Ethics of Nature

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ISBN: 9783110158304 | 3110158302
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 1/1/2000

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Is nature's value only instrumental value for human beings or does nature also have intrinsic value? Can traditional anthropocentrism be defended or must we move to a new, physiocentric moral position? This study develops a critical taxonomy or map of thirteen arguments for the conservation of nature. It defends the moral intrinsic value of sentient animals, but not of nonsentient nature. The arguments are phrased in a simple, plastic, and concise language.

Guest Foreword	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Synopsis of Argument	p. 1
Why an Ethics of Nature?	p. 2
The Philosophical Discipline of the Ethics of Nature	p. 2
The Objective of This Study	p. 3
Basic Concepts	p. 5
Nature	p. 5
A Definition of "Nature" for Environmental Ethics	p. 5
Oikos, Cosmos, and the Human Body	p. 7
Conservation versus Cultivation of Nature	p. 9
Ethics	p. 11
The Object of Ethics and the Distinction between Intrinsic and Instrumental Value	p. 11
Good Human Life and Right Human Life	p. 12
Good Human Life	p. 12
The Core	p. 12
Basic Options	p. 13
Luxury	p. 13
The Well-Being and the Agency Aspect of Good Human Life	p. 13
The Hedonistic Challenge	p. 13
Three Forms of Pleasure	p. 14
An Answer to the Hedonistic Challenge	p. 14
The Objection to Paternalism	p. 14
Moral Concern and Self-Interest	p. 16
The Hermeneutics and the Justification of Moral Culture	p. 17
Anthropocentrism versus Physiocentrism	p. 19
The Boundaries of the Moral Universe - "Extensional Anthropocentrism" versus "Extensional Physiocentrism"	p. 19
The Absolute Strategy in the Ethics of Nature - "Epistemic Anthropocentrism" versus "Epistemic Physiocentrism"	p. 22
Summary of Part I	p. 25
Seven Anthropocentric Arguments for the Value of Nature	p. 27
The Basic Needs Argument	p. 29
Classical Thoughts	p. 29
The Argument	p. 29
General Comments	p. 30
Lost Peace with Nature? The Need for Environmental History	p. 30
Some Reasons Why the Basic Needs Argument Is Not as Effective as You Might Expect	p. 31
Two Versions of the Basic Needs Argument which Incorporate Intrinsic Value Claims for Nature	p. 32
"Nature Knows Best"	p. 32
The Motivational Version	p. 33
The Aisthesis Argument	p. 35
Literary Thoughts	p. 35
The Argument	p. 36
Aisthesis and Aesthetic Theory	p. 36
The Universality of Feeling	p. 37
The "Grammar" of Sensation	p. 38
Perception	p. 38
Physical Sensation	p. 38
Feeling	p. 39
Two Objections to the Aisthesis Argument	p. 39
The Aesthetic Contemplation Argument	p. 43
Literary Thoughts	p. 43
The Argument	p. 44
The Aesthetic Intrinsic Value of Nature	p. 45
Nature Is Not an Aesthetic Resource	p. 45
Nature Is Not of Absolute Aesthetic Value	p. 46
Nature's Aesthetic Intrinsic Value Is Not Moral Intrinsic Value	p. 46
The Universality of the Aesthetic Contemplation of Nature	p. 47
The Irreplaceability of Nature as an Aesthetic Object	p. 47
The Simultaneous Activation of Many Senses	p. 47
Aesthetic Masterpieces	p. 48
Natural Genesis	p. 48
The Sublime	p. 49
The Natural Design Argument	p. 51
Classical Thoughts	p. 51
The Argument	p. 51
Comments	p. 52
The Heimat Argument	p. 55
Classical Thoughts	p. 55
The Argument	p. 55
Comments	p. 56
The Pedagogic Argument	p. 57
Classical Thoughts	p. 57
The Argument	p. 57
General Comments	p. 58
The Channelling Aggression Objection	p. 58
"Is It Only for Practice that We Should Have Compassion for Animals?" A Caveat	p. 59
The Meaning of Life and the True Joy of Living Argument	p. 61
Classical Thoughts	p. 61
The Argument	p. 62
Comments	p. 63
Summary of Part II. and Preliminary Results	p. 65
A Hermaphroditic Argument for the Value of Nature	p. 69
The Holistic Argument	p. 69
Classical Thoughts	p. 69
The Argument	p. 70
General Comments	p. 71
The Ontological Identity Thesis	p. 72
The Harmony of Good Lives Thesis	p. 75
The Dependency Thesis	p. 77
Summary of Part III	p. 79
Five Physiocentric Arguments for the Value of Nature	p. 81
The Pathocentric Argument	p. 81
Classical Thoughts	p. 81
The Argument	p. 81
Practical Consequences: The Case of Animal Experimentation	p. 83
The Question of Criteria for the Attribution of Sensations and Feelings	p. 84
The Fallibility Objection	p. 85
The Feeling Objection	p. 86
The Anti-Anthropocentric Objection	p. 86
The No Language, No Interests, No Rights Objection	p. 88
The Contractualist Objection	p. 88
The Kantian Objection	p. 89
The Universality of Peformative Consensus versus the Universality of Insight (Cognitive Consensus)	p. 90
The Universality of Insight versus the Universality of the Material of Insight	p. 91
The Universality of Moral Duty versus the Universality of the Material of Moral Duty	p. 92
The Anti-Egalitarian Objection	p. 92
The Reflection Objection	p. 93
The Lack of Dimensions Objection	p. 93
The Greater Sum of Negativity and Positivity Objection	p. 94
The Rationalist Objection	p. 95
The Absolute Objection	p. 95
The "First Comes the Food, then Come the Morals" Objection	p. 96
The Policing Nature Objection	p. 97
The Teleological Argument	p. 99
Classical Thoughts	p. 99
The Argument	p. 100
General Comments	p. 100
The Ambiguity of the Concept of "End"	p. 102
The Practical Meaning of "End"	p. 102
The Functional Meaning of "End"	p. 103
Nature Follows Functional, Not Practical Ends	p. 104
Two Objections to Our Criticism of the Teleological Argument	p. 106
The Reverence for Life Argument	p. 109
Classical Thoughts	p. 109
The Argument	p. 109
Refutation of the Reverence for Life Argument	p. 109
The Moral Justification of the Right to Life	p. 112
The Future Orientation Argument	p. 112
The Privation of Future Good Life Argument	p. 113
Animals and Death	p. 115
Digression on Human Abortion, Infanticide, and the Moral Right to Life of the Gravely Ill, the Senile, and the Severely Mentally Disabled	p. 116
The Following Nature Argument	p. 119
Classical Thoughts	p. 119
The Argument	p. 119
General Comments	p. 120
Why We Cannot and, Even if We Could, Should Not Follow Nature	p. 121
The Inevitability of Epistemic Moral Anthropocentrism	p. 123
The Disanalogy between "Anthropocentrism" and "Sexism"	p. 123
The Preservation of Species	p. 125
Complexity, Stability, Age	p. 127
"Following Nature?"	p. 128
The Theological Argument	p. 129
Classical Thoughts	p. 129
The Argument	p. 130
Comments	p. 130
Summary of Part IV	p. 133
Conclusion	p. 137
Works Cited	p. 139
About the Author	p. 157
Index	p. 159
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

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Ethics of Nature

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