Religions and Types of Ecology

1. Religions and Types of Ecology

2. An allegorical reading of Genesis Loss of innocence is the price we pay for knowledge. Intelligence (knowledge/consciousness) sets us apart from the rest of nature. We have the capacity now for exploiting the rest of nature to a degree far surpassing that of any other creature (which we have used).

3. Solution? • Return to natural lifestyle – regress to primitive or even pre-human state, reject self-consciousness, knowledge, science and merge with nature again. 2) Use our knowledge to protect the natural world, or at least minimize our harmful impact. Accept that, while we are animals, we are not mere animals. We have a special responsibility due to our special capacities. Science (knowledge/intelligence) could be both the cause and the cure. Cf: a stewardship interpretation of “man’s dominion over nature”

4. Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274 Italian Catholic priest and philosopher Set out to synthesize Aristotle and Christianity. Brought dualism to Christianity Identified the Prime Mover with the Christian God.

5. The teleological argument Aquinas used the teleological argument, or argument from design, to prove the existence of God. i.e. Since the universe and everything in it is so perfectly designed (has telos), there must have been a designer – God. Examples of perfect design: Eyes are perfectly designed to enable animals to see. But also: sun and rain are designed to provide nourishment for plants. Etc. The watchmaker analogy.

6. Natural law ethics Aquinas also argued that since all of nature is the result of God’s plan, what is natural is good. Also, ethics are rooted in the natural order of things, i.e. people didn’t create ethics, God did. Therefore it is in our very nature to know right and wrong and to be held responsible for right and wrong action. Man’s nature (as Aristotle said) is to be rational. The highest good is to realize your natural potential in harmony with nature.

7. Francis Bacon 1561-1626 English philosopher, essayist and statesman Proponent of the Scientific Revolution Developed the “Baconian Method”, a precursor to the modern scientific method Said: “Knowledge is Power.”

8. The New Atlantis Written by Bacon in 1626 Utopian novel (i.e. description of a perfect society) Epitomizes Christian exploitative view of nature: nature is to be twisted, distorted, manipulated and deformed in any way possible for the benefit of mankind. Presages modern issues such as genetic engineering, cloning and animal testing But presents all such manipulation and exploitative of nature as unproblematicly good, with no envisioned downside or danger

9. Quotes from Bacon “Let us establish a chaste and lawful marriage between Mind and Nature…. I am come in very truth leading to you Nature with all her children to bind her to your service and make her your slave.” “They [science and mechanical inventions] do not merely exert a gentle guidance over nature’s course; they have the power to conquer and subdue her to her foundations.”

10. Reading for next week Required: Callicott, J. Baird, Earth’s Insights: A Survey of Ecological Ethics from the Mediterranean Basin to the Australian Outback, Chapter 4: “Traditional East Asian Deep Ecology” and Chapter 5: Ecological Insights in East Asian Buddhism, available on reserve in the Philosophy Department Suggested: “Argument from Poor Design”, Wikipedia, available at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_poor_design