argued that the destruction of the environment
65
on a global scale is the final outcome of the expansion and domination of the world by European civilization, a
civilization which is inherently destructive and implicitly nihilistic.
The failure to respond to a crisis threatening all humanity and most other life forms is symptomatic of this
nihilism. Environmentalists have failed because they have not fully appreciated the nature of this civilization, an
appreciation which requires an understanding of the history and dynamics of European culture and its offshoots
from Ancient Greece to the present. This focus on culture does not exclude concern with the economic
determinants of environmentally destructive behaviour. The work is designed to facilitate a deeper
understanding of the imperatives of global capitalism, and at the same time to reveal the possibilities open to
people to create a social order free of these imperatives.
Summary
This lecture has guided you on what Nihilism is and what nihilists believe. In short, nihilism is a
philosophical position which claims that values are baseless and that nothing can be known or
communicated. Owing its existence from the ancient Greek thinkers, the philosophical
movement was further spearheaded by people like Fredrich Nietzsche who wants man to not
only recognize but accept that he is alone, and become the ideal Unique One, who is completely
self-centered. Nietzche went a further step ahead to claim that GOD is dead and the GOD of this
world is man himself.
Nihilism is found in different forms ranging from morality, existence, epistemology, metaphysical
Mereological and political. In short, acceptance of nihilistic point of view is dangerous as it
encourages man to do what most pleases him. In other words it reflects the idea of business as
usual which has been so detrimental to our environment especially in this world of science and
technology.
66
Activity
1. Define the term Nihilism and then trace the evolution of Nihilism.
2. Discuss the basic premises contained in the nihilist world view of nature.
3. If you were to be appointed as the Director General for the National environmental
Management Council (NEMC), in which ways will you use the Nihilist perspective to guide
the organization?
4. Argue for and against the nihilist view of nature conservation.
Further Reading
“Life After Death, Nihilism and Modern Philosophy.” 6 Feb. 2000 Compact Library Publishers. 18 Mar.
2001. <http://ws5.com/nihilism>.
Freydis. “Nihilism’s Home Page.” 24 Mar. 2001. http://members.theglobe.com/FLN/ default.htm
Heidegger,
Martin.,(2001).”
Encyclopedia
Britannica
Online.
15
Apr.
2001.
<http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=406548tocid=0>.
Kemerling,
Garth.
“History
of
Western
Philosophy.”
07
Mar.
2001.
15
Apr
2001
<http://www.philosophypages.com/hy>.
Nihilism. There’s Nothing to it.” 18 Mar. 2001 <http://www.nodogs.org/nihilism.html>.
Nihilism.” Encyclopedia
Britannica
Online.
12
Mar.
2001
<http://www.eb.com:180/bol/
topic?eu=57221&sctn=1>
Pratt, Alan. “Nihilism.” 1 Dec 1999. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 14 Mar. 2001.
<http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/n/nihilism.html>
Taylor,
Ed.
“Nihilism
from
1860-2001.”
<http://www.stormloader.com/polywave>.
67
09
Feb.
2001.
24
Mar.
2001.
LECTURE NINE
9
Utilitarian Theory
9.1
Introduction
Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory that places the locus of right and wrong solely on the outcomes
(consequences) of choosing one action/policy over other actions/policies. As such, it moves beyond the
scope of one's own interests and takes into account the interests of others. Using these views as a
yardstick, this lecture intends provide you clear insights into how utilitarian theory interprets the
environment.
Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. Describe the major Principles of utilitarianism as advanced by Bentham and modified
by John Stuart Mill.
2. Identify types of Utilitarianism.
3. Evaluate the weaknesses and usefulness of utilitarian theory in environmental
management.
9.2
Principles of Utilitarianism
According to Bentham, the principle of utility: (a) Recognizes the fundamental role of pain and pleasure in human life.
(b) Approves or disapproves of an action on the basis of the amount of pain or pleasure brought about
such as consequences.
(c) Equates good with pleasure and evil with pain.
(d) Asserts that pleasure and pain are capable of quantification (and hence 'measure').
68
In measuring pleasure and pain, Bentham introduces the following criteria: Intensity, Duration, Certainty (or
Uncertainty), and its nearness (or Farness). He also includes its "fecundity" (will more of the same follow?)
and its "purity" (its pleasure won't be followed by pain & vice versa). In considering actions that affect
numbers of people, we must also account for its extent.
John Stuart Mill adjusted the more hedonistic tendencies in Bentham's philosophy by emphasizing that, it is
not the quantity of pleasure, but the quality of happiness that is central to utilitarianism. He also stresses
that the calculus is unreasonable that is qualities cannot be quantified (there is a distinction between
'higher' and 'lower' pleasures), and that, utilitarianism refers to "the Greatest Happiness Principle meaning
that it seeks to promote the capability of achieving happiness (higher pleasures) for the most amount of
people.
9.3
Types of Utilitarianism
9.3.1
The Act Utilitarianism
We can apply the principle of utility to either particular actions or general rules. The former is called "actutilitarianism" and the latter is called "rule-utilitarianism." Act-utilitarianism refers to the principle of utility
which is applied directly to each alternative act in a situation of choice. The right act is then defined as the
one which brings about the best results (or the least amount of bad results). The criticisms of this view
point are found in the difficulty of attaining a full knowledge and certainly of the consequences of our
actions. The criticizer also argue that It is possible to justify immoral acts using AU: Suppose you could end
a regional war by torturing children whose fathers are enemy soldiers, thus revealing the hide outs of the
fathers.
9.3.2
Rule utilitarianism
The principle of utility is used to determine the validity of rules of conduct (moral principles). A rule like
promise keeping is established by looking at the consequences of a world in which people broke promises
69
at will and a world in which promises were binding. Right and wrong are then defined as following or
breaking those rules. Some criticisms of this position point out that if the Rules take into account more and
more exceptions, Rule Utilitarianism collapses into Act Utilitarianism.
More general criticisms of this view argue that it is possible to generate "unjust rules" according to the
principle of utility. For example, slavery in Greece might be right if it led to an overall achievement of
cultivated happiness at the expense of some mistreated individuals. Finally, we can distinguish egoistic
utilitarianism (what is my greatest utility?) from universalistic utilitarianism (what is the greatest overall
utility?). The latter concept applies to utilitarianism qua normative ethical theory (the former is simply
egoism).
9.4
Critical Evaluation of Utilitarianism
There are problems with how one actually measures utility. Imagine utility as quantified by "utiles" -- how
many "utiles" would a good conversation be worth? And utilitarianism based upon (subjective) preferences
needs to account for those individuals whose preferences seem to violate our considered judgments about
what is right and wrong (e.g., should racial bias create segregation in public schools?).
Act utilitarian has problems when particular immoral actions (e.g., torture of innocents) become justified by
the principle of utility. Utilitarianism, in principle, permits the interests of the majority to override the rights of
minorities, and cannot adequately disavow unjust social distributions. The charge is that utilitarian assigns
no independent weight to justice.
Another criticism of utilitarianism is that it demands too much. Foregoing life-support for a frail elderly
person might lead to a "duty to die" if such life support requires considerable expenses. Alternatively,
"heroic" or supererogatory actions (actions 'above and beyond the call of duty') might become morally
70
obligatory (a relative might be morally required to donate one of her kidneys if other family members need
one).
9.5
Constructive Evaluation of Utilitarianism
Despite its problems, utilitarianism is helpful in formulating public policy since it "requires an objective
assessment of everyone's interests and of an impartial choice to maximize good outcome for all affected
parties. It also "sees morality primarily in terms of the goal of promoting welfare." Finally, as "political
economist Amartya Sen Notes, 'Consequentiality reasoning may be fruitfully used even when
consequentialism as such is not accepted. To ignore consequences is to leave an ethics story half told.
Summary
This lecture has introduced you to the theory of utilitarianism as one of the universal principle of
environmental ethics. As you can remember, utilitarian, refer to the normative ethical theory that
places the locus of right and wrong solely on the outcomes of choosing one’s own interests ad
takes into account the interests of others.
Bentham has advanced four principles which have also been modified by Mills. These are the
fundamental roles of pain and pleasure in human life, approval or disapproval of action on the
basis of the amount of pleasure and pains brought by such a consequences and so forth. In
addition to this, the lecture has also introduces you to the type of utilitarianism namely the act
and rule utilitarianism. Together with the usefulness of the utility theory, the same has been
criticized on the ground that it assumes the idea of quantification of utility which essentially is
impossible to quantify.
71
Activity
1. Give a detailed description of the Bentham principles of utility.
2. Differentiate between Act Utilitarian and Rule Utilitarian.
3. In which ways is Utilitarian theory useful to man?
Further Reading
Cornman, James, et al. (1992): Philosophical Problems and Arguments - an Introduction, 4th
edition Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Co., 1992.
Lyons, David,(1965): Forms and Limits of Utilitarianism". Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Martin, Michael, "A Utilitarian Kantian Principle," Philosophical Studies, (with H. Ruf),
Singer, Peter (1993). Practical Ethics, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Smart, J. J. C. and Williams, Bernard (1973). Utilitarianism; For & Against , Cambridge
University Press.
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LECTURE TEN
10
Universalism
10.1
Introduction
Universalism is not only a set of values, but a world view to which any can prescribe if he/she observe and
believe in the universality of the human experience and that of all sentient life - and work to uphold the
principles, ethics, and actions which safeguard these fundamental things. Human unity, solidarity, and the
perceived need for a sustainable and socially conscious global order are among the tendencies of nonreligious Universalist thought. This lecture intends to introduce you on the basics of the concept. Upon
finishing reading this lecture, it expected that you will be able to link with the world view of universalism in
relation to environment.
Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. Describe the concept of Universalism.
2. Trace the sources of Universalism.
3. Discuss different approaches to interpretation of universalism.
10.2
Sources of Universalism
The source or justification of a universal ethic may be thought to be, for instance, human nature, shared
vulnerability to suffering, the demands of universal reason, what is common among existing moral codes, or
the common mandates of religion. As such, models of moral universalism may be atheistic or agnostic,
deistic (in the case of several Enlightenment philosophers), monotheistic (in the case of the Abrahamic
religions), or polytheistic (in the case of Hinduism). Various systems of moral universalism may differ in
various ways on the meta-ethical question of the nature of the morality, as well as in their substantial
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normative content, but all agree on its universality. Universalism has several sources of assumed
legitimacy- religious, ideological and political.
•
Religious- The theory is premised on one God, his revelation has purpose for all humanity
•
Ideological position- This includes the fields of epistemology and ethics
•
Political or economic power.
In its conventional usage, a universal set codes or principles suggests that uniformity can be achieved in
concepts, ideas and the adoption of the practical action plans via two routes: either unilaterally through a
system of rational and dialectic reasoning or through a process of consultation and dialogue.
10.3
Global Universal Values
Human being is a product of complex factors, including various cultural and physical environments that
have evolved over centuries. The term value here refers to ideas, customs and institutions while the term
principle here refers to the subset of values and particular expression of a range of ethical values. It could
be defined as an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct. Almost all cultures believe that there are
some universal human values.
However, there is a difference in approach to their realization and recognition in four of the dominant
traditions of the world. The discussion that follows depicts some of these differences:
10.3.1 Abrahamic Traditions (Judaism and Islam)
In the Abrahamic tradition, the objective of universal concepts and values is attributed to the divine source
that transfers knowledge and values to humankind through an agency. According to the Old Testament, the
commandments for human behavior were given by God to Prophets Mosses, Noah and several others.
This makes discussion on their authenticity and universal application dependent on whether a person
believes in the claims of those who wrote about the prophets.
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10.3.2 Post Enlightenment Perspective
In the post enlightenment epistemology, the external agency of God as the source of objectivity is replaced
by faith in the objectivity of human reason and ability of human to discern value systems through a mental
framework called rational scientific inquiry. A major part of this perspective is founded on empirical
evidence and propositions known as theories which are open to modification. The difference between
revelatory ethics based on rationality is the scope in the latter of challenge and change.
Post Enlightenment knowledge is seen by some to be the result of de –sacralized dialogue which rejects
any specific reference to divine context in its framework. This restricts the possibility of dialogue with
eastern traditions that acknowledge the divine but do not assert it as universal. The post enlightenment
perspective often asserts that only de sacralized knowledge has any real value. There is a considerable
diversity even within these frameworks.
10.3.3
Indic Perspectives
This acknowledges that, there is a set of fundamental universal norms and universal truth; however, human
beings cannot objectively arrive at them either individually or democratically as a community. Therefore,
subjectivity and intuition inherently exist in all human knowledge and people perceive it differently. This is
one of the most important doctrines of Jainism called anekantada. This has enabled co existence of
diverse, often contradictory concepts and value systems in south Asian history, even within one tradition,
for instance Hinduism.
10.3.4
Confucianism
Confucianism has two interesting characteristics that set it apart from Abrahamic and Indic traditions. First,
it does not dwell on God or other metaphysical theories. This leaves the individual free to believe in any
spiritual truth he or she may wish to follow. Confucianism is essentially a set of ethics on the relationships
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between the individual and government, the individual and the society, the individual and the family and the
individual and friends.
Confucianism describes how concepts such as compassion, honesty, justice and work fit within these
relationships. These sets of values and directions form the essential nature of Chinese society regardless
of the religion of the person. In fact, if religion is usually both about metaphysical theory and human
relations, then Confucianism can be said to be a religion which does not concern itself with metaphysical
aspects.
The description of the four perspectives above shows that there are different ways of considering the
concept of ethical universalism. The Indic and eastern traditions suggests that a system of ethical pluralism
might be a viable alternative to the current practice of striving for universal environmental ethical values that
we can agree upon.
10.4
Implication of Universalism on the Environmental Management
According to universalism, the different views described above have given rise to different approaches to
understanding the relationship between humans and the environment. These approaches can be broadly
categorized into apathetic, apocalyptic, symbiotic and integrationist relationships.
10.4.1 Apathetic
Most people seem ignorant about the environmental management. They consider and blame people having
done very little to change their lifestyle, even though they may acknowledge the environmental crisis. They
travel long distances in wasteful, inefficient cars and prefer to have easy access to imported food from
across the world despite the high energy costs in operating the global food system. Furthermore,
governments have a varied approach to tax systems, and there is little levy being applied to encourage
people to change their consumption and usage patterns. Also they consider that there is a seemingly
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sluggish reaction to the urgent necessity of preventing environmental disasters like hurricanes, drought,
floods and many others. Some problems appear so crushing that it may be simply not worth doing anything
to reverse the problems.
10.4.2 Apocalyptic
The apocalyptic approach emphasizes that human behaviour is the one to be blamed for causing the
current environmental crisis and that the world is coming to an end (which has similarities with the
emphasis on religious vices and end of world in Christianity). For example, it blames human greed (sin),
lack of preparedness (laziness), waste (gluttony), over-production and accumulation of unnecessary waste
materials and indifference (pride), for having led the human race to this precipice.
Apocalyptic consider the overarching approach of the environmental campaigns advocated by Western is
near its end because of human environmental abuse and human beings need to act with sacrifices as
redemption for the ‘sin’ of bringing it to this stage. This approach is consistent with the Abrahamic
apocalyptic concept.
10.4.3 Symbiotic
This is a radically different approach than the two previous ones as it contains no reference to fear or
impending doom. It essentially extends the idea that human beings are dependent upon the environment
and vice versa. It assumes that the one cannot survive without the other, at least based on the conventional
relationships.
Sometimes this relationship is stressed through religious and cultural practices. For example some
traditional Hindu belief the rivers are considered to be the arteries of God and the wind as His breath. In
that case, sources of rivers and its tributaries are protected. Many plants are given names of gods and
respected therefore forests are real protected. Even animals are recognized Gods. As a result of a
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symbiotic relationship with nature, respect for nature and animals become an inherent part of the value
system, and environmental protection is a natural part of everyday life.
10.4.4 Integrationist
They believe that the human being is an integral part of the entire cosmos but not the essential part. This
humbles the human approach to the environment, because it does not encourage an attempt to conquer or
violate nature but rather to co-exist with the environment.
The Integrationist argument is based on two themes. First, that the human species is just one among
millions and does not have any inherent right over the environment. Humans are simply another creature
within a very complex and inter-related cosmos. Second, by virtue of their conscience, human beings are in
a privileged position to understand the wider cosmological reality. Therefore, they have the chance to be
both responsible for their actions as well as to reach God.
In general we can say, humans are reduced to constituting merely a part of a much larger system, which
promotes either a symbiotic or integrationist practical approach or apocalyptic approach to our relationship
with the environment. Because of the various combinations of traditions, perspectives and approaches that
exist in the world, it is likely that humans will base their efforts to protect the environment on quite different
sets of values and principles.
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Summary
In this lecture you have been introduced to the concept of universalism. You have learnt that,
universalism is not only a set of values, but a world view to which any can prescribe if he/she
observe and believe in the universality of the human experience and that of all sentient life and work to uphold the principles, ethics, and actions which safeguard these fundamental
things.
The source of Universalism may be human nature, shared vulnerability to suffering, the
demands of universal reason, what is common among existing moral codes, or the common
mandates of religion and that although there is a set of fundamental universal norms and
universal truth, human beings cannot objectively arrive at them either individually or
democratically as a community. As such the perception of what is a universally agreed
principles or moral code of conduct will depend on the context from which one is
approaching.
Activity
Now attempt the following questions
1. Describe the concept of Universalism.
2. Is there a set of common environmental principles that all cultures can relate to?
3. Discuss different approaches to interpretation of universalism.
4. In which ways is the Abrahamic perception of nature differ from that of the Confucians
perception?
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Further Reading
1. Singh J, et al., (2010): Universalism and Ethical Values for the Environment. Bangkok,
UNESCO(http://www.unescobkk.org/rushsap/ethics-andclimatechange/energyethics/eetwg1/).
2. Hukkinen J. (2003), From Groundless Universalism to Grounded Generalism: Improving
Ecological Economic Indicators of Human Environmental Interaction, Ecological
Economics 44 (2003), 11-27.
3. Selvanayagam, M., Xavier S. J., Francis P. (2008), Biodiversity Bio-resources and
Biotechnology for Sustainable Livelihood of Rural Community. Chennai, Loyola Institute
of Frontier Energy.
4. Palmer, C. (2003) An Overview of Environmental Ethics. Andrew Light and Holmes
Rolston III (eds.) Environmental Ethics. Oxford, Blackwell Publishing.
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LECTURE ELEVEN
11
Environmental Theories of Moral Responsibility
11.1
Introduction
In the previous module you have been introduced to the general ethical principles. Essentially the module
was trying to respond to the basic question of whether there are any moral /ethical principles as far as the
environment is concerned. This lecture intends to take you further into the traditional ethical theories.
