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Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic
Department of Computer Science and EngineeringMälardalen University
2007
PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
CDT409
ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
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Environmental Ethics
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The Earth
"We have not inherited the Earth from our fathers. We are borrowing it from our
children."
Native American saying
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Is Nature Fragile or Resilient*?
Nature seen as powerful in past
Nature seen as a delicate balance as technology increases our ability to disrupt
*resilient - som har lätt för att återhämta sig (komma igen) elastisk, spänstig
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Science as a Way of KnowingA Faustian Bargain?
Technology can create power to save and destroy life
Dr. Faustus sold his soul to the devil in exchange for power and wealth.
On a deeper level, this shows the decay of a person who chooses material gains over spiritual belief and in doing so, loses his/her soul.
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Current Environmental Conditions
Half the world’s wetlands were lost in the last 100 years.
Land conversion and logging have shrunk the world’s forests by as much as 50%.
Nearly three-quarters of the world’s major marine fish stocks are overfished or are being harvested beyond a sustainable rate.
Soil degradation has affected two-thirds of the world’s agricultural lands in the last 50 years.
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Major Causes of Environmental Degradation
Population Growth
More than 6 billion people now occupy the Earth, adding about 85 million more each year.
In the next decade, most population growth will be in the poorer countries - countries where present populations already strain resources and services.
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More than 1.3 billion people live in acute poverty, with an income of less than $1 per day. These people generally lack access to an adequate diet, decent housing, basic sanitation, clean water, education, medical care, and other essentials.
Four out of five people in the world live in what would be considered poverty in the U.S. or Canada.
The world’s poorest people are often forced to meet short-term survival needs at the cost of long-term sustainability.
Human Dimensions of Environmental Degradation
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Resource Extraction and Use
Burning of fossil fuels Destruction of tropical
rainforests and other biologically rich landscapes
Production of toxic wastes
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Management Ethics and the Environment
Anthropocentric Approaches– Corporate Social
Responsibility• Stakeholder• Normative• Social Contract
Green Management– Ecocentricism– Adjusted Stakeholder– Sustainablity– Resource Based Approach
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Environmental Ethics and Business
Western Society - Objectifies Nature– Locke - “Something in a state of nature has no economic
value and is of no utility to the human race”
Ethics - a concern with actions and practices directed to improving the welbeing of people.
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Economic Fundamentalism and Ethics
“The corporate social responsibility of a business is to increase profit.” M. Friedman
Those things that cannot be traded on the market have no value.
Where does the environment fit in these definitions for environmental ethics?
Will people and corporations do environmentally responsible things on their own? What happens if they do?
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Corporate Social Responsibility
By doing socially responsible things, businesses better human life.
Hopefully ..good ethics is good business.
Is this true? Is enlightened self interest a good way?
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Incorporating Environmental Ethics into Management
Environmental Ethics is a starting point– Expanding ethics to include nature.– Natural objects have intrinsic value and morally
relevant in their own right.– Deep Ecology: nature has an ethical status
at least equal to humans.
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Green Management
Ecocentricism views industrial relationships in a cycle, and a whole set of philosophies. Closed technological cycles, zero emissions to the environment. How radical is this?
Sustaincentric - going beyond sustainability of “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.– Human and economic relationships inextricably linked with natural
systems.
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Ascribing Responsibilities. Definitions
Moral Agents– Those who have the
freedom and rational capacity to be responsible for choices
– Those capable of moral reflection and decision.
– Example: adult humans of sound mind
• Infants and mentally infirm adults are NOT moral agents
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Definitions
Moral Standing– Have moral standing means
that• your existence or welfare is
valuable in itself (intrinsic value)
• your interests and well-being must be respected
– Example: humans of all kinds• babies, children, adults,
old people, dement people, mentally sick people, etc.
• women, different races, different cultures, minority groups
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Definitions
Moral Duties– That which is owed by
moral agents to those with moral standing.
– Example: It is wrong to kill children because we have a moral duty toward them
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Philosophical Issues Who or what has moral
standing, and why?– Does the environment
have moral standing?– Must look at criteria for
moral standing What moral duty do we
(moral agents) have toward those with moral standing?– Different ethical positions
suggest different moral duties.
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Ascribing Moral Standing
Membership in the species Homo sapiens – Humans are moral agents and
are responsible for knowing right from wrong
– Humans are intelligent – Humans have personhood
and self-consciousness – Humans have ability to
communicate and learn
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Moral Standing
Sentience, the ability to feel pain– Therefore extend moral
standing to animals
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Moral Standing
Being alive– Therefore extend moral
standing to animals and plants:
– All living things.
[However, it seems reasonable to expect that saving life of a virus and saving life of a human is not seen as equally urgent. ]
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Moral Standing
Being part of nature– Therefore extend moral
standing to the • earth• ecosystems• rocks• rivers• plants animals • the entire natural world
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Ethical Positions
Anthropocentrism- Human centered morality– Only humans have
intrinsic value and moral standing.
– The rest of the natural world has instrumental value (use to humans).
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Anthropocentrism
We can best protect nature by looking out for human needs.
• Ducks Unlimited preserves wetlands
• Saving the rainforests will provide O2 and medicines for humans.
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Ethical Positions Sentio-centrism: Sentient-being
centered morality– All and only sentient beings
(animals that feel pain) have intrinsic value and moral standing.
– The rest of the natural world has instrumental value.
– Both humans and sentient animals have rights and/or interests that must be considered
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Ethical Positions
Biocentric Individualism: Life-centered morality– All and only living beings,
specifically individual organisms (not species or ecosystems) have intrinsic value and moral standing.
