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Environmental Ethics

This document discusses different approaches in environmental ethics. Hedonist utilitarianism only considers pleasure and pain of individuals, not impacts on the environment. Preference utilitarianism considers environmental value based on human preferences. Some argue environmental problems will not be severe and technology can fix issues. Virtue ethics considers respecting the environment as virtuous, but others argue nature can be viewed instrumentally. Overall, the document examines how ethical systems address environmental value and impacts.

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90 views11 pages

Environmental Ethics

This document discusses different approaches in environmental ethics. Hedonist utilitarianism only considers pleasure and pain of individuals, not impacts on the environment. Preference utilitarianism considers environmental value based on human preferences. Some argue environmental problems will not be severe and technology can fix issues. Virtue ethics considers respecting the environment as virtuous, but others argue nature can be viewed instrumentally. Overall, the document examines how ethical systems address environmental value and impacts.

Uploaded by

tech store
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Environmental Ethics

Michael Lacewing
[email protected]

© Michael Lacewing
What is environmental
ethics?
• Environmental issues:
– Pollution
– Depletion of natural resources
– Impact of overpopulation on ecosystems
• How do ethical systems respond?
– What is of value? Just human beings? Just
individuals or also species, ecosystems, natural
objects (rivers, mountains)?
– How should we make decisions about these
issues?
Our question
• Which effects of pollution, depletion of
natural resources, overpopulation,
matter morally? Do only human beings
‘count’, or do effects on the
environment matter as well? Why?
Hedonist utilitarianism
• Only pleasure and pain matter morally.
• So plants, ecosystems, natural resources,
landscapes and species don’t count.

Oi! That
hurts!
Hedonist utilitarianism
• Environmental issues should therefore
be decided on the basis of their effects
on individual animals and human
beings – particularly human beings –
alone.
Preference utilitarianism
• The right thing to do is to maximise preferences.
• People have preferences about things they don’t
experience, e.g. the desire that the rainforests
continue to exist ‘unspoiled’.

I want lakes to be
unpolluted.
Pollution?
Wha’sh that,
then?
Preference utilitarianism
• But the environment, species,
resources, etc. still only has (and as
much) value as we give it in our
preferences.
Arguing in the opposite
direction
• The predicted effects of environmental
problems won’t be that bad; and technology
will help fix problems.
• Preferences for preserving the environment
are very weak compared to the need to use
it.
• Discounting: uncertain bad consequences in
the distant future don’t count as much as
certain benefits now.
Virtue ethics
• Is not polluting the environment and conserving
natural resources part of a virtuous life?
• Virtuous people respect what has value. But does
anything apart from human well-being have value?

But I’m having


a wonderful
life, darling.
Virtue and the self
• Destruction of the environment, like vandalism,
displays a bad character, e.g. greed, inability to
appreciate beauty.
• Being human involves
a relationship to the
environment – both
physical and
‘spiritual’, as shown in
our aesthetic and
personal relationships
to animals, plants,
landscapes, and in
science.
Virtue and the self
• But why single this out as important to
a good human life? It is just as human
to treat nature as an object to be
mastered.

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