At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. Identify different traditional ethical theories.
2. Describe their strengths and weaknesses.
3. Critically assess their usefulness.
11.2
Categories of Traditional Ethical Theories
11.2.1 Anthropocentrism
Anthropocentrism holds that, the human being is the centre of the world view, of all earth and even the
solar system or cosmos. Similarly, some religious and faiths believe that the human being is the purpose of
existence of everything made by God. Anthropocentric approaches maintain that everything non human in
natural world should be considered ethically in terms of its instrumental value to humans.
The unfortunate consequence of this world view for environmental ethics is that everything is at human
disposal. It is still possible in the anthropocentrism to hold the element of responsibility to ensure continued
sustainability, while others promote the idea of custodianship or stewardship. Anthropocentrism is a strong
element within the Abrahamic faiths through which the objective aspect of universal concepts and values is
attributed to a divine source that transfers knowledge and values to human kind through an agency.
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Anthropocentrism has been a central doctrine in western emphasis on the human reason. There is a great
deal of confidence placed in human capability and what is called scientific methodology to understand the
environment, the nature of living and the entire cosmos as well as the possibility to overcome challenges in
managing it all. Anthropocentrism has been blamed for the boldness with which human beings have
populated large tracts of the earth, exploited and used its resources and created environmental disasters
such as climate change, desertification and extinction of some species (White, 1967). Inherent in modern
anthropocentric idealism is the belief that human beings can resolve and overcome these adverse climate
changes through reasons, research scientific breakthrough.
11.2.2 Ecocentrism
Ecocentrism incorporates the perspective of the whole ecosystem. It holds that the ecosphere, rather than
individual life forms, is the source of all existence, thus promoting a holistic approach towards the
environment, politics, culture and lifestyle. In Japanese religions such as Shinto, nature is accepted as part
of the givenness of the world as opposed to self conscious view of nature (Holm and Bowker, 1994).
A similar view is found in some Indic traditions, for instance the Meeteirs of Manipur state and also is held
by many traditional and indigenous people across the world (Gadgil, 1995). These traditional views have
been evolved over the course of several millennia and have developed elaborate philosophical concepts in
order to sustain themselves. Traditional ecocentric philosophies are inter-twined with religions or cultural
outlooks, giving a strong faith based approach. Ecocentrism tends to encourage people to be in awe of the
world around them and it limits human encroachment on the environment. It also upholds that the
ecosphere will punish those who have damaged the environment. Modern Ecocentrism like modern
biocentrism generally tends to construct its theory on human reason as an argument, calling for voluntary
action on the part of the human society to recognize it and action on it.
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The Gaia theory however, ascribes an element of will to the ecosphere, which is considered organic. It
asserts that ecosphere hits back to re establish its eco balance which may have been damaged through
actions of humans. The Gaia theory is in some way a derivative of some indigenous belief systems that
have extremely detailed rituals and practices of revering nature with the belief that if they abuse it, it will hit
back. Lovelock (1989) gave these ideas a modern conceptual basis with a style of scientific language.
11.2.3 Biocentrism
Biocentrism encompasses the perspective of all living organisms. It holds that, the human is just one
among a multitude of living species and not more important than others on this earth. This view is also
shared by some Indic traditions where the metaphoric figure of 8.4 million different living species is often
suggested as the cycle through which souls transmigrate.
Biocentric philosophical attitudes either tend to believe than human reason is limited so it cannot
understand the complexities of nature or that it induces a sense of interdependency and responsibility
between living beings. In some traditions, there are elaborate rituals and practices that show respect for
other life forms through offering food to animals and worshipping animistic deities.
Modern biocentrism encourages an attitude of humility within the human being and a sense of a shared
world with other species. Instead of measuring the valur of nature based on its usefulness to humans,
biocentrism asserts that nature has an intrinsic value of its own and that humans are part of nature just like
other animals and plants. A well known biocentric philosopher, Arne Naess, coined the term shallow and
deep ecology to describe the differences between anthropocentric and biocentric environmental protection.
While the former fights for pollution and resource depletion in order to preserve human health and
affluence, the latter operates out of deep seated respect and even veneration for ways and forms of life,
and accords them equal rights to live and blossom.
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According to deep ecology, humans have no right to reduce the richness and diversity of nature except
when it is necessary to satisfy vital needs. Lacking cultural dimension, however, modern biocentrism has
largely remained a theory. In some cases it ignites a cultish following without the strict censure on human
behavior it would otherwise entail and which was present in many pre modernized cultures. However,
modern biocentric movements give way to personal needs, such as travelling long distances to
conferences and holidays, thus compromising commitment and the ethical dimension.
11.3
Consequentialist Ethical Theories
Consequentialist ethical theories consider intrinsic “value” / “disvalue” or “goodness” / “badness” to be more
fundamental moral notions than “rightness” / “wrongness”, and maintain that whether an action is
right/wrong is determined by whether its consequences are good/bad. For instance, utilitarianism, regards
pleasure (or, more broadly construed, the satisfaction of interest, desire, and/or preference) as the only
intrinsic value in the world, whereas pain (or the frustration of desire, interest, and/or preference) the only
intrinsic disvalue, and maintains that right actions are those that would produce the greatest balance of
pleasure over pain.
As the utilitarian focus is the balance of pleasure and pain as such, the question of to whom a pleasure or
pain belongs is irrelevant to the calculation and assessment of the rightness or wrongness of actions.
Hence, the eighteenth century utilitarian Jeremy Bentham (1789), and now Peter Singer (1993), have
argued that the interests of all the sentient beings (i.e., beings who are capable of experiencing pleasure or
pain) -- including nonhuman ones -- affected by an action should be taken equally into consideration in
assessing the action.
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Furthermore, Singer argues that the anthropocentric privileging of members of the species Homo sapiens is
arbitrary, and that it is a kind of “speciesism” as unjustifiable as sexism and racism. He regards the animal
liberation movement as comparable to the liberation movements of women and people of colour. Unlike the
environmental philosophers who attribute intrinsic value to the natural environment and its inhabitants,
Singer and utilitarians in general attribute intrinsic value to the experience of pleasure or interest
satisfaction as such, not to the beings that have the experience.
Similarly, for the utilitarian, non-sentient objects in the environment such as plant species, rivers,
mountains, and landscapes, all of which are the objects of moral concern for environmentalists, are of no
intrinsic but at most instrumental value to the satisfaction of sentient beings. Furthermore, because right
actions, for the utilitarian, are those that maximize the overall balance of interest satisfaction over
frustration, practices such as whale-hunting and the killing of an elephant for ivory, which cause suffering to
nonhuman animals, might turn out to be right after all: such practices might produce considerable amounts
of interest-satisfaction for human beings, which, on the utilitarian calculation, outweigh the nonhuman
interest-frustration involved.
11.4
Deontological Ethical Theories
Deontological ethical theories, maintain that whether an action is right or wrong is for the most part
independent of whether its consequences are good or bad. From the deontologist perspective, there are
several distinct moral rules or duties (e.g., “not to kill or otherwise harm the innocent”, “not to lie”, “to
respect the rights of others”, “to keep promises”), the observance/violation of which is intrinsically
right/wrong; i.e., right/wrong in itself regardless of consequences.
When asked to justify an alleged moral rule, duty or its corresponding right, deontologists may appeal to the
intrinsic value of those beings to whom it applies. For instance, “animal rights” advocate Tom Regan (1983)
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argues that those animals with intrinsic value (or what he calls “inherent value”) have the moral right to
respectful treatment, which then generates a general moral duty on our part not to treat them as mere
means to other ends. We have, in particular, a prima facie moral duty not to harm them.
Tom Regan maintains that certain practices (such as sport or commercial hunting and experimentation on
animals) violate the moral right of intrinsically valuable animals to respectful treatment. Such practices are
intrinsically wrong regardless of whether or not some better consequences ever flow from them. Exactly
which animals have intrinsic value and therefore the moral right to respectful treatment? Regan's answer is:
those that meet the criterion of being the “subject-of-a-life”. To be such a subject is a sufficient (though not
necessary) condition for having intrinsic value, and to be a subject-of-a-life involves, among other things,
having sense-perceptions, beliefs, desires, motives, memory, a sense of the future, and a psychological
identity over time. Some authors have extended concern for individual well-being further, arguing for the
intrinsic value of organisms achieving their own good, whether those organisms are capable of
consciousness or not.
11.5
Virtual Ethical Theories
This comes out as an alternative to consequentialism and deontology both of which consider “thin”
concepts such as “goodness” and “rightness” as essential to morality. Virtue ethics theories proposes to
understand morality and assess the ethical quality of actions in terms of “thick” concepts such as
“kindness”, “honesty”, “sincerity” and “justice”.
One question central to virtue ethics is what the moral reasons are for acting one way or another. For
instance, from the perspective of virtue ethics, kindness and loyalty would be moral reasons for helping a
friend in hardship. These are quite different from the deontologist's reason or the consequentialist reason.
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From the perspective of virtue ethics, the motivation and justification of actions are both inseparable from
the character traits of the acting agent.
Furthermore, unlike deontology or Consequentialist the moral focus of which is other people or states of the
world, one central issue for virtue ethics is how to live a flourishing human life, this being a central concern
of the moral agent himself or herself. “Living virtuously” is Aristotle's recipe for flourishing. Versions of virtue
ethics advocating virtues such as “benevolence”, “piety”, “filiality”, and “courage”, have also been held by
thinkers in the Chinese Confucian tradition.
Summary
This lecture has mainly introduced you to the range of commonly used theories namely
anthropocentrism, biocentrism, Ecocentrism, consequentialism, deontology and virtual ethics.
Anthropocentrism focuses on the human centredness and it closely follows the Abrahamic faiths
through which objectives aspects of universal concepts and values is agency. The theory
contends that human being is the purpose of existence of everything. On the other hand, the
Ecocentrism theory focus on the fact that ecosphere is the source of existence while biocentrism
encompasses the perspectives of all living things. It holds that man is just one among the
multitude of living species and not more important than others on the earth.
Other range of theories to which you have been introduced includes the consequential theory
which holds that intrinsic value is of more fundamental moral notions that rightness. It maintains
that whether an action is right or wrong, it is determined by whether its consequences is good or
bad. The deontology on the other hand maintain that whether an action is right or wrong is for
the most independent of whether its consequences are good or bad. Similarly, the virtue ethical
theory proposes the understanding of morality and assess the ethical quality of action in terms of
thick and thin concepts such as kindness, honest, sincerity and justice.
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Activity
1. Write short notes on the following concepts
(a) Consequentialism
(b) Deontology
(c) Virtue theory
(d) Biocentrism
2. Basing on the Abrahamaic perspectives discuss the role of man in nature conservation.
3. Examine the major strengths and weaknesses of each of the following theories:(a) Virtual ethical theory
(b) Anthropocentrism
(c) Deontological theory
(d) Ecocentrism
Further Reading
1. Bernard Williams, (1993) "Utilitarianism" in his Morality, Cambridge University Press.
2. Buchanan, E. A. (2004), Readings in Virtual research Ethics, Issues and Controversies,
Information Science Publishing, USA.
3. Pettit, P (1997) “Reply to Baron and Slote” in Three Methods of Ethics Baron, M, Pettit, P
and Slote, M, Blackwell, Oxford, p. 252.
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PART THREE
PERSPECTIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
89
LECTURE TWELVE
12
Deep ecology
12.1
Introduction
This lecture intends to introduce you to one of the most important western traditional thoughts. It is
anticipated that its coverage will help you to get knowledge that can help you to respond to the range of
environmental issues facing your community.
At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. Define the concept of deep Ecology
2. Trace the historical development of deep ecology.
3. Describe the major core principles underlying deep ecology.
4. Critically asses the utility of the concept in analyzing different environmental issues in
Africa.
12.2
Background to the Concept
The term deep ecology refers to the contemporary ecological philosophy that claims to recognize the
inherent worth of other beings aside from their utility. The philosophy itself: Emphasizes the interdependent nature of human and non-human life as well as the importance of the
ecosystem and natural processes.
Provides a foundation for the environmental, ecology and green movements and has fostered a new
system of environmental ethics.
It is called as a deep Ecology because: It persists in asking deeper questions concerning "why" and "how" and thus is concerned with the
fundamental philosophical questions about the impact of human life as one part of the ecosphere,
rather than with a narrow view of ecology as a branch of biological science.
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It aims to avoid merely anthropocentric environmentalism, which is concerned with conservation of the
environment only for exploitation by and for humans’ purposes, which excludes the fundamental
philosophy of deep ecology.
It seeks a more holistic view of the world we live in and seeks to apply to life the understanding that
separate parts of the ecosystem (including humans) function as a whole.
12.3
Historical Development of Deep Ecology
The phrase deep ecology was coined by the Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss in 1973. According to him,
the ecological science is concerned with facts and logic that cannot answer ethical questions about how we
should live. For this we need ecological wisdom. Deep ecology therefore, seeks to develop the ecological
wisdom by focusing on deep experience, deep questioning and deep commitment. These constitute an
interconnected system. Each gives rise to and supports the other, whilst the entire system is an evolving
but consistent philosophy of being, thinking and acting in the world that embodies ecological wisdom and
harmony.
Naess rejects the idea that beings can be ranked according to their relative value. For example, judgments
on whether an animal has an eternal soul, whether it uses reason or whether it has consciousness (or
indeed higher consciousness) have all been used to justify the ranking of the human animal as superior to
other animals. Naess states that from an ecological point of view "the right of all forms [of life] to live is a
universal right which cannot be quantified. No single species of living being has more of this particular right
to live and unfold than any other species."
Deep ecology offers a philosophical basis for environmental advocacy which may, in turn, guide human
activity against perceived self-destruction. Deep ecology and environmentalism hold that, the science of
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ecology shows that ecosystems can absorb only limited change by humans or other dissonant influences.
Further, both hold that the actions of modern civilization threaten global ecological well-being.
Ecologists have described change and stability in ecological systems in various ways, including
homeostasis, dynamic equilibrium, and "flux of nature". Regardless of which model is most accurate,
environmentalists contend that massive human economic activity has pushed the biosphere far from its
"natural" state through reduction of biodiversity, climate change, and other influences. As a consequence,
civilization is causing mass extinction. Deep ecologists hope to influence social and political change
through their philosophy.
12.4
Deep Ecology Core Principles
Deep ecology's core principle is the belief that, like humanity, the living environment as a whole has the
same right to live and flourish. The proponents of deep ecology believe that the world does not exist as a
resource to be freely exploited by humans. The ethics of deep ecology hold that a whole system is superior
to any of its parts. They offer an eight-tier platform to elucidate their claims:
The well-being and flourishing of human and nonhuman life on Earth have value in themselves. These
values are independent of the usefulness of the nonhuman world for human purposes.
Richness and diversity of life forms contribute to the realization of these values and are also values in
themselves.
Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to satisfy vital human needs.
The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease of the human
population. The flourishing of nonhuman life requires such a decrease.
Present human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive, and the situation is rapidly
worsening.
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Policies must therefore be changed. These policies affect basic economic, technological, and
ideological structures. The resulting state of affairs will be deeply different from the present.
The ideological change is mainly that of appreciating life quality (dwelling in situations of inherent
value) rather than adhering to an increasingly higher standard of living. There will be a profound
awareness of the difference between big and great.
Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation directly or indirectly to try to implement
the necessary changes.
12.5
Deep Ecology Movement
In practice, the deep ecologists support decentralization, the creation of ecoregions, the breakdown of
industrialism in its current form, and an end to authoritarianism. Deep ecology is not normally considered a
distinct movement, but as part of the green movement. The movement could be defined as those within the
green movement who hold deep ecological views. Deep ecologists welcome the labels "Gaian" and
"Green" and they have had a broad general influence on the green movement by providing an independent
ethical platform for Green parties, political ecologists and environmentalists. The philosophy of deep
ecology helped differentiate the modern ecology movement by pointing out the anthropocentric bias of the
term "environment", and rejecting the idea of humans as authoritarian guardians of the environment.
12.5.1 Criticism
(a) Interests in nature- Animal rights activists state that for something to require rights and protection
intrinsically, it must have interests. Deep ecology is criticized for assuming that plants, for example,
have their own interests as they are manifested by the plant's behavior - self-preservation being
considered an expression of a will to live, for instance.
(b) Deep ecologists claim to identify with non-human nature, and in doing so, criticize those who claim
they have no understanding of what non-human nature's desires and interests are. The criticism is
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that the interests that a deep ecologist purports to give to non-human organisms such as survival,
reproduction, growth and prosperity are really human interests. "The earth is endowed with 'wisdom',
wilderness equates with 'freedom', and life forms are said to emit 'moral' qualities."
(c) It has also been argued that species and ecosystems themselves have rights. However, the
overarching criticism assumes that humans, in governing their own affairs, are somehow immune from
this same assumption that is how governing humans can truly presume to understand the interests of
the rest of humanity. While the deep ecologist critic would answer that the logical application of
language and social mores would provide this justification that is voting patterns and so on, the deep
ecologist would note that these "interests" are ultimately observable solely from the logical application
of the behavior of the life form, which is the same standard used by deep ecologists to perceive the
standard of interests for the natural world.
(d) Deepness: Deep ecology is criticized for its claim to be deeper than alternative theories, which by
implication are shallow. However despite repeated complaints about use of the term it still enjoys wide
currency; deep evidently has an attractive resonance for many who seek to establish a new ethical
framework for guiding human action with respect to the natural world.
(e) Ecofeminists response: Both ecofeminism and deep ecology put forward a new conceptualization of
the self. Some ecofeminists, such as Marti Kheel, argue that, self-realization and identification with all
nature places too much emphasis on the whole, at the expense of the independent being. Ecofeminists
contend that their concept of the self (as a dynamic process consisting of relations) is superior.
Ecofeminists would also place more emphasis on the problem of androcentrism rather than
anthropocentrism.
(f) Misunderstanding Scientific Information: Daniel Botkin has likened deep ecology to its antithesis, the
wise use movement, when he says that they both "misunderstand scientific information and then arrive
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at conclusions based on their misunderstanding, which are in turn used as justification for their
ideologies. Both begin with an ideology and are political and social in focus." Elsewhere though, he
asserts that deep ecology must be taken seriously in the debate about the relationship between
humans and nature because it challenges the fundamental assumptions of Western philosophy. Botkin
has also criticized Næss's restatement and reliance upon the balance of nature idea and the perceived
contradiction between his argument that all species are morally equal and his disparaging description
of pioneering species.
