Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Explore secular ethical perspectives on conservation
- Secular = non-religious
- Libertarianism (Deep Ecology)
- All life forms have intrinsic value: they are
valuable within themselves, not for their
usefulness to humans.
- Started by Aldo Leopold: "A
thing is right when it tends
to preserve the integrity,
stability and beauty of the
bionic community. It is wrong
when it tends otherwise."
- Leopold says it is wrong to view the world
in terms of it's economic value to humans.
- Arne Næss: Deep Ecologist
- Nature does not exist to
serve humans. He does not
believe that humans are
more important just
because they have a soul.
- Næss believes that every living being
should have equal rights. This is
'Ecosophy' = ecological harmony
- Arne Næss believed that humans
should do the following things in
order to have Ecosophy
- Drastically reduce the human population
- Abandon all goals of
economic growth
- Conserve the diversity of species
- Live in small, self-reliant communities
- "Touch the Earth lightly."
- James Lovelock's Gaia Hypothesis
- Lovelock argues that the Earth is a
biosphere; a complex interacting
system.
- Earth is a self-regulating being,
- Organisms on Earth interactive with
their non-living surroundings in
order to maintain the conditions for
life on the planet. This is the
complex interacting system.
- Gaia can survive without us, as humans
are only one part of the Earth, but we
need her. If we abuse Gaia we risk our
own survival.
- Gaia = Greek Goddess of the world
- Disagreed with the notion of
Dominion - that God gave
humans authority over the
Earth and all it's species.
- Conservationism (Shallow Ecology)
- The environment is important due
to it's usefulness to humanity.
Plants and animals have
instrumental value, not intrinsic
value; They are valuable because
they are useful to humans.
- Conservationism is an Anthropocentric
belief - it is based on the idea that humans
are the most important species on the
planet. Many philosophers deem this as
speciesist (discriminative in favour of one
species over others)
- Michael La Bossiere
suggested that the
anthropocentric
approach is part of
the natural order of
evolution.
- He states that if a species becomes extinct naturally as a consequence to human activity, it
is acceptable.
- John Mill claims that humans bring order to a
chaotic world. Thus, animals should be treated with
dignity as this benefits humans.
- Conservationism is a Utilitarianist approach.
Utilitarianism, coined by Jeremy Bentham, is
the notion that something is ethical if it brings
the greatest amount of happiness to the
greatest amount of people.
- Immanuel Kant - The Categorical Imperative
- The Categorical Imperative states that you should act for the sake of duty only.
- This is a contrast to the
Hypothetical Imperative:
acting in order to receive
some kind of reward.
- Kant says that the Categorical Imperative is
the only good way to act.
- For example, one should help an elderly person
across the road simply because it is the
correct thing to do.
- Feeling good about doing an ethical deed is simply a bonus, according to Kant.
- Good will is what Kant describes as 'good
without qualification'.
- The Summum Bonum is
the highest good that
everyone should strive
towards. It takes place in
the afterlife and is the
reward for doing duty for
duty's sake.