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Introduction to Ethics and Environmental Ethics

Introduction to Ethics and Environmental Ethics. Some Classic Characteristics of Ethics. Central concern is the well-being of people. Consider not just yourself, but also all others who stand to be affected. Moral evaluations and judgments should be impartial.

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Introduction to Ethics and Environmental Ethics

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  1. Introduction to Ethics and Environmental Ethics

  2. Some Classic Characteristics of Ethics • Central concern is the well-being of people. • Consider not just yourself, but also all others who stand to be affected. • Moral evaluations and judgments should be impartial. • Moral evaluations and judgments should be universalizable. • Moral evaluations and judgments are inescapable. • Moral considerations typically override other considerations.

  3. Approaches to Ethics • Metaethics and Conceptual Analysis • Descriptive Ethics • Normative Ethics • Practical Ethics

  4. Some Neighbors of Ethics • Religion • Law • Politics • Economics • Other Social Factors

  5. Some Challenges to Ethics • Ethical Nihilism: ethics do not exist. • Cultural Ethical Relativism: ethics are relative to particular cultures. • Individual Ethical Relativism: ethics are relative to particular individuals.

  6. Traditional Ethical Theories: The Big Picture

  7. Moral Principles • Principle of Nonmaleficence • Principle of Beneficence • Principle of Utility • Principle of Respect for Autonomy • Principle of Justice

  8. “Introducing Justice”Harry Brighouse • Justice can help us navigate between conflicting values. • Justice can help steer social science and policy. • Justice has practical significance.

  9. Justice Classic Formulation of Formal Justice: “Equals must be treated equally, and unequals must be treated unequally.” So what counts as relevant conditions for equal or unequal treatment?

  10. Material Conditions of Justice Equal and unequal treatment concerns how burdens and benefits are distributed. This could be based on some of the following: 1. Need 6. $ 2. Effort 7. Race and Ethnicity 3. Contribution 8. Gender 4. Merit 9. Economic Class 5. Full Equality 10. Country of Origin

  11. Distributive Justice • This concerns what material conditions are used to determine how burdens and benefits are distributed. • Distributive Justice = Equity. • Most past and contemporary theories of justice focus almost exclusively on distributive justice.

  12. “Environmental Ethics” Robert Elliot

  13. How can we justify a particular environmental ethic? 1. Anthropocentrism a. Use traditional moral theories b. Create some new ethical theory or approach 2. Moral Extensionism 3. Novel Features Approach

  14. How can we flesh out a particular environmental ethic? 1. Anthropocentrism: a. Strong B. Weak C. Economics-Based D. Future Generations 2. Zoocentrism (variants include psychocentrism and sentientism) 3. Biocentrism

  15. More Ways to Flesh Out an Environmental Ethic 4. Ecocentrism 5. Universal Moral Consideration And the three “radical ecologies” 6. Social Ecology 7. Deep Ecology 8. Ecological Feminism or Ecofeminism

  16. Environmental Ethics are based on values. But what are values?

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