(g) Shallow" View superior: Writer William Grey believes that, developing a non-anthropocentric set of
values is "a hopeless quest" He seeks an improved "shallow" view, writing, "What's wrong with
shallow views is not their concern about the well-being of humans, but that they do not really consider
enough in what that well-being consists. We need to develop an enriched, fortified anthropocentric
notion of human interest to replace the dominant short-term, sectional and self-regarding conception."
(h) Deep ecology as not "deep" enough: Social ecologists such as Murray Bookchin claim that deep
ecology fails to link environmental crises with authoritarianism and hierarchy. Social ecologists believe
that environmental problems are firmly rooted in the manner of human social interaction, and protest
that an ecologically sustainable society could still be socially exploitative. Deep ecologists reject the
argument that ecological behavior is rooted in the social paradigm and they maintain that the converse
of the social ecologists' objection is also true in that, it is equally possible for a socially egalitarian
society to continue to exploit the Earth.
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Summary
This lecture has introduced you to the concept of deep ecology. Through reading it, you should have
realized that, deep ecology as a philosophy refer to the movement that recognizes the inherent worth of
other being aside from their utility. After having been coined by Arne Naess in 1973, the deep ecology is
premised to give the philosophical basis for the environmental advocacy which in turn guides human
activities against perceived self destruction.
The philosophy is premised on the 8 core principles which its main focus is on the belief that like
humanity, the living environment as a whole has the same right s to live and flourish. In practice, deep
ecologist support decentralization, the creation of eco regions, the breakdown of industrialism in its
current form and an end to authoritarianism. The philosophy is however criticized from different angles
including the ecofeminist who sees its perception of self-realization and identification with all nature as
being essentially placing too much emphasis on the whole, at the expense of the independent being.
Activity
1. What do you understand by the term deep Ecology?
2. With examples drawn across the world, trace the historical development of deep ecology.
3. Critically describe the major core principles underlying deep ecology.
4. Critically asses the utility of the concept in analyzing different environmental issues in Africa.
Further Reading
1. Botkin, D. B. (1990), Discordant Harmonies: A New Ecology for the Twenty-First Century.
Oxford Univ. Press, NY.
2. http://www.users.on.net/~arachne/deepeco.html
3. Naess, A. (1973), The Shallow and the Deep, Long Range Ecology Movements;
http://www.alamut.com/subj/ideologies/pessimism/Naess_deepEcology.html
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LECTURE THIRTEEN
13
Animal Rights
13.1
Introduction
In recent times, especially from 1970s there have been different perspectives on whether animals deserve
rights as those enjoyed by human being. There have been different perceptions from different people as far
as the subject is of concern. This lecture intends to take you further into the core premises of the animal
rights movement.
At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. Trace the historical development of Animal rights.
2. Describe the major approaches to animal rights.
13.2
Background to the Concept
Animal Rights is a movement that intends to protect all animals from being exploited and abused by
humans. This includes the use of animals for anything that causes them pain and suffering, such as
medical experimentation, imprisonment in circuses and zoos, and fur production.
The 21st-century debates about how humans should treat animals can be traced to the ancient world. The
idea that the use of animals by humans—for food, clothing, entertainment, and as research subjects—is
morally acceptable, springs mainly from two sources. First, there is the idea of a divine hierarchy based on
the theological concept of "dominion," from Genesis (1:20–28), where Adam is given "dominion over the
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Although the concept of dominion need not entail property
rights, it has been interpreted over the centuries to imply ownership.
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There is also the idea that animals are inferior because they lack rationality and language, and as such are
worthy of less consideration than humans, or even none. Springing from this is the idea that individual
animals have no separate moral identity: a pig is simply an example of the class of pigs, and it is to the
class, not to the individual, that human stewardship should be applied. This leads to the argument that the
use of individual animals is acceptable so long as the species is not threatened with extinction.
In the 17th C, animals were viewed as automata.
According to Rene Descartes, animals were regarded as nothing but complex automata, with no souls,
minds, or reason. They can see, hear, and touch, but they are not, in any sense, conscious, and are unable
to suffer or even to feel pain. In the Discourse, published in 1637, Descartes wrote that the ability to reason
and use language involves being able to respond in complex ways to "all the contingencies of life,"
something that animals clearly cannot do. He argued from this that any sounds animals make do not
constitute language, but are simply automatic responses to external stimuli. However, as times went on,
this perception changed.
The first known legislation against animals’ cruelty was passed in 1635 in England. This legislation
prohibited pulling wool off sheep, and the attaching of ploughs to horses' tails, referring to "the cruelty used
to beasts. In 1641, the first legal code to protect domestic animals in North America was passed by the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. This was based to the facts that animals like man do have feelings, and that
unnecessary cruelty toward them is morally wrong.
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712- 1778) wrote that animals should be part of natural law, not because they
are rational, but because they are sentient. Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) following Locke, opposed the idea
that humans have duties toward non-humans. For Kant, cruelty to animals was wrong solely on the
grounds that it was bad for humankind. He argued in 1785 that humans have duties only toward other
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humans, and that "cruelty to animals is contrary to man's duty to himself, because it deadens in him the
feeling of sympathy for their sufferings, and thus a natural tendency that is very useful to morality in relation
to other humans is weakened. Animals are there merely as a means to an end. That end is man.
13.3
The Main Philosophical Approaches to Animal Rights
There are two main philosophical approaches to the issue of animal ethics: a utilitarian and a rights-based
approach. The former is exemplified by Peter Singer and the latter by Tom Regan. Their differences reflect
a distinction philosophers draw between ethical theories that focus upon the consequences of actions.
Within the animal rights debate, Singer does not believe there are such things as natural rights and that
animals have them, although he uses the language of rights as shorthand for how we ought to treat
individuals. Instead, he argues that, when we weigh the consequences of an act in order to judge whether it
is right or wrong, the interests of animals—primarily their interest in avoiding suffering—ought to be given
equal consideration to the similar interests of humans. That is, where the suffering of one individual, human
or non-human, is equivalent to that of any other. There is no moral reason to award more weight to either
one of them.
Regan's and Francione's approaches are not driven by the weighing of consequences. Regan believes that
animals are what he calls "subjects-of-a-life," who have moral rights for that reason, and that moral rights
ought not to be ignored. Francione argues that animals have one moral right, and need one legal one: the
right not to be regarded as property.
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Summary
This lecture has introduced you to the concept of animal rights. You have learned that animal
rights are the movement that intends to protect all animals for anything that causes them pain
and suffering such as medical experimentation and imprisonment in circuses and zoos and fur
production. You have noted that throughout the history of mankind, the community has
continued to hold two differing views namely the view that animals are nothing but complex
automata with no souls, minds or reasons. But as times went on, this perspective has been
subject to change. As for now, animals are regarded as creatures which deserves rights. As is
advanced by Rousseau, animals should be part of the natural law and as such man ought to
ensure that they don’t torture them in anyway.
Animal rights are advocated by two philosophical position namely the utilitarian approach
represented by Peter Singer and the right based approach propounded by Regan. Both
approaches agree in principle that animal sufferings ought to be avoided as the suffering of one
individual, human or non human is equivalent to that any other.
Activity
1. Trace the historical development of Animal rights in the world.
2. Describe the major approaches to animal rights currently advocated in the world.
3. Despite of the many cries made by different philosophers against animal cruelty, the rights
of animals are yet to be effectively implemented. Why? Discuss.
Further Reading
Chapple, C, K (1993), Non-Violence to Animals, Earth, and Self in Asian Traditions. Albany:
State University of New York Press.
Clark S.R., (1977), The Moral Status of Animals. Oxford University Press, 1977.
Midgley, M., (1983), Animals and Why They Matter. University of Georgia Press.
Regan, T., (1983), The Case for Animal Rights. University of California Press.
Singer, P., (1975), Animal Liberatio, HarperCollins.
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LECTURE FOURTEEN
14
Non Western Traditions Ethical Thought
14.1
Introduction
The non western traditions ethical thoughts focus on the view held by people from other parts of the world
over the environment and its resources. These include people from Asia, Africa, Middle East and Latin
America. This lecture intends to enrich you on how they view environment.
At the end of this lecture you should be able to compare and differentiate different the world
communities other than the western world view about the environment and resources
contained therein.
14.2
Relevancy of Western Environmental Ethical View in LDCs
It has been argued that Environmental ethics is of western orientation or rather a feature of the already
affluent societies. The extent to which this statement is true or not is represented by the following
arguments: (a) In less developed countries, people are typically not in a position to afford such economic losses as
controlling development or preserving certain areas may well make it impossible for local people to
survive in that area.
(b) People in less developed countries (and the poorer people in developed countries) end up paying
disproportionately. Standard ideas of marginal utility show this; closing off from exploitation pieces
of the environment has little affect on the affluent, which already have what they need to live
comfortable lives. But it has a much greater affect on the poor who need to exploit the environment
to satisfy basic survival needs, and would need to increase exploitation to increase standard of
living.
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(c) Non-Western cultures have special belief or attitude sets that set them apart from Western cultures.
That is, non-Western cultures or at least some of them are inherently 'environmentally friendly'.
The reasons given above does not meant that Non western world does not put value to the environment.
The ethical value represented by these communities is realized in the discussion that follows in these
subsections.
14.3
The African Environmental Perspectives
In Africa most of the societies are in predominately rural. They have a very high level of poverty and fuel
wood is the most common source of energy. Bush burning is a relatively common hunting method. Despite
of all these practices, Africans still has a traditional "ethics of care" of the environment.
These ethics of care for nature are the results of the fact that traditionally, people have for a long time lived
in harmony with the natural environment and as such, they have developed the behavior that reflects an
attitude of caring for the non-human world in which they live. However, these patterns of behavior have
been changing due to the desire on the part of governments to adopt Western style economies. As such,
this tendency has resulted in a rapid increase in environmental exploitation.
Many African nations are resource rich, but because their economies are not structured to take full
advantage of these resources, they are exported with little or no 'value added'. The net results are relatively
few jobs and other economic advantages (and what advantages there are, are often siphoned off by the
corrupt elite), and considerable environmental damage. Moreover, this damage often results in the loss of
agricultural land that the poor rely upon, and significant pollution of waterways. The majority of people gains
nothing from the environmental exploitation and suffers considerable losses.
Dramatic increases in population looks to be a further problem. Many African countries have rapid
population growth, with the usual resulting environmental problems. Population growth is not much a factor
behind environmental problem as it has always been remained a neutral factor. What causes
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environmental degradation is the inequitable distribution of global wealth. Other problems include Air
pollution, and military spending. Due to such compounding problems, there have been an urge for the
return to the traditional attitude reflected in the "ethics of care" regarding our interactions with the
environment. This is not a preservationist approach, nor is it in any way non-anthropocentric. Rather, it is
an approach that recognizes that humans necessarily rely upon the natural world for existence. Because of
this reliance, we must treat the environment in which we live with due respect for the sake of current and
future human well being.
14.3.1 Jainism
Jain traditions respect ahimsa (nonviolence), aparigraha (non-acquisition), asteya (respect for others'
rights) and satya (truth). While Jains comprise less than 1% of India's population, they contribute more than
half of all social welfare. All of India's 7 million Jains are vegetarians, reflecting Jainism's central tenet that it
is wrong to kill or harm any living being.
14.3.2 Udaism
The Genesis creation story relates that God looked upon the entire creation and saw that it was good.
Basing on this scripture, many Jews are convinced that we human beings are not to use our God-given
gifts to harm and exploit nature for our own benefit, but rather to serve God as responsible stewards of
God's creation.
Regarding treatment of nonhumans, there is strong support for compassion and respect. Jewish tradition
requires Tsa'ar Ba'ale Hayim the prevention of cruelty to animals. Among the many biblical passages that
articulate an ethic of respect and compassion for animals are reflected throughout the bible with several
verses articulate it (Proverbs, 12:10; Exodus 23:5; Isaiah 66:3).
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14.3.3 Judeo Christianity
Christianity shares Judaism's creation story, which many Christians have interpreted as commanding
respect for all of nature and its inhabitants. This sentiment was reflected in Jesus' ministry, which stressed
love and peace. Recognizing this, many devout Christians have been leaders of pacifist, environmental and
animal advocacy movements. For example, St. Francis of Assisi and Albert Schweitzer encouraged respect
and reverence for all life.
14.3.4 Buddhism
Buddhists strive to relieve all suffering, in their own hearts and in their communities. Consequently, the First
Precept of Buddhism is "Do not kill, but rather preserve and cherish all life." Buddhists seek modest living,
social justice, respect for the Earth, and compassion towards animals, with vegetarianism being
commonplace among Buddhists.
14.3.5 Muslim World
All of the Koran's 114 chapters except one begin with the phrase "Allah is merciful and compassionate." A
Muslim is expected to recognize the brotherhood of man and should treat a non-Muslim as a brother.
Showing compassion and charity, Muslims believe, is doing service to God. Therefore, it is written in the
Koran "No man is a true believer unless he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself. God
will not be affectionate to that man who is not affectionate to God's creatures. Assist any person oppressed
whether he is Muslim or non-Muslim."
Mohammed repeatedly forbade cruelty to animals, saying in the Hadith popular tradition, "Whoever is kind
to the creatures of God is kind to him." Similarly, Mohammed taught "A good deed done to a beast is as
good as doing well to a human being. An act of cruelty to a beast in Muslim world is as bad as an act of
cruelty to a human being." The Koran (6:38) explains that such benevolence flows directly from God:
"There is not an animal on Earth, nor a bird that flies on its wings, but they are communities like you."
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14.3.6 Bahai Faith
The Bahá'í Faith draws upon many of the world's religions, advocating compassionate towards all creation.
`Abdu'l-Bahá, son of the prophet Bahá'u'lláh, wrote: "Then, O ye friends of God! Ye must not only have kind
and merciful feelings for mankind, but ye should also exercise the utmost kindness towards every living
creature. The physical sensibilities and instincts are common to animal and man. Man is, however,
negligent of this reality and imagines that sensibility is peculiar to mankind; therefore he practices cruelty to
the animal.
In reality what difference is there in physical sensations! Sensibility is the same whether you harm man or
animal: there is no difference. Nay, rather, cruelty to the animal is more painful because man has a tongue
and he sighs, complains and groans when he receives an injury and complains to the government and the
government protects him from cruelty; but the poor animal cannot speak, it can neither show its suffering
nor is it able to appeal to the government.
If it is harmed a thousand times by man it is not able to defend itself in words nor can it seek justice or
retaliate. Therefore one must be very considerate towards animals and show greater kindness to them than
to man. Educate the children in their infancy in such a way that they may become exceedingly kind and
merciful to the animals. If an animal is sick they should endeavor to cure it; if it is hungry, they should feed
it; if it is thirsty, they should satisfy its thirst; if it is tired, they should give it rest."
14.3.7 Paganism
Paganism is a worldview that encourages reverence for nature and a personal relationship to the Divine.
While pagans tend to be very individualistic and non-dogmatic, they agree that the Divine resides in the
Earth and all things. Therefore, they revere the Earth and seek to live in harmony with nature. Pagans also
stress personal responsibility, challenging people to rely on their own strength and inner sources of power
to lead righteous lives. Without specific commandments, individuals must determine right from wrong for
themselves. In practice, most pagans support nonviolent, communal, socially progressive efforts.
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14.3.8 Native Americans
The Native American traditions and beliefs vary quite widely, but a common theme is a sense that all of
Nature is sacred. All animate and inanimate objects are related to the divine and command respect.
Humans, as part of nature, participate in the cycle of life and death, but no animal is killed gratuitously or
without respect for its soul.
Summary
The lecture which you have just finished reading has introduced you to various philosophical views
offered by non western traditions. As you might have realized, all of them have respect to nature although
the employed methodology differ significantly from one locality to another.
The traditional respects to nature is important to be cultivated and promoted in non western world as
implanting the western philosophical outlook won’t have significant outcome due to the differences in our
level of economic development. The differences in our development levels also results in differences in
the demand we put to our nature resources.
Activity
1. Examine the extent to which the western philosophical position in regards to nature is of
less importance to non western world.
2. Using the African philosophical outlook in regard to nature, describe the concept of “ethics
of care”.
3. With examples, discuss the way Paganist individualism outlook contributes to nature
conservation.
4. With examples, show the extent to which the differences in the economic development
between the developed nations and less developed nations results into natural resources
degradation.
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Further Reading
Bulliet, Richard(2004). The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization. Columbia University Press,
Cohen, Arthur A(1970). The Myth of the Judeo-Christian Tradition. Harper & Row, New
York.
Gelernter, David(2007). Americanism: The Fourth Great Western Religion. Doubleday.
Lillback, Peter A..George Washington's Sacred Fire.Providence Forum Press,2006.
Moore, Deborah Dash(1998). "Jewish GIs and the Creation of the Judeo-Christian Tradition,"
Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Winter, 1998),
pp. 31–53 in JSTOR
Neusner, Jacob.(2003): Jews and Christians: The Myth of a Common Tradition. Trinity Press
International, Philadelphia.
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PART FOUR
MAJOR ISSUES IN ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS AND MOVEMENTS
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LECTURE FIFTEEN
15
Environmental Racism
15.1
Introduction
The term racism generally refers to some discrimination done to people of another race. It has been a
popular terms in disciplines such as sociology, history and political sciences. With recent development in
science and technology, increased environmental pollution has also resulted into the formation of the
concept of environmental racism. What is it and how it is practiced and its resulting outcomes are is the
major core function of the lecture you are beginning to read now.
Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to: 1. Describe the origin and development of environmental racism.
2. Discuss the cause and consequences of environmental racism.
3. Critically evaluate the suggested mitigative measures against environmental racism.
15.2
Background to Environmental Racism
Environmental racism have been defined by the Wikipedia Free Dictionary as racial discrimination in
environmental policy making and the enforcement of regulations and laws; the deliberate targeting of
people of colour communities for toxic and hazardous waste facilities; the official sanctioning of the lifethreatening presence of poisons and pollutants in our communities and the history of excluding people of
colour from the leadership of the environmental movement. We can also spell out the meaning of
environmental racism differently as any government, institutional, or industry action, or failure to act, that
has a negative environmental impact which disproportionately harms - whether intentionally or
unintentionally - individuals, groups, or communities based on race or colour.
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It is important that you should understand the environmental racism in an historical context. "The
exploitation of people of based on race has been taking the form of genocide, chattel slavery, indentured
servitude and racial discrimination - in employment, housing and practically all aspects of life. Today we
suffer from the remnants of this sordid history, as well as from new and institutionalized forms of racism,
facilitated by the massive post-World War II expansion of the petrochemical industry.
In the United States, the victims of environmental racism are African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans,
Asians, and Pacific Islanders, who are more likely than Whites to live in environmentally hazardous
conditions. Three out of five African Americans live in communities with uncontrolled toxic waste sites.
