Environmental Ethics What Really Matters, What Really Works

by Schmidtz, David; Willott, Elizabeth

• ISBN13: 9780195139099
• ISBN10: 0195139097
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-11-22
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Featuring sixty-two accessible selections--from classic articles to examples of cutting-edge original research--Environmental Ethics: What Really Matters, What Really Works addresses both of the principal areas of inquiry in the field: the exploration of morality from an environmentalperspective and the analysis of the current state of our environment. Aiming to determine what issues really matter, the first section of the book responds to such questions as: What is value? What types of things have value? Is the value of a human being fundamentally different from the kind ofvalue we find elsewhere in nature? What role do consumer goods and services play in a good life? and Is there room for environmental consciousness in a good life? The second section turns to the question of what it would take to solve our environmental problems. It strives to go beyond the "hype" topresent informed perspectives on the true nature of those problems and investigates important questions like: What is causing or exacerbating these problems? and What solutions have been tried? The selections present philosophical, biological, and social scientific approaches to the major issues.Environmental Ethics features first-hand descriptions from people who have actually been involved in such projects as wildlife management in Africa, ecofeminist initiatives in India, and radical activism on the high seas. It also provides up-to-date data on population issues and community-basedwildlife initiatives. Ideal for undergraduate courses in environmental ethics, environmental issues, and applied ethics, this unique text will also be a helpful resource for graduate students and professors, as it retains most of the footnotes from the original articles.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Why Environmental Ethics?	xi
Elizabeth Willott
David Schmidtz
I WHAT REALLY MATTERS? ESSAYS ON VALUE IN NATURE
The Dawn of Reverence	3	(12)
Questions for Reflection and Discussion: A Fierce Green Fire	3	(1)
A Moment on the Earth	4	(2)
Gregg Easterbrook
Thinking Like a Mountain	6	(1)
Aldo Leopold
The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis	7	(8)
Lynn White
Animal Liberation and the Land Ethic	15	(30)
Questions for Reflection and Discussion: Practical Ethics	15	(2)
All Animals Are Equal	17	(10)
Peter Singer
The Land Ethic	27	(6)
Aldo Leopold
Values in and Duties to the Natural World	33	(5)
Holmes Rolston
Animal Liberation and Environmental Ethics: Bad Marriage, Quick Divorce	38	(7)
Mark Sagoff
Extending the Realm of Rights	45	(37)
Questions for Reflection and Discussion: Natural Rights	45	(1)
Should Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects	46	(4)
Christopher D. Stone
The Rights of Animals	50	(8)
Joel Feinberg
The Good of Trees	58	(13)
Robin Attfield
Duties Concerning Islands	71	(11)
Mary Midgley
Species Equality and Respect for Nature	82	(22)
Questions for Reflection and Discussion: Where Do We Draw the Line?	82	(1)
The Ethics of Respect for Nature	83	(13)
Paul W. Taylor
Are All Species Equal?	96	(8)
David Schmidtz
Environmental Holism	104	(54)
Questions for Reflection and Discussion: Keeping Our Hands Clean	104	(1)
How to Worry About Endangered Species	105	(3)
Tom Regan
Biocentric Individualism	108	(12)
Gary Varner
Deep Ecology	120	(6)
Bill Devall
George Sessions
Social Ecology Versus Deep Ecology	126	(11)
Murray Bookchin
Why Do Species Matter?	137	(8)
Lilly-Marlene Russow
Philosophical Problems for Environmentalism	145	(13)
Elliott Sober
How Wild Does Nature Have to Be?	158	(30)
Questions for Reflection and Discussion: An Allegory	158	(1)
