Ethics and Responsibility towards Nature and Future Generations

1. 環境倫理學 鄭先祐 (Ayo) 教授 國立臺南大學 環境 與生態學院生態科學與技術學系

2. 環境倫理 • T00. 簡介：環境倫理與哲學 • Part I 倫理與科學 • T01. 道德哲學(moral philosophy)：理性與感性 • T02. 道德考量(moral consideration)：倫理與科學 • T03. 倫理與經濟：公有財 (The Common Good) • Part II 倫理推定(presumptions)的建構與驗證 • T04. 責任 (duty)：自然和未來世代 • T05. 品性 (character)：生態美德 • T06. 關係 (relationships)：同理心與正直 • T07. 權利 (rights)：人類與動物 • T08. 後果 (consequences)：預測未來 Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

3. 環境倫理學 • Part III 自然學習 (Learning from Nature) • T09. 生活：可持續消費 • T10. 環境政策：政府、機構和NGOs • T11. 健康環境：空氣與水 • T12. 農業：土地與食物 • T13. 公有地：適應式管理 • T14. 城鄉生態學：綠色建構 • T15. 氣候變遷：全球溫化 Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

4. Part II 倫理推定(presumptions)的建構與驗證 • T04 責任：自然和未來世代, concerns doing our duty • T05 品性：生態美德, considers being a good person (Characters) • T06 關係：同理心與正直, explores why caring relationships are crucial for ethics. • T07 權利：人類與動物, concerns protecting rights. • T08 後果：預測未來, considers predicting consequences. Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

5. Part II 倫理推定(presumptions)的建構與驗證 T04. 責任：自然和未來世代 鄭先祐 (Ayo) 教授 國立臺南大學 環境 與生態學院生態科學與技術學系

6. T04. 責任：自然和未來世代 • 4.1 doing our duty • 4.2 right action • 4.3 Commanded by God: Jews and Muslims • 4.4 Government, Land and Property • 4.5 Applying the Golden rule • 4.6 Animals, Species, Ecosystems, and Landscapes • Questions Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

7. T04. 責任：自然和未來世代 • Kant + Gandhi • Jewish + Muslim 責任 (Duty) 好行為 Right action 責任論的 Deontological 權利 (Rights) Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

8. 4.1 doing our duty • Kant claimed to rely on reason alone in asserting that our duty is simply to do what is rational. • Gandhi (1869-1948) transformed the Hindu idea of duty, which is rooted in the caste traditions of Indian culture, into an imperative(必要的) to seek truth-power (satyagraha) through nonviolent action (ahimsa). For Gandhi, too, our duty is rational. Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

9. Kant’s Rational imperative(必要的) • Doing our duty means acting on our conscience, which Kant saw as our rational nature. • Kant reasoned that acting in a way which has universal application requires respecting the dignity(尊嚴) of every person. • Our autonomy(自主) is linked to our rationality, which is distinctly human. Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

10. Gandhi, from Karma to Ahimsa • Who do their duty will eventually achieve release from the suffering of this world through the chain of cause and effect (karma) that leads to liberation from the cycle of rebirth. • Everyone has a duty to pursue the truth through nonviolent action, leaving the consequences to God. • Taking nonviolent action is the only way to verify that we are not acting benefit ourselves. • We should always try to overcome evil by good, anger by love, untruth by truth, himsa (violence) by ahimsa(不殺生戒律). Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

11. Duty to Nature? Kant: • We have a duty to respect human autonomy because we are rational beings, and this is not true of other organisms. • Nature organizes itself. • Both an organized and a self-organizing being, which therefore can be called a natural purpose. • As things (such as machines) are organized, but not self-organizing. Organisms are not things. • Humans have direct duties only to each other, and only indirect duties with respect to nonhuman organisms. Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

12. Duty to Nature? Gandhi: • All persons does not rely on their individual autonomy and rationality, but instead affirms the rationality manifested in karma. • As the cycle of life, death, and rebirth offers an accounting of moral action over time that includes animals as well as humans. • Hindus believe that we have a duty to respect all organisms. Gandhi as a vegetarian and thought everyone should be. Nonviolence to animals is religious and rational. Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

13. 4.2 Right action • Kant sees nonhuman life as lacking the rationality that define our moral community, where Gandhi sees karma as defining a moral community that includes both nonhuman and human life. • Respect for others • We have a duty not to throw litter in our neighbor’s yard, • We should respect the rights of our neighbors to their privacy and property. Why se should respect the rights of other persons. • Do to others, as you would have them do to you. (Golden rule) Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