Native American lands and sacred places are home to extensive mining operations and radioactive waste
sites. Three of the five largest commercial hazardous waste landfills are located in predominantly African
American and Latino communities. As a consequence, the residents of these communities suffer shorter
life spans, higher infant and adult mortality, poor health, poverty, diminished economic opportunities,
substandard housing, and an overall degraded quality of life (Wikipedia Free Dictionary).
15.3
Classic Cases of Environmental Racism Across the World
Many have noted that, there is a direct relationship between the increasing globalization of the economy
and environmental degradation of habitats and the living spaces for many of the world’s peoples. In many
places where Black, minority, poor or Indigenous peoples live, oil, timber and minerals are extracted in
such a way as to devastate eco-systems and destroy their culture and livelihood. Waste from both highand low-tech industries, much of it toxic, has polluted groundwater, soil and the atmosphere.
The globalization of the chemical industry is increasing the levels of persistent organic pollutants, such as
dioxin, in the environment. Further, the mobility of corporations has made it possible for them to seek the
greatest profit, the least government and environmental regulations, and the best tax incentives, anywhere
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in the world. "Racism and globalization come together in the environment, with the phenomenon referred to
as 'global environmental racism' - a manifestation of a policy which has found domestic expression in
countries like the United States, but which also has a global dimension.
Environmental racism, although not new, is a recent example of the historical double standard as to what is
acceptable in certain communities, villages or cities and not in others. One example of this double standard
is the environmentally devastating method of extraction of natural resources, utilized by multinational
corporations in developing countries. This has been the case with the Ogoni and other peoples of the Niger
Delta in Nigeria, the U’wa people of Northeast Columbia, the Amungme of West Papua, Indonesia, the
Indigenous People of Burma, and numerous others.
Examples of Environmental Racism in the United States can be expressed by the following cases: 15.3.1 New Mexico
Farm workers work on crops that are treated with toxic pesticides. The pesticide exposure can result in
death, birth defects, cancer, nerve disorders, skin diseases and other problems. The Federal Government
has failed to protect farm workers and it is feared that this environmental protection would become weaker
under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). "In the case of our farm worker community, the
state of New Mexico has committed a tragic injustice by the discriminatory exclusion of agricultural workers
from the workers compensation system.
15.3.2 Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota
As state environmental regulations have become more stringent in recent years, Native American
reservations have become prime targets of waste disposal firms. As of 1992, the leaders of more than 100
reservations have been approached by such firms. Many waste-disposal companies have attempted to
avoid state regulations (which are often tougher than federal regulations) by targeting Native lands.
Because of their quasi-independent status, Native American reservations are not covered by state
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environmental regulations. In 1991, a Connecticut-based company proposed to build a 6,000 acre
municipal landfill on Sioux land. Solid waste from other areas would be dumped on Sioux land. Local
residents founded the Good Road Coalition and appealed to the Tribal Council to rescind the contract
signed with the company. They were able to block construction of the landfill.
15.3.3 Mossville, Louisiana
There are over 30 petrochemical and industrial plants located within a 2-mile area of Mossville (an African
American community in rural Louisiana). Condea Vista and PPG, two vinyl companies bordering the
community of Mossville, have admitted to contaminating water with millions of pounds of ethylene
dichloride (EDC), a suspected human carcinogen. In November 1999, a United States government health
agency issued an alarming report that "dioxin levels are elevated in residents of Mossville" that the types of
dioxin found in the blood of residents "appeared to be locally generated" and that "local exposures are at
least partially responsible for these levels. Dioxin is a persistent organic pollutant and is recognized as the
most toxic substance known to science because of its wide variety of destructive effects, including damage
to human reproduction, cancer, hormone disruption, and severe impairment of a child’s physical and
cognitive development
15.3.4 US Mexican Border
Approximately 2,000 maquiladoras line the US-Mexican border. Corporate headquarters remain north of La
Linea (the line, or border that separates the United States from Mexico), while assembly plants are
mushrooming south of the border. Corporations reap record profits, while poor and working communities on
both sides of La Linea are consigned to low-wage jobs and environmental health hazards. The US-Mexico
border is a microcosm of North-South relations in a global economy where corporations call the shots, and
poor nations sell off labour rights and the environment to the highest bidder. There is no "right to know" law
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in Mexico, so both workers and communities are denied information about the toxins to which they are
exposed. Companies pollute freely, degrading the border environment.
Toxic waste, which should be returned to the US or other countries by law, is often stored on site, posing a
health risk to both workers and surrounding communities. Border communities report a deterioration of
public health ranging from respiratory problems to skin irritations and neurological disorders believed to be
caused by industrial pollution.
15.3.5 Nigeria and Niger Delta
The only thing that has changed in the Niger Delta since the return to a civilian government, is that protests
have become increasingly violent and some, openly lawless. There has been no meaningful change in the
substantive issues facing the minority communities in the Delta; the revenue allocation formula (how the
Nigerian government decides to spend the money generated from oil sales) has not changed, gas flaring
still goes on 24 hours a day in many communities, oil spills still occur, water is polluted, in some places
there is still no electricity, etc. Although this region produces close to two million barrels of oil per day, it is
among the poorest in the country. With oil being 90% of the government’s foreign exchange, any
demonstrations or disruption of the flow of oil is met with swift reprisals by the police and military.
15.3.6 West Papua (Irian Jaya, Indonesia)
Black people in this Asian-Pacific territory are not only struggling for independence, but are also fighting
Freeport-McMoRan which operates one of the world’s biggest copper and gold mines there. The region
around the mine is closed off to outsiders, as well as to the traditional landowners, who have been
dispossessed. The mine has been accused of dumping 130,000 tons of waste rock (known as tailings) a
day into local rivers as a means of disposal. The military is used to guard the mine and protect the
resources. They have been implicated in numerous human rights violations against the people.
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15.3.7 Ecuador and Texaco Petroleum Company
From 1964 to 1990, Texaco, through its subsidiary, Texaco Petroleum Company (TexPet) controlled over
80% of the oil production in Ecuador. In 1993, a $1.5 billion class action suit was filed in New York against
Texaco, charging that Texaco improperly dumped large quantities of toxic byproducts into the local rivers,
as opposed to utilizing the prevailing industry practice of reinjection; a more expensive, but also a more
environmentally sound practice. It is also alleged that Texaco used other improper means of eliminating
toxic substances, such as burning them and spreading them on local dirt roads.
It is reported that their operations resulted in deforestation of more than two million acres of rainforest,
displacement of indigenous communities, and extensive water pollution that created a regional health crisis.
Members of Indigenous tribes have unusually high rates of cancer, skin rashes and respiratory ailments.
15.3.8 Dumping of Toxic Wastes in Developing Countries
"Between 1989 and 1994, it is estimated that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) countries exported 2,611,677 metric tons of hazardous wastes to non-OECD countries." The illicit
movement and dumping of toxic and dangerous substances and wastes constitute a serious threat to the
life and health of individuals, particularly in developing countries that do not have the technologies to
process them.
Although the Basel Convention prohibits the transshipment of many forms of toxic waste, "products such as
pesticides and other chemicals banned or severely restricted by the United States, Western Europe and
Japan because of their acute toxicity, environmental persistence or carcinogenic qualities are still regularly
sent to the Third World. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Illicit Dumping of Toxic Wastes has
been asked to examine racially motivated discrimination practices in relation to the illicit movement and
dumping of toxic and dangerous products and wastes (Hill, 1999).
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15.5
Why is this Happening?
15.5.1 Racism
First, a double standard exists as to what practices are acceptable in certain communities, villages or cities
and not in others. Second, poor and people of colour around the world pay a greater and disproportionate
price for economic development, resources extraction and industrialism in terms of their health, quality of
life and livelihood. Although corporate greed and the lack of corporate accountability explains a tremendous
amount of what is described above, racism in the form of environmental racism, plays a significant role that
must not be overlooked.
15.5.2 Transnational Power and the Mobility of Global Corporations
Financial institutions and trade agreements have facilitated the movement of capital and goods across
borders. Corporations have become more powerful than nation states and are not accountable to anyone
except their shareholders. Their mobility has made it possible for them to seek the greatest profit, the least
government regulations, and the best tax incentives, anywhere in the world. Workers are exposed to
economic and environmental blackmail; they either accept low-paying, often non-unionised jobs with
environmental health risks, or the jobs will move to another country.
15.5.3 Profits before People
Some have argued that resource wars will be the impetus for the major conflicts in the 21st Century (Cole,
et al, 2001). Traditional land rights and sacred cultural sites are under-valued when it interferes with gaining
access to resources and therefore profit. The impact that extraction and processing industries have on
human health and quality of life doesn’t matter. People are increasingly unwanted and unneeded for
increased profit; they are becoming disposable.
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15.5.4 Lower Environmental Standards Abroad
More stringent environmental regulations in the United States have contributed to the downsizing of
operations here and the expansion of activities abroad. Large oil companies are under-investing in and
selling off their US refineries, while focusing their investment efforts on new overseas drilling opportunities
where their return on capital is higher.
15.5.5 Lack of Power
Minority groups in Nigeria, small rural African American communities in Louisiana, Indigenous Peoples
around the world and others share something in common; they lack the political power, they lack
information and vital global strategies to take on powerful multinational corporations and/or repressive state
or national governments/regimes.
15.6
Recommendations for Environmental Racism
To fight against environmental degradation and repressive economic policies, people have heretofore relied
on changing national governments, their policies and agencies. For the most part, people engaged in
national networking and national resistance strategies. But as Karliner (1997) and others have noted "as
the centres of political and economic power shift from the nation-state toward an international economic
system increasingly dominated by transnational corporations, shifting also are the strategies, tactics and
targets of movements working on social and environmental justice." Richard Falk (1993) posits that a new
paradigm, "globalization from below", is needed during this historical period.
Globalization from below is based on a global civil society that seeks to extend ideas of moral, legal and
environmental accountability to those now acting on behalf of the state, market and media. Others have
noted the need for transborder alliances, a global civil society and global social movements. It is clear that
global networking and global resistance are necessary strategies to solve the problems of environmental
racism.
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Summary
The lecture which you have just completed is about environmental racism which has been
explained as the outcome of the government, institutional, or industry action, or failure to act, to
the negative environmental impact that disproportionately harms individuals, groups, or
communities based on race or colour. You have noted that, this has been a serious problem in
many parts of the world and particularly in industrialized nations such as USA.
The ill treatment directed to the poor people in terms pollution and land grab especially in most
sacred traditional places that posses’ material wealth has in most cases resulting into many
problems to the poor people of which one of the serious ones is short life span. Corruption on
the side of the governments, lack of power on the side of the afflicted people and the problem
of globalization are the major causes of environmental racism.
In order to end up this problem, there is a need of establishing what is known as the
globalization from below which basically refer to global civil society that seeks to extend ideas
of moral, legal and environmental accountability to those now acting on behalf of the state,
market and media.
There is also a need for having the so called transborder alliances, a global civil society and
global social movements. It is clear that global networking and global resistance are necessary
strategies to solve the problems of environmental racism.
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Activity
1. Define the term environmental racism and with examples across the world, discuss the
major causes of environmental racism.
2. Discuss the major consequences of environmental racism to the poor people of the third
world countries.
3. What does the term globalization from below mean? To what extent can this approach be
a solution to the current problems of environmental racism in the world of the poor people?
Further Reading
Henkel, C. e.t.al.,(2001): Institutional Discrimination, Individual Racism, and Hurricane Katrina
From the Ground Up". New York University Press: New York, NY, Wikipedia Free Dictionary
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LECTURE SIXTEEN
16
Environmental Justice
16.1
Introduction
The term Environmental justice (EJ) refers to an equitable spatial distribution of burdens and benefits to
groups such as racial minorities, residents of economically disadvantaged areas, or residents of developing
nations commonly known as people of colour. It also includes providing the opportunity for meaningful
participation, recognition or awareness of local and/or cultural issues, and ensuring the capability of people
to function fully with society. In this lecture, we are going to see how this concept can be implemented in
order to end up the problem of environmental racism which you have just read in the previous lecture.
Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to: 1. Define and describe what environmental justice is all about.
2. Trace the origin and development of environmental justice in the world.
3. State the environmental justice principles.
16.2
Background to Environmental Justice Concept
The United Environmental department defines environmental Justice as the fair treatment and meaningful
involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the
development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.
Environmental justice emerged as a concept in the USA in the early 1980s. Proponent of environmental
justice in general view the environment as encompassing where we live, work, and play and seek to
redress inequitable distributions of environmental burdens (pollution, industrial facilities, crime, etc.). Root
causes of environmental injustices include institutionalized racism, the co-modification of land, water,
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energy and air, unresponsive, unaccountable government policies and regulation; and lack of resources
and power in affected communities.
According to EPA, the goal of environmental justice will be achieved if all communities and persons across
nations are able to enjoy same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and have equal
access to the decision-making process as well as have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and
work.
16.3
Fundamental Environmental Justice
The United States Department of Transportation defines three fundamental of environmental Justice (EJ)
principles for the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration as: -:
•
To avoid, minimize, or mitigate disproportionately high and adverse human health and environmental
effects, including social and economic effects, on minority populations and low-income populations.
•
To ensure the full and fair participation by all potentially affected communities in the transportation
decision-making process.
•
To prevent the denial of, reduction in, or significant delay in the receipt of benefits by minority and lowincome populations.
A condition of environmental justice exists when environmental risks and hazards and investments and
benefits are equally distributed with a lack of discrimination, whether direct or indirect, at any jurisdictional
level; and when access to environmental investments, benefits, and natural resources are equally
distributed; and when access to information, participation in decision making, and access to justice in
environment-related matters are enjoyed by all.
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On the other hand, An environmental injustice exists when members of disadvantaged, ethnic, minority or
other groups suffer disproportionately at the local, regional (sub-national), or national levels from
environmental risks or hazards, and/or suffer disproportionately from violations of fundamental human
rights as a result of environmental factors, and/or denied access to environmental investments, benefits,
and/or natural resources, and/or are denied access to information; and/or participation in decision making;
and/or access to justice in environment-related matters."
In his 2003 book Environmental Justice in America, author Edwardo Lao Rhodes poses several questions:
•
Are minority communities and individuals burdened with more than their share of environmental
risks in this country, while enjoying fewer of the benefits of environmental regulation than others?
•
Is environmental justice policy no different from education, criminal and civil justice, and a host of
other socioeconomic institutions in this country in being tainted by the broad brush of race and
class discrimination?
•
If not, what besides race and class discrimination could possibly explain these differences in
environmental burdens and benefits?
•
What explains the apparent lack of concern for the uneven impact of environmental policies and
activities in most of the original federal environmental legislation?.
Environmental justice advocates make the argument that minority populations often undertake
environmentally hazardous activities because they have few economic alternatives and are/or not fully
aware of the risks involved. A combination of this lack of awareness coupled with their relative lack of
political and economic power makes poor minority communities a frequent target for environmentally
hazardous activities.
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Those who question the validity of the impact of environmental racism argue that environmental issues
historically have been less important for minority groups faced with pressing socioeconomic issues such as
education, drug abuse, crime and unemployment. Under representation in private and governmental
groups concerned with the environment is an extension of their placing environmental injustices low on
their list of priorities.
Environmental discrimination has historically occurred with respect to several different kinds of sites,
including waste disposal, manufacturing, and energy production. Transportation infrastructures, including
highways, ports, and airports, have also been charged with creating environmental injustices.
Among the earliest documentation of environmental racism was a study of the distribution of toxic waste
sites. Since then, waste dumps and waste incinerators have been the target of environmental justice
lawsuits and organizing. Energy production has also been a significant source of environmental
discrimination, with communities of color, poor communities, and rural communities arguably most affected
both by energy extraction such as coal mining (including mountaintop removal), uranium mining and
enrichment, oil drilling and refining, unconventional oil and gas and by electricity production in coal- and
gas-fired power plants and nuclear reactors.
Alternative energy sources, including solar, wind, biomass, natural gas, and "clean coal," promise to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, ameliorating the disproportionate burdens that global climate change will place
on poor communities’ western countries and the global South. However, they may bring with them new
environmental risks and possibilities for environmental discrimination.
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16.4
Emergence of Environmental Justice Movement
In the early 1980s, environmental justice emerged as a concept in the United States, fueled by a mounting
disdain within African-American, Hispanic and indigenous communities that were subject to hazardous and
polluting industries located predominantly in their neighborhoods.[11] This prompted the launch of the
environmental justice movement, which adopted a civil rights and social justice approach to environmental
justice and grew organically from dozens, even hundreds, of local struggles, events and a variety of other
social movements.
By many accounts, the environmental justice movement began in 1982 in Warren County, North Carolina.
The state selected the Shocco Township to host a hazardous waste landfill containing 30,000 cubic yards
of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-contaminated soil. 69% of the Shocco Township’s population is nonwhite
and 20% of the residents have incomes below the poverty level (Cole and Foster, 2001). The Shocco
Township has the third lowest per capita income in the state.
The publication of two studies, one by the government and the other by the United Church of Christ’s
Commission for Racial Justice (1987), provided empirical support for the claims of environmental racism.
Bullard’s Dumping in Dixie (1990) added further support for the disproportionate burden of toxic waste on
minority communities.
In January 1990, the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources sponsored a conference on race
and the incidence of environmental hazards. Later the same year, the USEPA established its Workgroup
on Environmental Equity. By October 1991, the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership
Summit took place, organized and attended by more than 650 grassroots and national leaders representing
more than 300 environmental groups. The Second National People of Color Environmental Leadership
Summit (also called Summit II) was also held in Washington DC, from October 23–26, 2002. Materials
produced at the summit included a timeline for Environmental Justice milestones.
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Following the US examples environmental justice campaigns also emerged in other parts of the world, such
as India, South Africa, Israel, Nigeria, Mexico, Hungary, Uganda and the United Kingdom. In Europe for
example, there is evidence to suggest that the Gypsies and other minority groups of non-European descent
are suffering from environmental inequality and discrimination. In Europe, the Gypsies people are those
who are ethnically minorities in many European countries and differ from the rest of the European people
by their culture, language, and history. These people experience racial discrimination and also
Environmental Racism which takes place where they reside.
The European Union is trying to strive towards justice by putting into effect declarations that state that all
people have a right to a healthy environment. The Stockholm Declaration, the 1987 Brundland
Commission’s Report – “Our Common Future,” the Rio Declaration, and Article 37 of the Charter of
Fundamental Rights of the European Union all are ways that the Europeans have put acts in place to work
toward environmental Justice.
