Introductory lecture on Environmental Ethics: the frames of moral consideration in Environmental Ethics Ethics — Derived from greek word ethos – custom, morals — Latin word mos, from which term „morality” is derived and meant originally „will”. It means also will imposed on people (by gods or emperors), namely law & regulations and later traditional customs. — Philosophical discipline that defines rules and norms of human conduct in terms of good and evil — In ancient times way to achieve moralized happiness Environmental Ethics — Environmental Ethics is the discipline in philosophy that studies the moral relationship of human beings to, and also the value and moral status of, the environment and its nonhuman contents. — It challenges the anthropocentrism (i.e., humancenteredness) embedded in traditional western ethical thinking — 2 basic questions of Environmental Ethics: — Values and norms — Whom should we include, the range of ethics Why environmental Ethics was started? — Perception of environmental crisis — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipbc-6IvMQI — Recognition of the role of ethics as an instrument to overcome ecological crisis — Attempt to overcome instrumental approach to nature — Recognition that not only man should be subject of moral norms — Attempt to broaden scope of ethics Frames of moral reflectioon Which beings are morally relevant? The concentric circles approach Who is morally considerable?: — Should the circle of moral considerability encompass only oneself (egoism)? — Only one’s family (napotism)? — Only one’s fellow citizens (patriotism)? — All of the humanity (anthropocentrism)? — All sentient beings (sentientism, animal ethics)? — All living individuals (biocentric individualism)? — All ecosystems (ecocentrism)? — The circles are overlapping, plus there are beings which are difficult to classify — Greek ἄνθρωπος (human being) + κέντρον (center) — Accepts and emphasizes the dominance of human being — Human being is rational, responsible and has free will, that’s why man is the crown of creation — Is this the historical root of our environmental crisis (LynnWhite jr., 1967) ? — All traditional ethics is anthropocentirc. — Enlightened anthropocentrism (or prudential anthropocentrism ) acknowledges human’s obligation towards nature. Usually due to human interest, for example it might support the idea of nature protection, because human beings need nature to live. Anthropocentric ethics — What is the historical root of our environmental crisis (Lynn White jr., 1967) ? — LynnWhite wrote an article in which he blames Judeochristian religions for anthropocentrism. He claims that the thesis that man was created God-like made human beings think they are special Anthropocentric ethics — Greek: βίος(life) + κέντρον (center) — It widen scope of ethics to all living and sentient creatures — It doesn’t approve privileged position of man — It claims that every living creature has an intrinsic value Biocentric ethics — PaulTaylor’s biocentric egalitarianism — Individualistic (not holistic - as is Leopold's land ethic): — Individual organisms (not species or ecosystems or natural processes) are what has moral standing/worth — Taylor thinks his individualism follows from his biocentrism, as only individuals are alive. — Humans are nonprivileged members of the earth's community of life. — All organisms are teleological (=goal-directed) centers — Respect to nature leads to respect towards the other human being — Greek: ὅλος (all, whole, entire, total) — Cover its range not only living creatures but also nonliving elements of environment — All biosphere elements has an intrinsic value — It emphasizes the obligations of man towards biosphere — It expects man to sacrifice himself for biosphere, as it claims that biosphere is higher good than individual man. Holistic ethics — Aldo Leopold, Baird Callicot – biotic community, all the organisms and ecosystems are part of one community and our ingeretation in some part of the ecosystem influence the other parts of it. Animal ethics — Is a result of care of animal welfare — It was started as an protest against mean practices (for example massive production of animals, animal testing, using animals for science as guinea pig or for entertainment where animals are included) Animal ethics Critique : — The key issue is question whether animals have any rights if so what kind of rights are these — Opponents argues that because of low mental development animals do not have any rights