Lecture 8: Environmental Ethics

 

Announcements

 

-Commentary #3 will be returned on Thursday, Nov. 14

-Deadline for commentary #4 is extended to Tuesday, Nov. 19

-Be sure to pick up solutions to midterm quiz

 

Trees    

 

-Case 44, p. 342-3

-Traffic on Forest Drive, a two-lane road has doubled in the last 2 years

-In each of the last 7 years, at least one person has died as a result of crashing into trees near the roadside

-Widening the road will require cutting down 30 healthy old trees

 

Trees

 

-The plan meets with protest

-“These accidents are the fault of careless drivers.  Cutting down trees to protect drivers from their own carelessness symbolizes the destruction of our natural environment for the sake of human ‘progress.’  It’s time to turn things around.  Sue the drivers if they don’t drive sensibly.”

 

Intrinsic vs. Instrumental Value

 

-One way of navigating the dispute over whether to cut down the trees is by asking what has intrinsic moral value? (See p. 211)

People?

Animals?

Plants?

 

Four Broad Approaches to Ethics

 

1. Anthropocentric Ethics:

 

Only humans have intrinsic moral value

 

2. ‘Animal Liberation’ Ethics:

 

Only animals have intrinsic moral value

 

3. Biocentric Ethics

 

Only living things have intrinsic moral value

 

4. Ecocentric Ethics: 

 

Only natural things and systems have intrinsic moral value

 

Do animals have intrinsic moral value?

 

"If a man shoots his dog because the animal is no longer capable of service, he does not fail in his duty to the dog, ... but his act is inhuman and damages in himself that humanity which it is his duty to show towards mankind. ... We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." (Immanuel Kant, 205-6)

 

What is Kant saying here?

 

APEGN

 

1. A professional engineer or geoscientist shall recognize that professional ethics are founded upon integrity, competence and devotion to service and to the advancement of human welfare. This concept shall guide the conduct of the professional engineer or geoscientist at all times.

 

New Animal Cruelty Legislation

 

-Bill C-10 (formerly Bill C-15b) is currently before the Senate

-Will create a new part of the Criminal Code entitled “Cruelty to Animals”

-Currently provisions in the Code re. cruelty to animals are found under Wilful and Forbidden Acts in Respect of Certain Property

-“This clarifies the policy of the law:  because of their capacity to feel pain, animals should be protected from intentional cruelty, regardless of whether they are property or not.” (from the notes on the Bill)

 

Do animals have intrinsic moral value?

 

-Peter Singer’s case in favour (p. 222)

 

-Moral versus Factual Equality

 

"Equality is a moral ideal, not a simple assertion of fact."

 

What is the Basis of Moral Equality?

 

-''The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk? But, Can they suffer?”

 

Based on Bentham

 

-"If a being suffers, there can be no moral justification for refusing to take that suffering into consideration ... the principle of equality requires that its suffering be counted equally with the like suffering - in so far as rough comparisons can be made - of any other being."

 

Speciesism

 

- "The racist violates the principle of equality by giving greater weight to the interests of members of his own race, when there is a clash between their interests and the interests of those of another race. Similarly, the speciesist allows the interests of his own species to override the greater interests of members of other species."

 

The Case for an Ecocentric Ethic

 

-Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) - A Sand County Almanac (1949)

-“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us.  When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect…” (p. 223)

 

A Sentiment-Based View of Ethics

 

Q:  Why do we have the concept of right and wrong?

A:  Because they are evolutionarily successful concepts.

Why believe that?

The survival and success of human beings, as a species, depends on our ability to cooperate.  Hence, evolution has 'designed' us to care for one another. 

In effect, evolution designs us with the sentiments on which the concepts of right and wrong are based.

 

A ‘Partial’ Theory of Ethics

 

-Ethics is thus based on sentiment - i.e., our tendency to care for others.

-But we don't care for all others equally.  We’re partial to some rather than others.

-The sort of sentiment evolution 'programs' us for is directed towards those in our community.

 

Community

 

-We care for those we see as being in our community. But, the idea of who is in our community is not fixed.

-The idea behind the land ethic is that knowledge of ecology will enlarge our sense of community even further.

-How will that work?

Our sentiment for those around us emerged because of our mutual dependence on others.

Knowledge of ecology will show us our mutual dependence on the other members of the ecosystems we inhabit.

 

The Land Ethic

 

The Land Ethic - "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.  It is wrong when it tends otherwise."

 

Does this mean you must care as much for a cougar as you do for your family/friends?

No, Leopold saw the Land Ethic as adding to moral obligations we already saw ourselves as having, not canceling or replacing them.

 

Intrinsic Moral Value Revisited

 

-Which of the four broad approaches is correct?

 

1. Anthropocentric Ethics

2. Animal Liberation Ethics

3. Biocentric Ethics

4. Ecocentric Ethics


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