Under colonial and apartheid governments in South Africa, thousands of black South Africans were
removed from their ancestral lands in order to make way for game parks. In 1992, the Environmental
Justice Networking Forum (EJNF), a nationwide umbrella organization designed to coordinate the activities
of environmental activists and organizations interested in social and environmental justice, was created.
By 1995, the network expanded to include 150 member organizations and by 2000, it included over 600
member organizations.
With the election of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1994, the
environmental justice movement gained an ally in government. The ANC noted that “poverty and
environmental degradation have been closely linked” in South Africa. The ANC made it clear that
environmental inequalities and injustices would be addressed as part of the party’s post-apartheid
reconstruction and development mandate.
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In Canada, an “Environmental Justice Movement” is not currently in action. However, Canada does have
environmental injustice between its people. Environmental Justice Frames are taken as attacks on the
welfare state traditions and fear of the change in the social justice that the country depends on. The
injustice comes, with the Native American population, through broken treaties, land rights, and by taking the
people's environmental resources or contaminating them. While this injustice has not yet caused a
movement to occur in Canada, the Environmental Movement is sure to spread to Canada from the United
States in a matter of time.
In Australia, the “Environmental Justice Movement” is not defined as it is in the United States. Australia
does have some discrimination mainly in the sitting of hazardous waste facilities in areas where the people
are not given proper information about the company. The injustice that takes place in Australia is defined as
environmental politics on who get the unwanted waste site or who has the say so in a certain factory
opening up. The movement towards equal environmental politics focuses more on who can fight for
companies to build and takes place in the parliament.
In the Northern and Southern Countries, environmental discrimination in a global perspective is also an
important factor when examining the Environmental Justice Movement. One prominent example of northern
countries shipping their waste to southern countries took place in Haiti. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania had ash
from the incineration of toxic waste which they did not have room to dump.
Philadelphia decided to put the ash into the hands of a private company, which shipped the ash and
dumped it in various parts of the world, not in the United States. The Khian Sea, the ship which the ash was
put on, sailed around the world and many countries would not accept the waste because it was hazardous
for the environment and the people. The ship owners finally dumped the waste, labeled Fertilizer, in Haiti,
on the beach and sailed away in the night.
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The government of Haiti was infuriated and called for the waste to be removed, but the company would not
come to take the ash away. The fighting over who was responsible for the waste and who would remove
the waste went on for many years. After debating for over ten years, the waste was removed and taken
back to a site just outside of Philadelphia to be disposed of for good.
The reason that this transporting of waste from Northern countries to the Southern Countries takes place is
because it is cheaper to transport waste to another country and dump it there, than to pay to dump the
waste in the producing country because the third world countries are not regulated as much as the more
developed producing countries.
The countries that the waste is taken to are usually poverty stricken and the governments have no control
over the happenings in the country or do not care about the people. The poverty stricken people often have
no say in what happens near their town and are not educated enough to know what is happening in the
town. Often the only way that these actions are stopped is by environmental groups that are willing to come
and help protect the people of the third world countries.
16.5
Transnational Movement Networks for Environmental Justice
Many of the environmental Justice Networks that began in the United States expanded their horizons to
include many other countries and became Transnational Networks for Environmental Justice. These
networks work to bring Environmental Justice to all parts of the world and to protect all citizens of the world
in order to reduce the Environmental injustice happening all over the world. Listed below are some of the
major Transnational Social Movement Organizations.
•
BAN (Basal Action Network) which works to end the toxic waste dumping in poor undeveloped
countries from the rich developed countries.
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•
GAIA (Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance) which works to find different ways to dispose of waste other
than incineration. This company has people working in over 77 countries throughout the world.
•
GR (Global Response) which works to educate activists and the upper working class how to
protect human rights and the ecosystem.
•
Greenpeace International which was the first organization to become the global name of
Environmental Justice. Greenpeace works to raise the global consciousness of transnational trade
of toxic waste.
•
Health Care without Harm works to improve the public health by reducing the environmental
impacts of the health care industry.
•
International Campaign for Responsible Technology works to promote corporate and government
accountability with electronics and how the disposal of technology affect the environment.
•
International POPs Elimination Network works to reduce and eventually end the use of persistent
organic pollutants (POPs) which are harmful to the environment.
•
PAN (Pesticide Action Network) is a network that works to replace the use of hazardous pesticides
with alternatives that are safe for the environment.
These eight global networks work together to achieve the goal that each network has while working
together to create a cleaner environment.
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SUMMARY
Passing through the lecture you have just finished reading you must have realized that
environmental justice is just the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people
regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development,
implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.
The movement began in USA in the early 1980s and from there it spread to other parts of the
world especially in Europe, Australia and South Africa. In some other countries such as Canada
the awareness is there but the movement has not yet taken a definite shape as is in USA.
As it can be induced from the definition, Environmental Justice have the objectives of ensuring
that the justice is observed to all people with irrespective to race, colour, nation of origin or
income. However, these objectives have never been fully met due to different impending factors
including poverty and illiteracy among the affected groups. These factors make them fail to
realize what is happening in the town. Such people are usually helped by environmental groups
that are willing to come and help protect them from the problems emanating from environmental
pollution.
Activity
1. Define the term environmental Justice and then with examples trace causes behind
the movement across the world.
2. Differentiate the Environmental Justice movement taking place in USA with those
taking place in Canada and Australia.
3. Critically examine the factors which hinder people from low income countries from
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realizing the danger of environmental racism.
4. Using relevant examples, critically discuss the ways in which NEMC advocates the
environmental justice to the poor people living in hazardous areas of Major cities of
Tanzania.
Further Reading
Bryant, Bunyan. (1995): Environmental Justice. Island Press.
McDonald, David A.(2002): Environmental Justice in South Africa. Cape Town: Ohio UP.
Cole, Luke and Sheila R. Foster. (2001) From the Ground up: Environmental Racism and the
Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement. New York University Press.
Michael Ash (__): Justice in the Air: Tracking Toxic Pollution from America's Industries and
Companies to Our States, Cities, and Neighborhoods, http://www.peri.umass.edu/justice/
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LECTURE SEVENTEEN
17
Toxic Colonialism
17.1
Introduction
Toxic colonialism has become an issue nowadays particularly in third world countries. This is because,
many industrialized nations in the west fails to get where to dump their wastes. The safe way for them has
been to transport them to Poor countries. The lecture in focus intends to give you a clear insight in what
toxic colonialism is all about and why it is being defined in such context.
Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to: 1. Describe the term toxic colonialism and trace the development of the problem in the
world.
2. Discuss the impact of toxic colonialism to third world countries.
17.2
Background to the Concept
Toxic Colonialism' is a striking phrase coined by Jim Puckett of Greenpeace for the dumping of the
industrial wastes of the West on territories of the Third World. Toxic colonialism started to emerge as an
issue in the early 1970s. The essence behind this emergence is found in the tightening of environmental
laws in developed nations.
Due to this tightening the disposal costs for hazardous waste rose dramatically. At the same time,
globalization of shipping made transboundary movement of waste more accessible, and many LDCs were
desperate for foreign currency. Consequently, the trade in hazardous waste, particularly to LDCs, grew
rapidly. One of the incidents which led to the creation of the Basel Convention was the Khian Sea waste
disposal incident, in which a ship carrying incinerator ash from the city of Philadelphia in the United States
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after having dumped half of its load on a beach in Haiti, was forced away where it sailed for many months,
changing its name several times. Unable to unload the cargo in any port, the crew was believed to have
dumped much of it at sea.
Another is the 1988 Koko case in which 5 ships transported 8,000 barrels of hazardous waste from Italy to
the small town of Koko in Nigeria in exchange for $100 monthly rent which was paid to a Nigerian for the
use of his farmland. These practices have been deemed "Toxic Colonialism" by many developing countries.
Almost around 4% of hazardous wastes that come from OECD countries are actually shipped across
international borders. These wastes include, among others, chemical waste, radioactive waste, municipal
solid waste, asbestos, incinerator ash, and old tires. Of internationally shipped waste that comes from
developed countries, more than half is shipped for recovery and the remainder for final disposal. Increased
trade in recyclable materials has led to an increase in a market for used products such as computers. This
market is valued in billions of dollars. At issue is the distinction when used computers stop being a
"commodity" and become a "waste".
By definition, a waste will fall under the scope if at all is explosive, flammable, toxic, or corrosive. The other
way that a waste may fall under the scope of the Basel Convention is if it is defined as or considered to be
a hazardous waste under the laws of either the exporting country, the importing country, or of the countries
of transit.
17.3
Forms of Pollution in Africa
Toxic waste colonialism can take various forms.
(a) Often masked as the exportation of valuable goods, large amounts of discarded computers, mobiles
phones and other electronic junk, as well as old cars and refrigerators are sent to Africa. The objects
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are all filled with hazardous substances, some of which are highly toxic, including oil, fire retardants,
dioxins and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls).
(b) Sometimes it is arranged in the form of contracts, signed between the Governments of
underdeveloped and developed states. For instance, in one case the Government of Benin signed an
agreement with France and received an advance cash payment of US$ 1.6 million and 30 years of
development aid in return for accepting hazardous waste, including radioactive waste.
(c) Waste shipments contain poisonous metals, hospital waste, expired chemicals and pesticides and
toxic sludge, all destined to be buried, incinerated or recycled (Cobbling, 1992)
(d) When the treatment of hazardous waste is considered too polluting or least profitable, Western
countries send the waste to Africa and Asia, in the name of recycling. All the way down the West
African coast, American and European ships offload containers filled with old computers, slops, and
used medical equipment. Scrap merchants, corrupt politicians and underpaid civil servants take
charge of this rubbish and, for a few dollars; they dump it off coastlines and on landfill sites.
On 19 August 2006, Abidjan, the economic capital of Cote d’Ivoire, was the victim of a very dangerous
environmental and sanitary scandal. A Greek-owned tanker (the Probo Koala) registered in Panama,
chartered by a Dutch company and run by two Frenchmen, operating from London and employing a
Russian crew, dumped 500 tons of chemical mud’s mixed with caustic soda, oil residues and water in
various open air places in the city. The deadly gas evaporating from these sites killed 20 people and
poisoned ten thousands of citizens. On 2 July 2006, one month before coming in the Port of Abidjan, the
Probo Koala was in Amsterdam where it was supposed to unload its cargo. Due to the high cost quoted for
treating the waste which it transported, the ship moved southward, in search of less scrupulous
subcontractors.
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The Cote d'Ivoire toxic waste scandal sheds light on the reality of the West’s toxic waste being dumped
indiscriminately on the poor. Although they lack adequate installations of toxic waste treatment, numerous
African countries, including Benin, Congo-Brazzaville, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,
Mozambique, Nigeria, Togo, Somalia and others imported whole cargoes of toxic waste (industrial muds,
cyanides, solvents, pesticides, pharmaceutical waste) and even nuclear waste ( from Somalia) at very low
cost to the ‘sellers’: between US$ 3 and US$ 40 per ton, compared to the US$ 75 – 300 that elimination
would cost industrial nations.
Sometimes the waste was packaged in barrels marked ‘fertilizer’ or even ‘humanitarian aid’. Greenpeace
advances the figure of 167 million tons of hazardous waste having found a second homeland in Africa.(9) A
subsidiary branch of the company Arcelor Mittal in France is suspected of having laundered million of tons
of toxic waste (under the shape of fuel for tankers) between 1993 and 2004.
The issue of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) is also part of the growing trend in toxic waste trade in
Africa. There are huge stockpiles of pesticides in African countries, estimated at hundreds of thousands of
tonnes. These pesticide stockpiles are unwanted and obsolete and some are already banned in many
countries of the world due to their hazardous threat to the environment, human health, animals and plants.
17.4
Implications
The implications of this waste industry are shocking for both environment and human health. Africa’s
increasing demand for information technology, combined with its limited possibilities to manufacture it, has
made it a famous destination for second hand electronics. According to BAN, up to 500 shipping containers
loaded with second hand electronic equipments arrives in Nigeria monthly. This amount of containers
equals about 100,000 computers or 44,000 TV sets.
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In addition to electronics, several aid groups and organizations are encouraging people to donate their old
electronics for African schools and hospitals. Although the idea is noble and the donations are usually done
in good faith, the negative effects of waste increase are tangible.
According to local sources in Ghana and Nigeria, only around 25% of the Western imports are actually
usable. The useless e-waste ends up in unofficial dumpsites, where it is picked apart by unprotected
workers (many of them children) in search of saleable metals. After all the metal has been removed, the
remaining plastic, cables and casings are usually burnt. These processes are extremely hazardous to
health: most of the e-waste contains toxins such as lead, mercury and chlorinated dioxins, not to mention
the noxious fumes and chemicals released by the burning waste.
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their
Disposal, usually known simply as the Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to
reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of
hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries (LDCs). It does not, however, address the
movement of radioactive waste. The Convention is also intended to minimize the amount and toxicity of
wastes generated, to ensure their environmentally sound management as closely as possible to the source
of generation, and to assist LDCs in environmentally sound management of the hazardous and other
wastes they generate.
The Convention was opened for signature on 22 March 1989, and entered into force on 5 May 1992. A list
of parties to the Convention, and their ratification status, can be found on the Basel Secretariat's web page.
Of the 175 parties to the Convention, only Afghanistan, Haiti, and the United States have signed the
Convention but not yet ratified it.
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Summary
As was coined by Jim Puckett toxic colonialism refer to the dumping of the industrial wastes of
the West on territories of the Third World. As an issue, Toxic colonialism started to emerge in the
early 1970s. The essence behind this emergence is found in the tightening of environmental
laws in developed nations.
Since then, developed nations has been treacherously dumping their waste products on most of
the third world countries with the Nigerian Coco and the Khian Sea waste disposal incidence in
Haiti being cited as the common case. The dumping of industrial wastes creates lots of
environmental problems and as such there have been different concerted efforts to combat the
problem.
One of those cases is the establishment of the Basel convention which among others is
designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to
prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries (LDCs).
Together with its efforts the Basel Convention does not address cases related with the
movement of radioactive waste. As of to date, the convention has on list a total of 175 countries
only.
Activity
1. Discuss what is meant by toxic colonialism and critically explain how the issue takes place.
2. Using Somalia’s case, discuss the environmental and health implications emanating from toxic
colonialism in third world countries.
3. Trace the rise and development of the Basel Convention and with examples show the extent to
which the convention has managed to combat the problems of toxic colonialism.
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Further Reading
Cobbling, M. 1992. Europe's toxic colonialism: exporting Europe's hazardous wastes.’in
Chemistry and Industry, 21 December.
Bernstorff, A. & Stairs, K. ‘Pops in Africa, Hazardous waste trade 1980-2000. Obsolete pesticide
stockpiles. A Greenpeace Inventory.’ 2000. http://www.ban.org.
FAO. 1999c. ‘Inventory of obsolete, unwanted and/or banned pesticides. Prevention and
disposal of obsolete and unwanted pesticide stocks in Africa and the Near East.’
California Department of Toxic Substance Control. ‘Electronic Hazardous Waste.’
http://www.dtsc.ca.gov.
Harder, B. ‘Toxic e-waste gets cached in poor nations.’ National Geographic News.
November,2005.http://news.nationalgeographic.com.
Harder, B. ‘Toxic e-waste gets cached in poor nations.’ National Geographic News. 8
November,2005.http://news.nationalgeographic.com.
Europe’s e-waste in Africa.’ http://www.ghanabusinessnews.com.
Bridgen, K., Labunka, K., Santillo, D. & Johnston, P. ‘Chemical contamination at e- waste
recycling and disposal sites in Accra and Korforidua,Ghana’. Greenpeace research
laboratories technical note 10. October, 2008.http://www.greenpeace.org.
Team, B. D.(2009), ‘Kenya faces electronic waste time bomb.’ Business Daily, 13 October,
(http://www.businessdailyafrica.com)
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LECTURE EIGHTEEN
18
The Balance of Nature
18.1
Introduction
The previous lecture has introduced you to the concept of toxic colonialism and the way it operates. As you
have realized, the dumping takes place on the environment thereby injecting unwanted materials that may
alter the nature composition of the given locality. This lecture is an introductory lecture to the concept of
nature. As you pass through it, it is expected that you will grasp some basics that are important in dealing
with the lecture that will follow after this.
Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to: 1. Define the term nature.
2. Describe the concept of the balance of nature.
3. Evaluate the balance of nature theory.
18.2
Meaning of Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature"
refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. It ranges in scale from the
subatomic to the cosmic. Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" often refers to geology and
wildlife. Nature may refer to the general realm of various types of living plants and animals, and in some
cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects – the way that particular types of things exist and
change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the Earth, and the matter and energy of
which all these things are composed.
Nature is often taken to mean the "natural environment" or wilderness–wild animals, rocks, forest, beaches,
and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist
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despite human intervention. For, example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not
considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole of nature".
This more traditional concept of natural things which can still be found today implies a distinction between
the natural and the artificial, with the artificial being understood as that which has been brought into being
by a human consciousness or a human mind. Depending on the particular context, the term "natural" might
also be distinguished from the unnatural, the supernatural, or synthetic.
18.3
The Balance of Nature Theory
The balance of nature is a theory that says that ecological systems are usually in a stable equilibrium
(homeostasis), which is to say that a small change in some particular parameter (the size of a particular
population, for example) will be corrected by some negative feedback that will bring the parameter back to
its original "point of balance" with the rest of the system. It may apply where populations depend on each
other, for example in predator/prey systems, or relationships between herbivores and their food source. It is
also sometimes applied to the relationship between the Earth's ecosystem, the composition of the
atmosphere, and the world's weather.
The Gaia hypothesis is a balance of nature-based theory that suggests that the Earth and its ecology may
act as co-ordinated systems in order to maintain the balance of nature. The theory that nature is
permanently in balance has been largely discredited, as it has been found that chaotic changes in
population levels are common, but nevertheless the idea continues to be popular. During the latter half of
the twentieth century the theory was superseded by Catastrophe theory and Chaos theory, and in the
twenty-first century by the Tipping point.
Basically, all variations on the concept are that systems remain in approximate equilibrium most of the time.
Small perturbations cause negative feedback that result in fluctuations from some mean state. Some
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perturbations may be large enough to destabilize the system too far for a return to the previous
approximate equilibrium, and then a new approximate equilibrium will be established.
The concept is very old; Nathaniel Esguerra described the relationship between predator and prey species,
and commented on how they were in an essentially static balance, with predators never excessively
consuming their prey populations (Tom, 2007). The "balance of nature" concept once ruled ecological
research, as well as once governing the management of natural resources. This led to a doctrine popular
among some conservationists that nature was best left to its own devices, and that human intervention into
it was by definition unacceptable.