What's Wrong with Plastic Trees?	159	(13)
Martin H. Krieger
The Call of the Wild	172	(6)
Eric Katz
Ecological Restoration and the Culture of Nature	178	(10)
Andrew Light
Rethinking the Good Life	188	(43)
Questions for Reflection and Discussion: Voluntary Simplicity	188	(1)
Ideals of Human Excellence and Preserving Natural Environments	189	(10)
Thomas E. Hill
Redefining the Good Life in a Sustainable Society	199	(6)
Lester W. Milbrath
Do We Consume Too Much?	205	(16)
Mark Sagoff
Letting the World Grow Old: An Ethos of Countermodernity	221	(10)
Freya Mathews
Ecofeminism in Theory and Practice	231	(34)
Questions for Reflection and Discussion: Dichotomies	231	(1)
Feminism and Ecofeminism	232	(2)
Kristen Hessler
Elizabeth Willott
The Power and the Promise of Ecological Feminism	234	(14)
Karen J. Warren
Women, Poverty, and Population: Issues for the Concerned Environmentalist	248	(7)
Gita Sen
Women Farmers of India's Deccan Plateau: Ecofeminists Challenge World Elites	255	(10)
V. Rukmini Rao
II WHAT REALLY WORKS? ESSAYS ON HUMAN ECOLOGY
Human Population	265	(19)
Questions for Reflection and Discussion: The Population Bomb	265	(1)
Future Generations	266	(1)
Joel Feinberg
Population, Development, and the Environment	267	(7)
Clark Wolf
Recent Population Trends	274	(10)
Elizabeth Willott
What It Takes To Preserve Wilderness	284	(46)
Questions for Reflection and Discussion: South Africa	284	(1)
Radical American Environmentalism and Wilderness Preservation: A Third World Critique	285	(8)
Ramachandra Guha
Headaches and Heartaches: The Elephant Management Dilemma	293	(13)
Ian J. Whyte
At the Hand of Man: Peril and Hope for Africa's Wildlife	306	(14)
Raymond Bonner
When Preservationism Doesn't Preserve	320	(10)
David Schmidtz
Sustainable Use and Institutional Structure	330	(43)
Questions for Reflection and Discussion: The Logic of the Commons	330	(1)
The Tragedy of the Commons	331	(10)
Garrett Hardin
Approximate Optimality of Aboriginal Property Rights	341	(7)
Martin J. Bailey
Environmental Lessons	348	(13)
Carol Rose
The Institution of Property	361	(12)
David Schmidtz
Poverty as an Environmental Problem	373	(52)
Questions for Reflection and Discussion: Zambia	373	(1)
Living on a Lifeboat	374	(12)
Garrett Hardin
Famine, Affluence, and Morality	386	(8)
Peter Singer
Global Environment and International Inequality	394	(10)
Henry Shue
Feeding People Versus Saving Nature	404	(13)
Holmes Rolston III
Natural Enemies: An Anatomy of Environmental Conflict	417	(8)
David Schmidtz
Vanishing Resources	425	(29)
Questions for Reflection and Discussion: Cities	425	(1)
Designing Cities as if They Were Ethical Choices	426	(4)
Jessica Woolliams
Why the Good News Shouldn't Scare You	430	(4)
Gregg Easterbrook
The Doomslayer	434	(9)
Ed Regis
The Good News, in Perspective	443	(11)
Paul Ehrlich
Anne Ehrlich
Cost-Benefit Analysis and Environmental Policy	454	(39)
Questions for Reflection and Discussion: Optimal Pollution	454	(1)
Cost-Benefit Analysis: An Ethical Critique	455	(7)
Steven Kelman
Cost-Benefit Analysis Defended	462	(4)
Herman B. Leonard
Richard J. Zeckhauser
Moral Pluralism and the Environment	466	(13)
Andrew Brennan
A Place for Cost-Benefit Analysis	479	(14)
David Schmidtz
Environmentalism in Practice	493	(1)
Questions for Reflection and Discussion: The Ethics of Confrontation	493	(1)
The Environmentalists' Dilemma: Dollars and Sand Dollars	494	(7)
Bryan G. Norton
Fragile Freedoms	501	(4)
Bryan G. Norton
Therapeutic Nihilism and Environmental Management	505	(19)
Eugene C. Hargrove
Mad Cowboy: The Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat	524	(5)
Howard F. Lyman
Glen Merzer
Tora! Tora! Tora!	529	(6)
Paul Watson
The Missing Shade of Green	535	(11)
Kate Rawles
Environmental Philosophy Is Environmental Activism: The Most Radical and Effective Kind	546	(10)
J. Baird Callicott
Taking Environmental Ethics Public	556
Andrew Light