American Conservation Philosophy and its Critique

1. 03_04.ppt American Conservation Philosophy and its Critique Professor Bob Sandmeyerdr.sandmeyer@gmail.com https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

2. Introductions Roll Call • Name • you would like to be called or “English” name • (forgive my mispronunciation) https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

3. Review Historical Background I Anthropocentricism, Property, Animals https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

4. Unit One: Historical Background Review – “Modern” Philosophy • Francis Bacon (1561–1626 - British) • Anthropocentric (human-centered) worldview • "the empire of man over things is founded on the arts and sciences alone, for nature is only to be commanded by obeying her“ • Epistemology (“knowledge is power”) • demand for a “new organon” (new tool) of human knowledge • "the real and legitimate goal of the sciences is the endowment of human life with new inventions and riches” https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

5. Unit One: Historical Background Review – “Modern” Philosophy • John Locke (1632-1704 - British) • Resource conception of nature • Value • intrinsic • instrumental • Labor theory of value • Labor removes things from the original common state in nature • 9/10ths rule https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

6. Unit One: Historical Background Review – “Modern” Philosophy • René Descartes (1596-1650 - French) • Metaphysical concept of dualism • Res extensa: extended substance • Res cogitans: thinking substance • Mechanistic theory of the physical world • Beast-machine theory • Animals like soulless moving machines, i.e., automata https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

7. Unit One: Historical Background Review – “Modern” Philosophy • John Locke – "On Property" • Does nature have any value in and of itself? • What puts the greatest part of value upon land? • René Descartes – The Beast-Machine Theory • How do humans differ essentially from animals (brutes)? • By what tests ("two most certain tests") can one employ in order to know that animals are not really human? https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

8. Historical Background II Natural thing, Artifact, Creation https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

9. Historical Background II Competing Conceptions of Nature Natural thing, Artifact, Creation https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

10. John Stuart Mill Distinction: Natural thing – Artifact https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

11. Unit One: Historical Background John Stuart Mill (1806-1873, British) • Important Writings • A System of Logic: Ratiocinative and Inductive (1843) • On Liberty (1859) • Utilitarianism (1861) • "The Subjection of Women" (1869)

12. Unit One: Historical Background Mill – “On Nature” • From the book: Nature, The Utility of Religion, and Theism. Watts & Co. (1874) • published posthumously • three essays on religion • Exemplary philosophical analysis • Platonic Method • Definition • Logical analysis https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

13. Unit One: Historical Background Mill – “On Nature” • Two Reading Questions • What are the two principal meanings of the word "nature" that Mill identifies? • What is wrong when the word "nature" is used for what ought to be, for example, as implied in the phrase Naturamsequi? https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

14. Unit One: Historical Background https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

15. Unit One: Historical Background "Naturamsequi" (follow nature) "Naturamobservare" (observe nature) https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

16. Unit One: Historical Background "Naturamsequi" (follow nature) "Naturamobservare" (observe nature) (Test I) "When it is asserted, or implied, that Nature, or the laws of Nature, should be conformed to, is the Nature which is meant, Nature in the first sense of the term, meaning all which is—the powers and properties of all things?" (391) https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

17. Unit One: Historical Background "Naturamsequi" (follow nature) "Naturamobservare" (observe nature) (Test II) "Let us then consider whether we can attach any meaning to the supposed practical maxim of following Nature, in this second sense of the word, in which Nature stands for that which takes place without human intervention." (393) https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

18. Pope Francis Nature as Creation https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

19. Unit One: Historical Background Pope Francis – Encyclical “LaudatoSí” • Francis - 266th and current Pope of the Roman Catholic Church • LaudatoSí – "Be praised“ - "On Care for Our Common Home" • the title is a quotation from a popular prayer of St. Francis of Assisi praising God for the creation of the different creatures and aspects of the Earth • Encyclical – Letter by the Pope or Holy Father of the Roman Catholic Church to all Bishops • Published June 18th, 2015 https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

20. Unit One: Historical Background “Our Care for Our Common Home” • reference to 1987 United Nations Brundtland Commission Report (BCR), "Our Common Home“ • BCR defined sustainable development • “Sustainable development is development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” Anthropocentrism https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

21. Unit One: Historical Background “Our Care for Our Common Home” • reference to 1987 United Nations Brundtland Commission Report (BCR), "Our Common Home“ • BCR defined sustainable development • Explicit linkage: • Social justice • Economic prosperity • Environmental stewardship the so-called “triple bottom line” https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

22. Unit One: Historical Background The Encyclical (letter) • "The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change." (4) "when we speak of “sustainable use”, consideration must always be given to each ecosystem’s regenerative ability in its different areas and aspects" (44) https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

23. Unit One: Historical Background Basic Themes • St. Francis of Assisi • "example par excellence" • care for the vulnerable • an integral ecology “Deep” ecology • "We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental" (41). 1181 – 3 October 1226 http://foreverforalwaysnomatterwhat.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/St.Francis.jpg https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

24. Unit One: Historical Background Intrinsic Value God’s Creation • “Sister Earth” • Duty to care "The ultimate purpose of other creatures is not to be found in us. Rather, all creatures are moving forward with us and through us towards a common point of arrival, which is God, in that transcendent fullness where the risen Christ embraces and illumines all things. Human beings, endowed with intelligence and love, and drawn by the fullness of Christ, are called to lead all creatures back to their Creator" (24-25). Critique of “misguided” anthropocentricism https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

25. Unit One: Historical Background • GMOs – threat to • Ecosystems • Farmer autonomy Sustainable Development threat of the techno-economic paradigm • globalization • challenge of “rapidification” • throwaway culture • global environmental degradation • GMOs (genetically modified organisms) "The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth." (7) https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

26. Unit One: Historical Background Sustainable Development threat of the techno-economic paradigm • globalization • challenge of “rapidification” • throwaway culture • global environmental degradation • GMOs (genetically modified organisms) "Nobody is suggesting a return to the Stone Age, but we do need to slow down and look at reality in a different way, to appropriate the positive and sustainable progress which has been made, but also to recover the values and the great goals swept away by our unrestrained delusions of grandeur" (34). https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

27. Unit One: Historical Background Sustainable Development Common goods • climate • sources of fresh potable water • biodiversity • the "natural environment" Challenge of Inequity Challenge of Social Fragmentation https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

28. Unit One: Historical Background Sustainable Development • favors productive diversity and business creativity • Economies of scale • Indigenous, small scale food production systems • Justice between generations https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

29. Unit One: Historical Background Nature as abode for renewal of human spirit • "technological mind sees nature as an insensate order, as a cold body of facts, as a mere ‘given’, as an object of utility" (34) • utility = merely instrumental value • "man sets himself up in place of God" (35) https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

30. Unit One: Historical Background Ecological Conversion • St. Francis as model • spiritual relation to nature, God's creation https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/

31. Unit One: Historical Background Exam 1 – Historical Background • This is a “take home” exam • Download from webpage (Handouts) • First Exam – Historical Background(1Exam.doc) • Write your answers in the document • Email document to me by Friday at 12:00 • dr.sandmeyer@gmail.com https://www.uky.edu/~rsand1/