Predator-prey populations tend to show chaotic behavior within limits, where the sizes of populations
change in a way that may appear random, but is in fact obeying deterministic laws based only on the
relationship between a population and its food source illustrated by the Lotka–Volterra equation.
An experimental example of this was shown in an eight year study on small Baltic Sea creatures such as
plankton, which were isolated from the rest of the ocean. Each member of the food web was shown to take
turns multiplying and declining, even though the scientists kept the outside conditions constant. An article in
Journal Nature stated; "Advanced mathematical techniques proved the indisputable presence of chaos in
this food web ... short-term prediction is possible, but long-term prediction is not.
Although some conservationist organizations argue that human activity is incompatible with a balanced
ecosystem, there are numerous examples in history showing that several modern day habitats originate
from human activity: some of Latin America's rain forests owe their existence to humans planting and
transplanting them, while the abundance of grazing animals in the Serengeti plain of Africa is thought by
some ecologists to be partly due to human-set fires that created savanna habitats.
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Despite being discredited among ecologists, the theory is widely held to be true in the wider population: a
report written by psychologist Corinne Zimmerman of Illinois State University and ecologist Kim Cuddington
of Ohio University demonstrated that at least in Midwestern America, the "balance of nature" idea is widely
held among both science majors and the general student population.
Like Social Darwinism the theory has been widely applied as a justification of uncontrolled capitalism, a
defense of the status quo, and an argument against interventionist governments. The theory argues against
organized human interventions - organized action against corruption or oppression in a society is precluded
as it would disturb the current balanced equilibrium.
Summary
This lecture has introduced you to the concept of nature. We have seen that in its broadest
sense, nature refer to the natural world, physical world or material world. We can also equate
nature with life in general. The concept is also related natural environment or wilderness that is
wild animals, rocks, forests, beaches and in general those things that have not been
substantially altered by human intervention or which persists despite of human intervention.
We have already seen that the balance of nature theory and its general basic premises.
According to it, the ecological systems are usually in a stable equilibrium which is to say that a
small change in some particular parameter will be corrected by some negative feedback that will
bring the parameter back to its original point of balance with the rest of the system.
The theory applies where populations depend on each other for example in predator/prey
systems, or relationships between herbivores and their food source. Despite it being discredited,
it has been widely applied as a justification of uncontrolled capitalism, a defense of the status
quo and an argument against interventions government.
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Activity
Now attempt the following questions.
1. Describe the concept natural environment.
2. Using the Gaia hypothesis, show how the balance of nature in the ecosystem is maintained.
3. Critically describe the critique raised against the balance of nature theory.
Further Reading
1. Smith, H. S. (1935), "The role of Biotic Factors in the Determination of Population
Densities", Journal of Economic Entomology 28, 873-898.
2. Andrewartha, H. G., and Birch, I. C. (1954), The distribution and abundance of animals.
Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
3. Begon, M., J. L. Harper, and Townsend, C. R. (1986), Ecology: Individuals, populations,
and communities. Sunderland, MA, Sinauer Associates, Inc.
4. Egerton, F. N. (1973), "Changing concepts of balance of nature", Quarterly review of
biology 48:322-350.
5. Elton, C. S. (1930), Animal ecology and evolution. New York, Oxford University Press.
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LECTURE NINETEEN
19
The Resilience of Nature
19.1
Introduction
The previous lecture has introduced you to the concept of nature and the theory of balance of nature. This
lecture takes you further steps on the fragility and resilience of nature.
Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. Describe the concept of resilience of nature.
2. Discuss the four major aspects of resilience of nature as advanced by C.S. Holling.
3. Show how human activities affect the resilience of nature.
19.2
Resilience
In ecology, resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to respond to a perturbation or disturbance by
resisting damage and recovering quickly. Such perturbations and disturbances can include stochastic
events such as fires, flooding, windstorms, insect population explosions, and human activities such as
deforestation and the introduction of exotic plant or animal species. Disturbances of sufficient magnitude or
duration can profoundly affect an ecosystem and may force an ecosystem to reach a threshold beyond
which a different regime of processes and structures predominates (Folke et al, 2004)
The concept of resilience in ecological systems was first introduced by the Canadian ecologist C.S. Holling
in order to describe the persistence of natural systems in the face of changes in ecosystem variables due to
natural or anthropogenic causes hence resilience is defined as:
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•
The time required for an ecosystem to return to an equilibrium or steady-state following a perturbation.
This definition used in other fields such as physics and engineering, and hence has been termed
‘engineering resilience’ by Holling
•
The capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change so as to still
retain essentially the same function, structure, identity, and feedbacks. This definition is termed as
ecological resilience, and it presumes the existence of multiple stable states or domains.
19.3
Aspects of Resilience
Ecologists Brian Walker, C S Holling and others describe four critical aspects of resilience namely latitude,
resistance, precariousness, and panarchy. The first three can apply both to a whole system or the subsystems that make it up.
•
Latitude: the maximum amount a system can be changed before losing its ability to recover (before
crossing a threshold which, if breached, makes recovery difficult or impossible).
•
Resistance: the ease or difficulty of changing the system; how “resistant” it is to being changed.
•
Precariousness: how close the current state of the system is to a limit or threshold.
•
Panarchy: the degree to which a certain hierarchical level of an ecosystem is influenced by other
levels. For example, organisms living in communities that are in isolation from one another may be
organized differently than the same type of organism living in a large continuous population, thus the
community-level structure is influenced by population-level interactions.
These four dimensions are most easily understood through mathematical representation of an ecosystem
and its variables in phase space. A phase or state space diagram is one in which each axis represents a
variable of a system with any number of variables, so a point in this space describes the system's total
state. A state space diagram of an ecosystem would contain several attractors, or "basins of attraction"
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which are representations of ecosystem process configurations or regimes. Moreover, these configurations
or regimes can change over time as a result of both internal and external processes.
Closely linked to resilience is adaptive capacity, which is the property of an ecosystem that describes
change in stability landscapes and resilience. Adaptive capacity in socio-ecological systems refers to the
ability of humans to deal with change in their environment by observation, learning and altering their
interactions.
19.4
Human Impacts on Resilience
Resilience refers to ecosystem's stability and capability of tolerating disturbance and restoring itself. If the
disturbance is of sufficient magnitude or duration, a threshold may be reached where the ecosystem
changes state, possibly permanently. Sustainable use of environmental goods and services requires
understanding and consideration of the resilience of the ecosystem and its limits. However, the elements
which influence ecosystem resilience are complicated. For example various elements such as the water
cycle, fertility, biodiversity, plant diversity and climate, interact fiercely and effect different systems.
There are many areas where human activity impacts upon and is also dependent upon the resilience of
terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecosystems. These include agriculture, deforestation, pollution, mining,
recreation, overfishing, dumping of waste into the sea and climate change.
19.4.1 Agriculture
Agriculture can be seen as a significant example which the resilience of terrestrial ecosystems should be
considered. The organic matter (elements carbon and nitrogen) in soil, which is supposed to be recharged
by multiple plants, is the main source of nutrients for crop growth. At the same time, intensive agriculture
practices in response to global food demand and shortages involves the removal of weeds and the
application of fertilizers to increase food production.
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However as a result of agricultural intensification and the application of herbicides to control weeds,
fertilizers to accelerate and increase crop growth and pesticides to control insects, plant biodiversity is
reduced as is the supply of organic matter to replenish soil nutrients and prevent run-off. This leads to a
reduction in soil fertility and productivity. More sustainable agricultural practices would take into account
and estimate the resilience of the land and monitor and balance the input and output of organic matter.
19.4.2
Deforestation
The term deforestation has a meaning that covers crossing the threshold of forest's resilience and losing its
ability to return its originally stable state. To recover itself, a forest ecosystem needs suitable interactions
among climate conditions and bio-actions, and enough area. In addition, generally, the resilience of a forest
system allows recovery from a relatively small scale of damage (such as lightning or landslide) of up to 10
per cent of its area. The larger the scale of damage, the more difficult it is for the forest ecosystem to
restore and maintain its balance. Deforestation also decreases biodiversity of both plant and animal life and
can lead to an alteration of the climatic conditions of an entire area. Deforestation can also lead to species
extinction, which can have a domino effect particularly when keystone species are removed or when a
significant number of species is removed and their ecological function is lost.
19.4.3
Climate Change
Climate change is threatening coastal communities in a variety of ways such as rising sea levels,
increasingly frequent large storms, and tidal surges and flooding damage. One of the main results of
climate change is rising sea water temperature which seriously effect on coral reefs through thermal-stress
related coral bleaching. Between 1997-1998 the most significant worldwide coral bleaching event was
recorded which corresponded with the El Nino Southern Oscillation, with significant damage to the coral
reefs of the Western Indian Ocean.
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19.4.4
Overfishing
It has been estimated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization that over 70% of the world’s
fish stocks are either fully exploited or depleted which means overfishing threatens marine ecosystem
resilience and this is mostly by rapid growth of fishing technology. One of the negative effects on marine
ecosystems is that over the last half-century the stocks of coastal fish have had a huge reduction as a
result of over-fishing for its economic benefits. Blue fin tuna is at particular risk of extinction. Depletion of
fish stocks results in lowered biodiversity and consequently imbalance in the food chain, and increased
vulnerability to disease.
In addition to overfishing, coastal communities are suffering the impacts of growing numbers of large
commercial fishing vessels in causing reductions of small local fishing fleets. Many local lowland rivers
which are sources of fresh water have become degraded because of the inflows of pollutants and
sediments.
19.4.5
Dumping of Waste into the Sea
Dumping both depends upon ecosystem resilience whilst threatening it. Dumping of sewage and other
contaminants into the ocean is often undertaken for the dispersive nature of the oceans and adaptive
nature and ability for marine life to process the marine debris and contaminants. However, waste dumping
threatens marine ecosystems by poisoning marine life and eutrophication.
According to the International Maritime Organization, oil spills can have serious effects on marine life. The
OILPOL Convention recognized that most oil pollution resulted from routine shipboard operations such as
the cleaning of cargo tanks. In the 1950s, the normal practice was simply to wash the tanks out with water
and then pump the resulting mixture of oil and water into the sea. OILPOL 54 prohibited the dumping of
oily wastes within a certain distance from land and in 'special areas' where the danger to the environment
was especially acute. In 1962 the limits were extended by means of an amendment adopted at a
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conference organized by IMO. Meanwhile, IMO in 1965 set up a Subcommittee on oil pollution, under the
auspices of its Maritime Safety committee, to address oil pollution issues. The threat of oil spills to marine
life is recognized by those likely to be responsible for the pollution, such as the International Tanker
Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF).
19.4.5
Eutrophication and Algal Blooms
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution calls nutrient pollution the most widespread, chronic
environmental problem in the coastal ocean. The discharges of nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients
come from agriculture, waste disposal, coastal development, and fossil fuel use. Once nutrient pollution
reaches the coastal zone, it stimulates harmful overgrowths of algae, which can have direct toxic effects
and ultimately result in low-oxygen conditions. Certain types of algae are toxic. Overgrowths of these algae
result in harmful algal blooms, which are more colloquially referred to as "red tides" or "brown tides".
Zooplankton eats the toxic algae and begins passing the toxins up the food chain, affecting edibles like
clams, and ultimately working their way up to food chain.
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Summary
In this lecture, we have seen that, resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to respond to a perturbation
or disturbance by restoring damage and recovering quickly. Such disturbance includes stochastic events
such as fire, flooding, windstorms, insects’ population exploitation as well as human activities such as
deforestation and introduction of exotic plants or animal species.
The concept was introduced by a Canadian ecologist C.S Holling on order to describe the persistence of
natural systems in the face of changes in ecosystem variables due to natural causes. Resilience is well
described using four aspects of latitude, resistance, precariousness and panarchy. The ecosystem
stability and capability to tolerate disturbance is mostly disturbed by human activities through agriculture,
deforestation, climate change, overfishing and pollution of all sorts.
Activity
Now, attempt the following the following questions.
1. Describe the concept of resilience of nature.
2. Discuss the four major aspects of resilience of nature as advanced by C.S. Holling.
3. Show how human activities affect the resilience of nature.
Further Reading
1. Hulme, M. (2009). “Why we disagree about Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction
and Opportunity". Cambridge University Press.
2. Pearce, D.W. (1993). “Blueprint 3: Measuring Sustainable Development”.Earthscan.
3. Lee, M. (2005) “EU Environmental Law: Challenges, Change and Decisions Making”. Hart. 26.
4. Folke, C, et. al., (2004). "Regime Shifts, Resilience, and Biodiversity in Ecosystem Management".
Annual
Review
of
Ecology,
Evolution,
doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.35.021103.105711.
148
and
Systematics
35:
557–581.
LECTURE TWENTY
20
Science and Technology
20.1
Introduction
Science and technology is a term of art used to encompass the relationship between science and
technology. It frequently appears within titles of academic disciplines (science and technology studies) and
government offices. Science is distinguished from technology in a sense that Science is a body of
empirical, theoretical, and practical knowledge about the natural world, produced by researchers making
use of scientific methods, which emphasize the observation, explanation, and prediction of real world
phenomena by experiment. Given the dual status of science as objective knowledge and as a human
construct, good historiography of science draws on the historical methods of both intellectual history and
social history. This lecture intends to introduce you on the above mentioned subject and the way they have
in one way or another affected our environment.
Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to: 1. Describe the concepts of science and technology and how they relate with each other.
2. Discuss process of scientific inquiry.
3. Discuss the good and bad side of science and technology
4. Describe the term appropriate technology and the way it can be used to reduce
environmental problems caused by development of science and technology.
20.2
Background to Science and Technology
Science is the way of knowing about the physical world based on an ordered cycle of observation,
methodical investigation and interpretation of results. The general flow of an experimental scientific study
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involves among others making observation, formulation of hypothesis, test hypothesis, data Collection, data
interpretation and presentation as well as conclusion.
Engrained in the scientific process is the whole concept of Scientists aim for their studies' findings to be
replicable — so that, for example, an experiment testing ideas about the attraction between electrons and
protons should yield the same results when repeated in different laboratories. Similarly, two different
researchers studying the same dinosaur bone in the same way should come to the same conclusions
regarding its measurements and composition. This goal of replicability makes sense as science aims to
reconstruct the unchanging rules by which the universe operates. If a finding can't be replicated, it suggests
that our current understanding of the study system or our methods of testing are insufficient.
The process of approach to an environmental issue following the steps explained above is termed Scientific
method. This has even given rise to a discipline called environmental science. It is nothing but a systematic
study of our environment and our proper place in it. This relatively new discipline is highly interdisciplinary,
integrating social science, natural sciences and humanities in a broad holistic study of the world around us.
On the other hand technology has been defined to mean the application of science in solving a problem. In
the course of technology, environments suffer various impacts that will be described shortly. These
environmental problems have been identified by their numbers, but the challenge facing the world now is to
implement the remedies. The remedies are well known but the challenge remaining is how to make them
politically, economically and socially acceptable.
20.3
The Scientific Method Concept
The scientific method is a process for experimentation that is used to explore observations and answer
questions. Scientists use the scientific method to search for cause and effect relationships in nature. In
other words, they design an experiment so that changes to one item cause something else to vary in a
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predictable way. Just as it does for a professional scientist, the scientific method will help you to focus your
science fair project question, construct a hypothesis, design, execute, and evaluate your experiment.
Figure 2: Process of Scientific Method
(a) Ask a Question: The scientific method starts when you ask a question about something that you
observe: How, What, When, Who, Which, Why, or Where? And, in order for the scientific method to
answer the question it must be about something that you can measure.
(b) Do Background Research: Rather than starting from scratch in putting together a plan for answering
your question, you want to be a savvy scientist using library and Internet research to help you find the
best way to do things and insure that you don't repeat mistakes from the past.
(c) Construct a Hypothesis: A hypothesis is an educated guess about how things work:
"If _____[I do this] _____, then _____[this]_____ will happen."
You must state your hypothesis in a way that you can easily measure, and of course, your hypothesis
should be constructed in a way to help you answer your original question.
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(d) Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment: Your experiment tests whether your hypothesis is
true or false. It is important for your experiment to be a fair test. You conduct a fair test by making sure that
you change only one factor at a time while keeping all other conditions the same. You should also repeat
your experiments several times to make sure that the first results weren't just an accident.
(e) Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion: Once your experiment is complete, you collect your
measurements and analyze them to see if your hypothesis is true or false. Scientists often find that their
hypothesis was false, and in such cases they will construct a new hypothesis starting the entire process of
the scientific method over again. Even if they find that their hypothesis was true, they may want to test it
again in a new way.
(f) Communicate Your Results: To complete your science fair project you will communicate your results
to others in a final report and/or a display board. Professional scientists do almost exactly the same thing
by publishing their final report in a scientific journal or by presenting their results on a poster at a scientific
meeting.
Even though we show the scientific method as a series of steps, keep in mind that new information or
thinking might cause a scientist to back up and repeat steps at any point during the process. A process like
the scientific method that involves such backing up and repeating is called an iterative process. Throughout
the process of doing your science fair project, you should keep a journal containing all of your important
ideas and information.
20.4
The Benefits of Science and Technology
The process of science is a way of building knowledge about the universe — constructing new ideas that
illuminate the world around us. Those ideas are inherently tentative, but as they cycle through the process
of science again and again and are tested and retested in different ways, we become increasingly confident
in them. Furthermore, through this same iterative process, ideas are modified, expanded, and combined
into more powerful explanations. For example, a few observations about inheritance patterns in garden
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peas can — over many years and through the work of many different scientists be built into the broad
understanding of genetics offered by science today.
So although the process of science is iterative, ideas do not churn through it repetitively. Instead, the cycle
actively serves to construct and integrate scientific knowledge. The benefits of science can be summarized
through the development of technology, address societal issues, build knowledge, inform policy, satisfy
curiosity, and solve everyday problems as is presented in the figure below.
Figure 2: Benefits of Science and Technology
Knowledge is useful for all sorts of things: from designing bridges, to slowing climate change, to prompting
frequent hand washing during flu season. Scientific knowledge allows us to develop new technologies,
solve practical problems, and make informed decisions — both individually and collectively. Because its
products are so useful, the process of science is intertwined with those applications:-
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(a) It leads to new applications. For example the discovery of the structure of DNA was a fundamental
breakthrough in biology as it formed the underpinnings of research that would ultimately lead to a
wide variety of practical applications, including DNA fingerprinting, genetically engineered crops,
and tests for genetic diseases.
(b) New
technological
advances
may
lead
to
new
scientific
discoveries
For example, developing DNA copying and sequencing technologies has led to important
breakthroughs in many areas of biology, especially in the reconstruction of the evolutionary
relationships among organisms.
