That we should value our environment can be assumed. But why we value it is less obvious. Is the environment valuable only for what it gives us humans? Or does the environment have a value that transcends (even whilst it includes) human beings? Questions such as these have gained some urgency in recent years, and there is a new impetus to finding out what it is we value about our environment and why, but these questions are not new. 400 years ago Francis Bacon (1561–1626) declared that his “only earthly wish” was “to stretch the deplorably narrow limits of man's dominion over the universe” by putting nature “on the rack”. Whilst Bacon qualified this statement almost immediately, the sentiment he expresses is one that typifies much of the modern era. Certainly, it signifies a break from more classical notions of reflecting, in one’s own life, the order one finds in nature. Similar clashes have happened throughout history—the Europeans who purchased the New World from inhabitants who had no concept of owning land—and some are ongoing—the Amazon rainforest serves as the “lungs of the world” but the region also serves disparate local interests.
During this seminar we will explore both sides—the instrumentalist and the non-instrumentalist—of the environmentalist debate. We will begin with an open question namely, “What are we trying to protect?” This is important because we often hear that someone wants to “save the planet” when, in actual fact, it is society, or the economy that they are seeking to preserve. Even more troublesome is the fact that, in preserving the human race “as we are”, we prevent evolution. This raises a much deeper question: namely whether or not human society is compatible with nature. From here, we will consider to what extent ethical theories support one side of the debate or the other: Can we only think in human terms or can we acknowledge a value beyond what benefits us? We will end by considering two ways in which theory can be put into practice—firstly, by rooting the ethical theory in our ways of acting and, secondly, by foregoing theoretical certainty in favour of action.
Learning outcomes
- To understand and make use of philosophical techniques;
- To gain an understanding of different ethical (and aesthetical) theories; and
- To better appreciate what is at stake in a variety of ethical debates, including inter alia animal rights, environmentalism and intrinsic/artistic value.