– Humans are not superior to other life forms nor privileged, and must respect the inherent worth of every organism
– Humans should minimize harm and interference with nature: eat vegetarian since less land needs to be cultivated.
http://www.ecologicalinternet.org/
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Ethical Positions
Eco-centric Holism: ecosystem centered morality
Non-individuals (the earth as an interconnected ecosystem, species, natural processes) have moral standing or intrinsic value and are deserving of respect.
Individuals must be concerned about the whole community of life/nature,
Humans should strive to preserve ecological balance and stability.
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Traditional Patriarchal Dualisms
Greek, Roman, Hebrew:– Humans are separate from
and superior to nature– Human, mind, rationality, and man
are linked and superior – Nature, body, feelings, and woman
are linked, and inferior– Justifies domination by men over
• Nature (“Mother Nature”)• Women
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Ecofeminism
Rejects Patriarchal Dualisms
– The domination of nature by men is wrong, is similar to and related to the domination of women by men.
– Must break the pattern of "power over" relationships, will benefit both humans and the natural world.
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Environmental Effects of War Genetic Engineering Nanotechnology Cloning Resource Allocation Animals and Vegetarianism Air and Water Pollution Radiation Ozone Crisis and Global Warming Population and Environment Indigenous Peoples
Related ethical concepts:common good | communitarianism | consequentialism | ecology | environmentalism | ethics: deontological | ethics: virtue | feminist (interventions): ethics | rights
Topics in Applied Environmental Ethics
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Deep Ecology
Deep ecology is a recent branch of ecological philosophy that considers humankind as an integral part of its environment.
Deep ecology places greater value on non-human species, ecosystems and processes in nature than established environmental and green movements.
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Deep Ecology
The core principle of deep ecology as originally developed is Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss's doctrine of biospheric egalitarianism — the claim that all living things have the same right to live and flourish.
Deep ecology describes itself as "deep" because it is concerned with fundamental philosophical questions about the role of human life as one part of the ecosphere, and aims to avoid merely utilitarian environmentalism.
Arne Næss
The Roots of Environmental Degradation
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Humans Dominating Nature– Genesis: God commands humans to "fill the earth and subdue
it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing...”
– After the great flood God says to Noah: " the animals will dread and fear you, and I will give you dominion over everything that creeps on the ground, and over all the fish of the sea.“
Christians and Jews respond: traditions promote a care-giving stewardship not domination of nature. (Noah story)
Both religious traditions are currently converging towards forms
increasingly concerned with the environment
Western Religions
– Animists believe that every part of the environment, living and non-living, has consciousness or spirit. Therefore, all beings deserve reverence.
– Pantheists warship Nature as a goddess. Nature is sacred or holy and is worthy of peoples respect.
Rejection of Old Animism & Pantheism
Western Philosophy
Critics blame its “dualism,” viewing humans as separate from and superior to nature
the culprit - den skyldige, boven i dramat
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Rene DescartesMind-Body Dualism
Rene Descartes (1596-1650) is blamed for mind-body dualism.
In his dictum “I think, therefore I am” thought signifies not only existence, but also human superiority over other living beingsand inanimate substance.
For Descartes, humans are separate from nature and superior.
The nature (physical world) is an objectified "thing" separate from “mind”.
Some believe that this objectification of nature is a key to science and ‘progress’.
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Francis Bacon Nature as a Machine
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), father of the scientific method, promoted a view of nature as a machine [New Atlantis "a mechanistic utopia"—1624]
He thought nature was like women and slaves: They should be bound into the service of men
Many scholars think such thinking shaped the anti-nature views and formed human-nature relations in the west
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Worldviews and Ethical Perspectives
Individual beliefs towards ecology depend on ethical perspectives
Most people have set of core values or beliefs Environmental concerns are a source for
comparisons among different values and perceptions
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Worldviews and ethical perspectives A comparison
Philosophy Intrinsic Value Instrumental Value Role of humans
Anthropocentric Humans Nature Masters
Stewardship Humans & Nature Tools Caretakers
Biocentric Species Abiotic nature One of many
Animal rights Individuals Processes Equals
Ecocentric Processes Individuals Destroyers
Ecofeminist Relationships Roles Caregivers
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Environmental Justice
Combination of civil rights and environmental protection that demands a safe, healthy life-giving environment for everyone
Most people of low socio-economic position are exposed to high pollution levels
Holistic Approaches Criticisms
Individuals get hurt when you ignore them in favor of wholes– This is the key
criticism of all ends-focused theories
– In environmental ethics, the common charge is of "eco-fascism"!
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The Gradual Extension of Moral Concern..
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Environmental Science
Environment - the circumstances and conditions that surround an organism or a group of organisms
Environmental science - the systematic study of our environment and our place in it
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IntentionIntention ActionAction ConsequenceConsequence
DutyDutyDeontological EthicsDeontological Ethics
What ought I to do?
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IntentionIntention ActionAction ConsequenceConsequence
Consequentialist EthicsConsequentialist Ethics
What ought I to do?
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http://www.envirolink.org/Environmental Resources
www.earthcharter.org A declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society for the 21st century.
Sustainable Global Development
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References
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2002/entries/ethics-environmental
http://ethics.sandiego.edu/Applied/Environment/index.asp Ethics Updates - Environmental Ethics Resources
http://www.ethicsweb.ca/resources/environmental/index.html Environmental Ethics Resources on World Wide Web
http://www.iep.utm.edu/e/envi-eth.htm Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
www.clas.ufl.edu/users/bron/pp/EE2.ppt Important Questions In Environmental Ethics
www.public.iastate.edu/~cfford/EnvironmentalEthics.ppt