(c) Potential applications of science and technology may motivate scientific investigations
for example; the possibility of genetically engineering bacteria to cheaply produce cutting-edge
malaria drugs has motivated one researcher to continue his studies of synthetic biology. Science
affects us all, every day of the year. To make it clear how deeply science is interwoven with our
lives, just try imagining a day without scientific progress Just for starters, without modern science,
there would be: No way to use electricity. From Ben Franklin's studies of static and lightning in the 1700s, to
Alessandro Volta's first battery, to the key discovery of the relationship between electricity and
magnetism, science has steadily built up our understanding of electricity, which today carries our
voices over telephone lines, brings entertainment to our televisions, and keeps the lights on.
No plastic. The first completely synthetic plastic was made by a chemist in the early 1900s, and since
then, chemistry has developed a wide variety of plastics suited for all sorts of jobs, from blocking bullets
to making slicker dental floss.
No modern agriculture. Science has transformed the way we eat today. In the 1940s, biologists began
developing high-yield varieties of corn, wheat, and rice, which, when paired with new fertilizers and
pesticides developed by chemists, dramatically increased the amount of food that could be harvested
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from a single field, ushering in the Green Revolution. These science-based technologies triggered
striking changes in agriculture, massively increasing the amount of food available to feed the world and
simultaneously transforming the economic structure of agricultural practices.
No modern medicine. In the late 1700s, Edward Jenner first convincingly diseases are caused by
germs. And in the 1920s, a biologist discovered the first antibiotic. From the eradication of smallpox, to
the prevention of nutritional deficiencies, to successful treatments for once deadly infections, the impact
of modern medicine on global health has been powerful. In fact, without science. Many people alive
today would have instead died of diseases that are now easily treated.
(d) Scientific knowledge can improve the quality of life at many different levels — from the routine
workings of our everyday lives to global issues. Science informs public policy and personal
decisions on energy, conservation, agriculture, health, transportation, communication, defense,
economics, leisure, and exploration. It's almost impossible to overstate how many aspects of
modern life are impacted by scientific knowledge.
Central to science in dealing with environmental issues is to recognize inherent biases and avoid then. The
findings or discoveries are described and interpreted as accurate and faithful as possible. This is what is
termed a holistic or interpretive science. Key to science is to learn to evaluate information systematically,
keeping an open mind and remaining alert for new data and alternative interpretations. This will help the
scientists to understand important lessons that are environmental problems in day to day life.
There is no final proof, a room is always left for new findings to rectify or discard the previous findings and
formulate an entirely new theories. Scientists can thus draw different conclusions from the same data.
There is no absolute final proof. Faster progress and development preoccupy the minds of many people but
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serious mistakes do occur. Some of these mistakes can accrue from scientific processes that are unable to
foresee future outcomes.
20.5
Evils of Science and Technology
Science and technology give us power to improve our lives, but they also make it possible to make bigger
mistakes than ever before as illustrated in these under mentioned points:
Major environmental problems facing the world today is a result of technological growth that enhanced
dumping of wastes into the environment. Consider countless smokestacks in the industries on the earth
and the way this has led to global environmental problems.
Technological advances have proved to be fatal to environment yet it is necessary for the well being of
life of people. What remains as a challenge is what the appropriate environmental technology is? A
historian Lewis Munford once pointed out that technology contain more that machines. It includes all
the techniques, knowledge and organization that we use to accomplishes tasks.
Whether our technology is destructive or constructive depends in part on the tools themselves, but
even more on our world view about why and how we use them. Some technologies such as nuclear
power, genetic engineering and nanotechnology might be benign in the hands of a wise far-seeing and
incorruptible people. Unfortunately this does describe most of the mankind. The issue of ethics which
subjective and apply differently across culture here now comes in.
A lot of pollutants are released into the environment. Pollutant gases have been emitted into the
atmosphere for quite a long time and now it has proved to be deleterious to environment. The pollutant
gases like CO2, Chlorofluorocarbons and SO2 have led to global warming, ozone layer depletion and
acid rain all of which make the earth an unpleasant place to live.
Science and technology consumes a lot of resources in such a way that the finite ones are exhausted,
depriving the use by future generation. For example use of mineral to make jewels has led to
overexploitation and exhaustion of the mineral.
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Creation of classes of people and their stratification. Individual people and nations with more power to
exploit the resources, that more advance in terms of science and technology has created strata among
the people of the earth. Those with more ability to exploit form their strata of rich people while those
whom can’t are poor.
This brings to us the fact that, the more individual get in science and technology the more eager they strive
to advance it and often the more mistakes are made that deteriorate environment. Mistakes in environment
are larger and they are being made faster than before.
20.6
What should be Done?
Concept of appropriate technology should well be applied to rescue environment. It promotes machines
and approaches suitable for local conditions and cultures. The appropriate technology movement attempts
to design productive facilities in places where people now live, not in urban areas. It looks for the products
that are affordably made by simple production methods from local materials for local use. It advocates safe,
creative, environmentally sound, emotionally satisfying work conducted in conditions of human dignity and
freedom that creates social bonds rather than breaking them down.
Rather than to try to convert local economies and tastes into copies of western culture, appropriate
technologists try to work with indigenous people to create sustainable livelihoods for prevailing conditions.
The main hope here is appropriate technology can help us avoid future environmental damage and to
repair mistakes made in the past. Some advances have been made toward these goals, but the promise
and power of the dominant Western paradigm are very sedative.
Technology is an application of scientific findings in solving our day to day challenges and this brings us
many benefits.
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Summary
In this lecture you have learned that, Science is a body of empirical, theoretical, and practical
knowledge about the natural world, produced by researchers making use of scientific methods,
which emphasize the observation, explanation, and prediction of real world phenomena by
experiment and technology refer to the application of science in solving a problem. In reaching
conclusion, science undertake the scientific method which involves among others making
observation, formulation of hypothesis, test hypothesis, data Collection, data interpretation and
presentation as well as conclusion.
Both science and technology have been vital for various kind of development but in the course of
development, they have caused many advantages and disadvantages on the environment.
Benefits of science are well realized by everybody as far as the environment development is
concerned but the evil of science and technology are many as well such as environmental
degradation due to natural resources exploitation, exhaustion of some type of natural resources
as well as pollution.
Advocates of science and technology suggest that, we could make science and technology of
sustainable use if we go for the appropriate technology which promotes machines and
approaches suitable for local conditions and cultures.
Activity
After leading the lecture and the summary of the same now attempt the following questions: 1. Differentiate between science and technology.
2. What is scientific method? With a help of diagram discuss how scientific methods is carried
out.
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3. Discuss the pro and cons of science and technology as far as the environment is concerned.
4. Define the appropriately the term technology. Using examples from your locality, discuss
how new technologies can be of useful to environmental sustainability.
Further Reading
1. Masawe, F.J; Mhoma, J; Kigadye, E.S.P and Varisanga, M.D., (2006): Science and
Technology, The Open University of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam.
2. Cohen H. F. (1994), The Scientific Revolution: A Historiographical Inquiry, University of Chicago
Press.
3. Serres, M. (1995), A History of Scientific Thought, Blackwell Publishers.
4.
Özden, M. (2007), Problems with Science and Technology Education in Turkey,
Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 3(2), 157-161.
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Appendix 1:
Additional Reading Materials
Folke, C., Carpenter, S., Walker, B., Scheffer, M., Elmqvist, T., Gunderson, L., Holling, C.S. (2004). "Regime Shifts,
Resilience, and Biodiversity in Ecosystem Management". Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and
Systematics 35: 557–581. doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.35.021103.105711.
Gibbs, M.T. (2009). "Resilience: What is it and what does it mean for marine policymakers?". Marine Policy 33 (2):
322–331. doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2008.08.001.
Gibbs, M.T. (2009). "Resilience: What is it and what does it mean for marine policymakers
Gunderson, L.H. (2000). "Ecological Resilience — In Theory and Application". Annual Review of Ecology &
Systematics 31: 425. doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.31.1.425.
Hospers, J. (1996). Human Conduct: Problems of Ethics. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers
Jacobs, Tom (2007). "Belief in 'Balance of Nature' Hard to Shake". Miller-McCune. http://www.millermccune.com/article/119. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
Obura, D.O. (2005). "Resilience and climate change: lessons from local reefs and bleaching in the Western Indian
Ocean". Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 63 (3): 353–372. doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2004.11.010.
Santmire, H. Paul (1985): The Travail of Nature: The Ambiguous Ecological Promise of Christian Theology.
Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
Santmire, H. Paul (2000): Nature Reborn: The Ecological and Cosmic Promise of Christian Theology. Minneapolis,
Minn.: Fortress Press, 2000.
Schweitzer, A. (1923), Civilization and Ethics. J. Naish (trans.), London, A & C Black.
Sittler, Joseph (2000): Evocations of Grace: The Writings of Joseph Sittler on Ecology, Theology, and Ethics, eds.
Steven Bouma-Prediger and Peter Bakken. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans.
Stace, W.T. (1973). Cultural Relativism versus Ethical Absolutism. In P. Davis, ed., Introduction to Moral Philosophy,
pp. 190-204. Columbus: C. E. Merrill Publishing Company
Stevens, William K. (1990). "New Eye on Nature: The Real Constant Is Eternal Turmoil". The New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/31/science/new-eye-on-nature-the-real-constant-is-eternal-turmoil.html.
Retrieved 19 June 2011.
Warbuton, N. (1995). Philosophy: The Basics. New York: Routledge.
YPTE 2010 Overfishing: Environmental Facts Young Peoples Trust for the Environment Viewed September 12,
2010. Overfishing: Environmental Facts
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Appendix 2:
Glossary of Terms Used
Absolutism: The belief that there is one and only one truth; those who espouse absolutism usually also
believe that they know what this absolute truth is. In ethics, absolutism is usually contrasted to
relativism.
Aesthetic Value: The value attributed to works of art. In environmental ethics, the attribution to nature of
aesthetic value, commonly as an instance of intrinsic value.
Agnosticism. The conviction that one simply does not know whether God exists or not; it is often
accompanied with a further conviction that one need not care whether God exists or not.
Altruism. A selfless concern for other people purely for their own sake. Altruism is usually contrasted with
selfishness or egoism in ethics.
Anthropocentrism. The view that humans are the most important beings on Earth. Typical of Western
Judeo-Christian culture.
Anthropocentrism: "Human-centered" ethic or world view where human well-being or interests are
considered to be all that matters, everything else being valued only as a means. Example: Baxter.
Areté. The Greek word for "excellence" or "virtue." For the Greeks, this was not limited to human beings. A
guitar, for example, has its areté in producing harmonious music, just as a hammer has its
excellence or virtue in pounding nails into wood well. So, too, the virtue of an Olympic swimmer is
in swimming well, and the virtue of a national leader lies in motivating people to work for the
common good.
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Atheism. The belief that God does not exist. In the last two centuries, some of the most influential atheistic
philosophers have been Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Bertrand Russell, and Jean-Paul Sartre.
Compare with Agnosticism.
Atomism: In ethics, means the same as individualism. The term has quite different meanings in other
areas of philosophy.
Autonomy. The ability to freely determine one’s own course in life. Etymologically, it goes back to the
Greek words for "self" and "law." This term is most strongly associated with Immanuel Kant, for
whom it meant the ability to give the moral law to oneself.
Biocentrism: "Life-centred" where the well-being of each living thing is considered to be all that matters,
everything else being valued only as a means to that end. Example: Taylor. The term is also used
for ethics that value life itself, or biosphere, where the interests of individuals are valued largely or
solely for the sake of the biosphere. Example: Callicott. Thus, biocentrism may be individualistic or
holistic.
Biodiversity. The natural variety of life in all its forms, levels and combinations, together with the
environmental conditions necessary for survival. Biodiversity includes: regional diversity,
ecosystem diversity, species diversity and genetic diversity.
Bioprospecting. The search for potentially valuable chemical compounds within biota.
Bioregion. A natural region defined by its ecological coherence. Each bioregion has a distinct geological
formations, climatic conditions and ecology.
Bioregionalism. The belief that human communities should be fully integrated with the particular bioregion
they occupy. A good example is the Ozark Area Community Congress (OACC). The OACC is
founded on the principle of 'political economy', which means that political decisions must be
bioregionally orientated, and so operate according to ecological laws.
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Callicott: J Baird Callicott taught the first environmental ethics course in the world (in 1972) and his major
contribution to environmental ethics is in his extensive writings on Leopold. He is undoubtedly the
#1 figure in turning environmental ethics into an academic discipline within philosophy. Since the
text was written, he has moved to a position at the University of North Texas, in the Center for
Environmental Philosophy (see Useful Sites)
Categorical Imperative: An unconditional command. For Immanuel Kant, all of morality depended on a
single categorical imperative. One version of that imperative was, "Always act in such a way that
the maxim of your action can be willed as a universal law."
Commercially Important Species: A species of animal or plant having desirable human uses (food, fuel,
shelter, clothing, medicine etc) present in sufficient numbers to make commercial collection or
harvesting economically viable.
Compatibilism: The belief that both determinism and freedom of the will are true.
Connections (Indigenous peoples' perspective): A cultural element that describes the essential role
played by a landscape in the life, culture and well-being of indigenous individuals and societies.
"Traditional connections" refers to the elemental role played by a particular geographic area in the
self image, heritage and economic well-being of an individual or a society, that has developed over
many generations.
Consequentialism. Any position in ethics which claims that the rightness or wrongness of actions depends
on their consequences. See also, utilitarianism.
Consequentialism: A consequentialist ethic requires that we do whatever actions will bring about the best
result, eg utilitarianism.
Conservation: often used in connection with a concern for the environment ("the conservation
movement"). Internationally, associated with "wise use" or sustainability, and contrasted with
preservation. Leopold was originally a conservationist in this sense. In the NZ Conservation Act
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1986, it is defined in terms of preservation of intrinsic values. Do not use the term "conservation"
without explaining what you mean by it. See also Muir and Pinchot.
Cultural Landscape. Those parts of the earth's surface, including waterways, which have been
significantly modified by human activity.
Deductive. A deductive argument is an argument whose conclusion follows necessarily from its premises.
This contrasts to various kinds of inductive arguments, which offer only a degree of probability to
support their conclusion. Compare inductive, intuitionism.
Deep Ecology: a term coined by Norwegian philosopher Aarne Naess who at 88 is the world’s oldest
environmental philosopher (he also calls it "ecosophy"). Deep ecologists ask us to look into deeply
into our relationship with nature; to develop self-realization through a feeling of oneness with
nature; to reject materialism; and to go beyond the concerns of "shallow" or "reformist"
anthropocentric concerns about issues such as pollution. There is no satisfactory definition of
"deep ecology"; Devall and Sessions (text 144-147) present the most complete account.
Deontological Ethics: Focus on the inherent rightness and wrongness of acts, in contrast to
consequentialist theories.
Deontology. Any position in ethics which claims that the rightness or wrongness of actions depends on
whether they correspond to our duty or not. The word derives from the Greek word for duty, deon.
Divine Command Theory. Any position in ethics which claims that the rightness or wrongness of actions
depends on whether they correspond to God’s commands or not. See also natural law theory.
Double Effect, Doctrine of. The doctrine or principle of assessing the permissibility of an act. It
distinguishes between what is foreseen as an effect of an action and what is intended as the effect
of an action. Under this doctrine for an act to be permissible, the act must itself be morally good.
The agent foreseeing the bad effect must not intend it and should seek alternative courses of
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action. The good effect should not be brought about by means of the bad effect, and the goodness
of the intended act must outweigh the bad effects foreseen.
Dualism. Philosophical belief that reality is essentially divided into two distinct kinds of stuff. Typically mind
and body or the related pair, spirit and matter. One concept in each pair is often deemed superior
to the other.
Dualism: Type of worldview which sees the world as contrasting sets of pairs, eg mind-body, male-female,
human-nature. Holistic and ecofeminist positions commonly reject dualisms, especially where they
are seen as hierarchical.
Eastern: Critics of the "Western" ethic or worldview often contrast it with the "Eastern" view but there is no
one such view. See Guha.
Ecocentrism. The view advocated by Aldo Leopold in his highly influential essay "The Land Ethic"
(1949), that nature itself, not only humans or sentient creatures, has inherent moral value.. See
www.utm.edu/research/iep/e/environm.htm
Ecofeminism: Type of ethic or worldview where the exploitation of nature is seen as part of a pattern of
dominance including racism, sexism. Ecofeminists typically reject modernism largely because they
see it as characterized by dualism and hierarchy), extensionism, liberalism, and individualism.
Ecofeminism is an ecocentric approach that understands environmental degradation and the
oppression of women and other groups as the result of the "logic of dominance". Only by attacking
the logic of dominance will we be able to liberate the environment, women, oppressed minorities,
etc Examples: Cuomo, Karen Warren.
Ecologically sustainable use. (a) use of an organism, ecosystem or other renewable resource at a rate
within its capacity for renewal; or (b) use of living things or areas within their capacity to sustain
natural processes while maintaining the life support systems of nature, and ensuring that the
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benefits of the use to present generations do not diminish the potential to meet the needs and
aspirations of future generations.
Ecology. Originally the scientific study of the relationship between living organisms and their environment.
The term now has a wider range of meanings. Often used to describe the holistic
interconnectedness of all existence on Earth.
Ecosystem. A community of plants, animals and other organisms together with the non-living components
of their environment.
Egalitarianism: Type of ethic that emphasizes equality. Example: Taylor.
Embodied Knowledge. Knowledge held within the tissue of the body. It is a somatic, physical knowing
which comes from direct experience. Familiar to sports people and performers. Adrian Harris
claims that such knowledge is also found in spiritual contexts and can bring an experience of a
wholeness and greater ecological awareness. (Harris treats the term 'Somatic Knowing' as
equivalent).
Emotivism. A philosophical theory which holds that moral judgments are simply expressions of positive or
negative feelings.
Endangered Species. A species whose population (in a region or globally) has decreased, through
habitat loss, predation, disease, environmental change or competition from other species, to the
point where its continued survival is in doubt.
Enlightenment, Continental. Also known as 'The Age Of Reason'. An intellectual movement of the 17th
and 18th Centuries. A humanist movement which emphasized the power of reason above all else.
Tended to emphasize empirical science as source of truth. Promoted notion of human 'progress'.
Environmental Justice. EPA defines Environmental Justice (EJ) as the "fair treatment for people of all
races, cultures, and incomes, regarding the development of environmental laws, regulations, and
policies." Fair treatment means that no group of people, including a racial, ethnic, or
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socioeconomic group, should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental
consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of
federal, state, local, and tribal programs and policies.