14. Right action: respect for nature • Kant held that we have no duty to the natural world, as it lacks rationality. Gandhi affirmed that we have a duty to animals, because they participate in the moral rationality of karma, but this tells us nothing about the intrinsic value of nature. • The intrinsic worth of nature rests on biological facts: that every organism is self-organizing and pursues its own good, and that ecosystems are self-organizing and life-sustaining. • A duty to protect the environment simply because it has intrinsic value. Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

15. 4.3 Commanded by God: Jews and Muslims • Jewish and Christian scriptures (聖經) share the same creation stories in Genesis 1 and 2, and Muslim scripture acknowledges these narratives. • Humans have a duty to care for nature. • Remember Sabbath(安息日) and keep it holy • Requires rest for livestock, as well as rest for those who use livestock in their work. • The earth is the Lord’s. (God’s world) • Ritual slaughter avoids unnecessary suffering, that trees are useful and should not be wasted. Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

16. Commanded by God: Jews and Muslims • Nature is not sacred for Muslims, but is seen as reflecting God’s will. • Humans are part of nature and have accepted duties to use the bounty(贈品) of the earth, without squandering(浪費) it, and to minimize suffering in slaughtering animals. Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

17. 4.4 Government, land, and property • 私有地(private property) 的moral claims • Law of Nature • Gives the right of property to persons who put it to good use. • This right is necessary, for “the pursuit of happiness”. • But this right must be limited for the public good. Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

18. Public trust • The duty to conserve publicly held land includes a duty to ensure that everyone has fair access to the use of this commons. • The notion of “public trust” came into American jurisprudence(法律學) as part of the common law tradition, and now is the foundation for land use regulations imposed by governments to protect natural resources. Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

19. Public trust • In 1970 the Council on Environmental Quality recommended that a national land-use policy be adopted. • President Nixonsent this recommendation to Congress with the following statement. • We have treated our land as if it were a limitless resource. Traditionally Americans have felt that what they do with their own land is their own business. This attitude has been a natural outgrowth of the pioneer spirit. • Today, we are coming to realize that our land is finite, while our population is growing. Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

20. Public trust • The uses to which our generation puts the land can either expand or severely limit the choices our children will have. • The time has come when we must accept the idea the none of us has a right to abuse the land, and that on the contrary society as a whole has a legitimate(合法正當的) interest in proper land use. • Because the Nixon administration and Congress did not agree on a federal approach to land use planning, this duty has been left to state, county, and municipal governments. Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

21. 4.5 Applying the golden rule • Doing to others as we would have them do to us. • Not only to our neighbors , and even to our enemies, but also future generations. • Duty to future generations • Laws that are fair • Correcting an inequity Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

22. Duty to future generations • Accepting a duty to future generations to reduce our impact on nature seems much like leaving a public park in as good condition as we found it, so that those coming later to enjoy this common space would find it as we did. • We should act with concern for those who will inhabit the earth after us. • Economic and political power be distributed throughout society and not be concentrated in the hands of a wealthy minority. Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

23. Laws that are fair • The public welfare requires not only ensuring an equitable distribution of resource over time, but also among those alive at any time. • We have a duty of care to future generations, then surely we also have a duty to those in our generation who are struggling to survive. • Check wealth disparity, ending public subsidies, support more progressive tax system, and providing a universal health care system. Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

24. Correcting an inequity • Industrialized societies have unfairly taken advantage of less powerful societies in accumulating wealth through economic development that has degraded the environment. • How are the costs of cleaning up our environmental mess to be fairly distributed? Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

25. 4.6 Animals, species, and ecosystems • Human culture • In human culture we have a duty to provide humane care for sentient animals. • This includes our pets as well as animals raised to be eaten. • Hindu tradition of karma, • Have a duty to refrain from(戒除) eating meat and to avoid violence to animals unless they threaten human life. • In the wild Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

26. Animals, species, and ecosystems • In the wild • Protecting animals in the wild means preserving their habitats, not preventing some animals from killing and eating other animals. • Our duty is to care for ecosystems and species, and not for individual animals, unless our intervention has put an animal at risk. • We also have a duty to minimize our impact on the environment. Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

27. 問題與討論 Ayo NUTN website:http://myweb.nutn.edu.tw/~hycheng/