Environmental Racism. A violation of the principles of environmental justice wherein communities of color
bear a disproportionate burden of toxic dumping wile being systematically excluded from
discussions and decision-making concerning matters of environmental policy. throughout the U.S.,
and the rest of the world, communities of color are adversely affected by industrial and agricultural
toxins, dirty water and dirty air, and the placement of incinerators, waste dumping facilities, and
waste storage facilities. Environmental racism is a form of institutional racism.
Essentialism. The belief that people and/or phenomenon have properties that are essential to what they
are. In a feminist context, the belief in a unique and unchanging feminine essence existing above
and beyond cultural conditioning.
Ethical Egoism. A moral theory that, in its most common version (universal ethical egoism) states that
each person ought to act in his or her own Self-interest. Also see Psychological Egoism.
Ethics. The explicit, philosophical reflection on moral beliefs and practices. The difference between ethics
and morality is similar to the difference between musicology and music. Ethics is a conscious
stepping back and reflecting on morality, just as musicology is a conscious reflection on music.
Eudaimonia. This is the word that Aristotle uses for "happiness" or "flourishing." It comes from the Greek
"eu," which means "happy" or "well" or "harmonious," and "daimon," which refers to the individual’s
spirit.
Exclusionist: Type of ethic or worldview where humans are seen as not being part of nature. Example:
Elliot. Anthropocentrists are always exclusionists: see Baxter.
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Extensionism: Extensionist ethics assumes a conventional ethic and argues that it should be applied to a
group that has traditionally been excluded from moral consideration, eg animals. Examples:
Regan, Singer. Critics argue for a more radical approach. Examples: Cuomo, Callicott.
Extrinsic Value: A value that is attributed to something because of its relation to something else that is
considered to have intrinsic value.
Gender. A person’s gender refers to that individual’s affiliation with either male or female social roles.
Gender differs from sex in the same way that ethnicity differs from race: gender is a sociological
concept, while sex is a biological one.
Grey Culture. Also called 'terminal grey culture'. Term used by Colin Johnson in his 'Green Dictionary' to
describe the modern West. A culture based on the ethos of growth, environmental destruction and
increasing consumerism. 'Derived from the reductionist philosophical tradition and the homocentic
view of the planet as being at man's disposal'.
Hedon. This is a term that utilitarians use to designate a unit of pleasure. Its opposite is a dolor, which is a
unit of pain or displeasure. The term "hedon" comes from the Greek word for pleasure.
Heteronomy. For Kant, heteronomy is the opposite of autonomy. Whereas an autonomous person is one
whose will is self-determined, a heteronomous person is one whose will is determined by
something outside of the person, such as overwhelming emotions. Etymologically, heteronomy
goes back to the Greek words for "other" and "law."
Hierarchy: a hierarchy is a set of things, arranged in order of power, such as the military chain of
command. Normative hierarchical views of nature (or society) describe nature (or society) in terms
of allegedly superior and inferior groups.
Holism: Type of ethic or worldview in which it is the whole, not the individuals that make it up, that is
primarily studied or valued. Example: Leopold.
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Human Chauvinism: A term invented by Richard Sylvan (the philosopher formerly known as Richard
Routley) on an analogy with male chauvinism. Largely replaced by speciesism. Sylvan believes
that the "Western" worldview and ethic is human chauvinistic.
Hypothetical Imperative. A conditional command, such as, "If you want to lose weight, stop eating
cookies." Some philosophers have claimed that morality is only a system of hypothetical
imperatives, while others—such as Kant—have maintained that morality is a matter of categorical
imperatives. Also see categorical imperative.
Impartiality: In ethics, an impartial standpoint is one which treats everyone as equal. For many
philosophers, impartiality is an essential component of the moral point of view.
Imperative. A command. Philosophers often distinguish between hypothetical imperatives and categorical
imperatives; see the entries under each of these topics.
Inclination. This is the word that Kant used to refer to our sensuous feelings, emotions, and desires. Kant
contrasts inclination with reason. Whereas inclination was seen as physical, causally-determined,
and irrational, reason was portrayed as non-physical, free, and obviously rational.
Inclusionist: Type of ethic or worldview where humans are seen as part of nature. Example: Leopold.
Individualism: Type of ethic or worldview where only individuals are studies and valued, the whole being
considered to be no more than the aggregate of the parts. From an ecological point of view,
individualist positions are seen as reductionist. Examples: Regan, Singer.
Inherent Value, Inherent Worth: Mostly mean the same as intrinsic value. Examples: Regan, Taylor
Instrumental Value: A value that is attributed to something as a means to something that is considered to
have intrinsic value. A kind of extrinsic value.
Integrationist. Any position which attempts to reconcile apparently conflicting tendencies or values into a
single framework. Integrationist positions are contrasted with separatist positions, which advocate
keeping groups (usually defined by race, ethnicity, or gender) separate from one another.
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Intrinsic Value, Intrinsic Worth: A value that is attributed to something as an end and not just as a
means; is believed to have value in and for itself, for its own sake. Intrinsic value is mentioned in
the NZ Conservation Act 1986, but not defined. In the Resource Management Act 1991, intrinsic
values are defined in relation to ecosystems only.
Instrumental Value: something that has value only because it helps achieve something else, or that you
value only for its use; you may value a desk instrumentally, because it helps you achieve what you
want to.
Jud(a)eo-Christian: General term for the ethic and worldview that underpins "Western" society, based on
early Christian texts (the "New Testament") and Jewish texts selected by early Christian authorities
(the "Old Testament") for inclusion in the Christian sacred writings (the "Bible"). "Judeo" is the US
spelling, "Judaeo" the British and NZ.
Leopold: Aldo Leopold (1887-1947) was a forester, wildlife manager and, later, academic. He is often
seen as the Father of Environmental Ethics and his words as Holy Writ (see Callicott, text, 124).
Despite Callicott’s claims, Leopold was not, in my opinion, a philosopher - but he was a "founding
father" of environmental ethics.
Liberalism: General term for ethical and political thought emphasizing individual rights and welfare,
freedom, democracy; thus, a form of Individualism. Heroes (or villains, depending on your point of
view) of liberalism include Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873).
Extensionists are generally liberals.
Management agency. Federal, state, territory, local government or statutory authorities with responsibility
for management of protected or environmentally sensitive areas. They have the power to authorize
access to areas or permit certain activities in these areas.
Maxim. According to Kant, a maxim is the subjective rule that an individual uses in making a decision.
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Means. Philosophers often contrast means and ends. The ends we seek are the goals we try to achieve,
while the means are the actions or things which we use in order to accomplish those ends. A
hammer provides the means for pounding a nail in a piece of wood. Some philosophers, most
notably Immanuel Kant, have argued that we should never treat human beings merely as means to
an end.
Modernism: General term for the dominant "Western" worldview of the last 4 centuries or so, in which
objective, value-free scientific method and rationality are seen as the paradigms of knowledge.
Heroes (or villains, depending on your point of view) of modernism include Francis Bacon (15611626) and René Descartes (1596-1650). See Postmodernism.
Moral Isolationism. The view that we ought not to be morally concerned with, or involved with, people
outside of our own immediate group. Moral isolationism is often a consequences of some versions
of moral relativism.
Moral Luck. The phenomenon that the moral goodness or badness of some of our actions depends simply
on chance. For example, the drunk driver may safely reach home without injuring anyone at all, or
might accidentally kill several children that run out into the street while the drunken person is
driving home. How bad the action of driving while drunk is in that case depends in part on luck.
Muir, John: (1838-1914). Pioneer American environmentalist, often seen as a proto-deep ecologist. Muir
advocated strict preservation and founded the Sierra Club, the first and the most influential
wilderness preservation organization. He was instrumental in setting up the National Parks
movement via his influence on the first President Roosevelt. His heritage is global, because NP
systems were set up in many countries (including NZ) in imitation of the American model. Muir and
Pinchot fought many battles over American environmental policy, which Pinchot eventually won.
Natural Law. In ethics, believers in natural law hold (a) that there is a natural order to the human world, (b)
that this natural order is good, and (c) that people therefore ought not to violate that order.
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Natural, Nature: Look in any decent dictionary and you will find at least 20 senses of these terms.
Therefore, avoid using them unless you first explain the sense in which you are using them.
Naturalism. In ethics, naturalism is the theory that moral values can be derived from facts about the world
and human nature. The naturalist holds that "is" can imply "ought."
Naturalistic Fallacy. According to G. E. Moore, any argument which attempts to define the good in any
terms whatsoever, including naturalistic terms; for Moore, Good is simple and indefinable. Some
philosophers, most notably defenders of naturalism, have argued that Moore and others are wrong
and that such arguments are not necessarily fallacious.
Nature. A complex concept with several highly contested meanings. Murray Bookchin points out that
because many aboriginal peoples lives are so integrated with it, words that mean what we call
'Nature', are not easy to find, if they exist at all, in their languages.
Nihilism. The belief that there is no value or truth. Literally, a belief in nothing (nihil). Most philosophical
discussions of nihilism arise out of a consideration of Fredrich Nietzsche’s remarks on nihilism,
especially in The Will to Power.
Normative: You are making a normative judgment if you say that a particular rule, standard or "norm"
should be generally adopted.
Noumenal. A Kantian term that refers to the unknowable world as it is in itself. According to Kant, we can
only know the world as it appears to us, as a phenomenon. We can never know it as it is in itself,
as a noumenon. The adjectival forms of these two words are "phenomenal" and "noumenal,"
respectively.
Patriarchy: key term in feminist theory, for the modes of thought and behaviour that lead to the oppression
and domination of woman and, according to ecofeminists, of nature.
Phronesis. According to Aristotle, Phronesis is practical wisdom, the ability to make the right decision in
difficult circumstances.
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Pinchot, Gifford: (1865-1946). Pinchot (pronounced PinSHOW) pioneered the American conservation
movement, in the sense of "wise use" of forests and other natural resources for the material benefit
of presnt generations, though with an eye to the future. He founded both the American Forest
Service and the Yale Forestry School. He strongly opposed "lock up" preservation policies and his
views largely prevailed over those of Muir. Forestry policies in many countries, including NZ, were
greatly influenced by Pinchot’s views.
Pluralism. The belief that there are multiple perspectives on an issue, each of which contains part of the
truth but none of which contain the whole truth. In ethics, moral pluralism is the belief that different
moral theories each capture part of truth of the moral life, but none of those theories has the entire
answer.
Postmodernism: General term for the rejection of modernism. Postmodernists deny the possibility of
objective knowledge of the world, and reject all claims of absolute or universal values. Heroes (or
villains, depending on your point of view) of postmodernism include Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)
and Jacques Derrida (1930 - ).
Precautionary Principle. A principle dictating that, where there is threat of serious or irreversible
environmental damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for
postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation. In the application of the Precautionary
Principle, public and private decisions should be guided by careful evaluation to avoid, wherever
practicable, serious or irreversible damage to the environment; and an assessment of the riskweighted consequences of various options.
Prescriptive: for our purposes, same as normative.
Preservation: usually, the protection of nature and artifacts from all but non-destructive uses. See
conservation.
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Prima Facie. In the original Latin, this phrase means "at first glance." In ethics, it usually occurs in
discussions of duties. A prima facie duty is one which appears binding but which may, upon closer
inspection, turn out to be overridden by other, stronger duties.
Prima Facie: A prima facie obligations or duty is one that is normally required, but that may be overridden
by a more important duty. Example: there is a prima facie duty to keep to the speed limit, but this
may be overridden by the duty to save life, as in an emergency.
Process. A continuous change made up of a connected and related series of events; a process has a
beginning in time and a completion, when the process stops. or A sequence of connected and
related events. When natural scientists say they are seeking to "understand" or to "explain"
observations, they usually mean to uncover the processes - sequences of interacting events - that
led to the observation. The process of discovery can be direct or indirect, involving hypotheticodeductive testing (see section on types of research). Examples of processes include the production
of rocks from molten material, the weathering of rocks by action of wind and water, or the
interacting events that determine the fluctuations in an animal population - birth, death from a
range of possible causes, number of young produced before death, food supply (which means
interaction with the dynamics of another population of a different species), effects of fluctuations in
physical conditions, etc. Natural scientists refer to all these interconnected, interacting events as
processes.
Progress. An linear movement forward. To advance or develop. A key drive behind Western industrial
culture. In the Modern world more people have greater material wealth but more people starve and
suffer from malnutrition than ever before. Many philosophers claim that these two facts are directly
related, and the Western notion of 'progress' is morally flawed.
Protected area. Part of the planet used for the prime purpose of genetic, species and land/seascape
conservation and management. The protected area may include cultural components, appropriate
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sustainable use and benefit sharing, and will be managed by the owners through the most effective
means to achieve the conservation objectives. Or an area of land and/or sea especially dedicated
to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural
resources, and managed through legal or other effective means.
Psychologism Egoism. The doctrine that all human motivation is ultimately selfish or egoistic.
Ratiogenic Damage. 'Reason generated' harm or damage; Giving a greater value than is warranted to or
privileging a human activity, such as scientific research, on the grounds that any damage done by
the activity is warranted or legitimated by the knowledge gained. Justifying accepting a harm to
individuals, species and systems because the benefits provided by the resulting knowledge will
outweigh the harm the activity might inflict.
Reductionism: A view is said to be reductionist (usually this is meant as a criticism) if it attempts to
explain, redescribe, or "reduce" something as "really" something else. Almost all intellectual
positions have been criticized by their opponents as reductionist, eg modern science, market
economics, utilitarianism, Marxism, Freudian theory, most versions of feminism.
Relativism. In ethics, there are two main type of relativism. Descriptive ethical relativism simply claims as a
matter of fact that different people have different moral beliefs, but it takes no stand on whether
those beliefs are valid or not. Normative ethical relativism claims that each culture’s (or group’s)
beliefs are right within that culture, and that it is impossible to validly judge another culture’s values
from the outside.
Rights. Rights are entitlements to do something without interference from other people (negative rights) or
entitlements that obligate others to do something positive to assist you (positive rights). Some
rights (natural rights, human rights) belong to everyone by nature or simply by virtue of being
human; some rights (legal rights) belong to people by virtue of their membership in a particular
political state; other rights (moral rights) are based in acceptance of a particular moral theory.
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Satisficing. A term utilitarians borrowed from economics to indicate how much utility we should try to
create. Whereas maximizing utilitarians claim that we should strive to maximize utility, satisficing
utilitarians claim that we need only try to produce enough utility to satisfy everyone. It’s analogous
to the difference between taking a course with the goal of getting an "A" and taking it pass-fail.
Sentience: Ability to have sensations, specifically to feel pleasure or pain. A key term in Singer.
Skepticism. There are two senses of this term. In ancient Greece, the skeptics were inquirers who were
dedicated to the investigation of concrete experience and wary of theories that might cloud or
confuse that experience. In modern times, skeptics have been wary of the trustworthiness of sense
experience. Thus classical skepticism was skeptical primarily about theories, while modern
skepticism is skeptical primarily about experience.
Somatic Knowing: See Embodied Knowledge.
Speciesism. The notion that human animals are superior to other animals. The term was invented by
Richard Ryder and popularized by Peter Singer, on an analogy with racism and sexism.
Speciesists value only the interests and well-being of their own species: other species exist only to
further the interest of the speciesist. Singer believes that the "Western" ethic and worldview are
speciesist.
Stakeholder. Any person (or group of persons), institution, organization, agency, department, authority,
club, association or the like with an interest in, association with or connection to an area.
Subjectivism. An extreme version of relativism, which maintains that each person’s beliefs are relative to
that person alone and cannot be judged from the outside by any other person.
Supererogatory. Literally, "above the call of duty." A supererogatory act is one that is morally good and
that goes beyond what is required by duty. Some ethical theories, such as certain versions of
utilitarianism, that demand that we always do the act that yields the most good have no room for
supererogatory acts.
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Sustainability, Sustainable Management, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Use: Terms
associated with conservation, emphasizing the needs of future generations. "Sustainable
development" (see Brundtland report) is the most common internationally. The favoured NZ term is
"sustainable management": see Resource Management Act. Do not use any of these terms without
explaining them.
Third World: obsolescent 1960s term, English translation of the French "troisieme monde". The "first
world" was the market economies ("Capitalist"); the "second world" was the Soviet bloc, China and
North Korea ("Centrally planned" or "Socialist"). The third world included every other country.
Today, it is more common (outside the US) to refer to the rich countries as "the North" (including
Australasia!) and the poorer countries as "the South". Given the success of economies such as
Singapore and Taiwan, the tripartite distinction is no longer meaningful. Nonetheless, there are still
rich and poor countries.
Traditional Owners. Those indigenous people who have the authority to speak for the land/sea in
question. They have a continuing spiritual and cultural connection with that land/sea that goes back
to before white settlement. They are the custodians for the customary law of the land/sea area in
question. Under non-indigenous law they are deferred to as the potential native title holders for that
land or sea.
Tragedy of the Commons. Thought experiment in which demonstrates that any ethics is mistaken if it
allows a growing population to steadily increase its exploitation of the ecosystem which supports it.
Transcendental Argument. A type of argument, deriving from Kant, which seeks to establish the
necessary conditions of the possibility of something’s being the case. For example, we have to
believe that we are free when we perform an action; thus belief in freedom is a necessary condition
of the possibility of action.
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Universalizability. Immanuel Kant used this term when discussing the maxims, or subjective rules, that
guide our actions. A maxim is universalizable if it can consistently be willed as a law that everyone
ought to obey. The only maxims which are morally good are those which can be universalized. The
test of universalizability ensures that everyone has the same moral obligations in morally similar
situations.
Utilitarianism. A moral theory that says that what moral right is is whatever produces the greatest overall
amount of pleasure (hedonistic utilitarianism) or happiness (eudaimonistic utilitarianism). Some
utilitarians (act utilitarians) claim that we should weigh the consequences of each individual action,
while others (rule utilitarians) maintain that we should look at the consequences of adopting
particular rules of conduct. Positive utilitarianism attempts to maximize the amount of happiness,
pleasure, preferences, etc, as in the maxim, 'The greatest good for the greatest number.' Negative
utilitarianism is the attempt to minimize the amount of misery. An action is right if and only if it
produces at least as much good for all affected by the action as any alternative action the agent
could do instead. Utilitarianism is a consequentialist ethic. Example: Singer.
Virtue Ethics: focuses on the development of a virtuous character.
Western: I have put this in quotes in this glossary because it is a composite term for a worldview that is
characterized by modernism and the Judeo-Christian ethic. There is of course no one "Western"
worldview or ethic; perhaps Richard Sylvan is correct to refer to "the Western super ethic" (and see
White). See Eastern
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