Summary for Environmental Ethics and Sustainable Development

ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS AND
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT




GEO4-2323
UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT

, Introduction Environmental ethics
 Ecomodernism = believe there is no real environmental problem; popular among right-wing politicians.
 Objectivity – Partiality (bias)
is (descriptive) – ought (normative/prescriptive)
o Objective, but not impartial. Good to be biased sometimes
 Philosophy on science reflects on objectivity and ethics reflects on partiality
 Important to make ethics explicit
o Problems with journalism: balanced view doesn’t work if unbalanced sides get equal attention ->
confuses the audience

Is/ought distinction & Arguments against moral relativism
 1987: sustainability gets linked with development -> of human potential
o Worldwide platform to discuss sustainability issues
 1992: environmental conference in Rio
o Bill McKibben; end of nature -> classic (1989)
o Math of global warming (2013)
 Conferences will not result in sustainable development. There is NO susd
 Equation of stupid: C > I
o C= carrying capacity & I = impact of humans on carrying capacity
o = population – footprint / technology
 1972: Club of Rome report: the limits of growth
 Since 1850 exponential growth (population, emissions)
 Club of Rome:
 Average footprint is rising because of development in poorer countries
o Avg footprint Dutch citizen: 3.7 planets
 Technofix: technology will save everything
 Callicott  Desperate optimism
o Still strive for the best
 J. Diamond  Collapse
 George Monbiot  Heat
 Marc Lyras  Six degrees
 Christmas tree of knowledge  structure + motive
 Ecological theory = arguments for being good
o Rational answer to why something is good or bad
 Artificial language: everyone on the same level + easy to learn (Esperanto)
o Moral Esperanto = to reach consensus, speak in a way everyone understands
o Rational + secular arguments  no reference to religion
 Never consensus when religion is involved

First ethical Theory
 Two types of ethical theories
o Autonomous; giving rational arguments
o Heteronomous; pointing to someone else
 Religious: divine command theory, secular
o Real life most people are heteronomous
 WHAT KIND OF ETHICAL DOES CURRY HAVE?
 Stewardship: God gave the planet to humanity and we should take care of it
 Dominion: God has put humans on the Earth to dominate the Earth
 Consequentialism
o Consequences of this action are better than the alternative
o Most famous one: Utilitarianism
 Pleasure is good, pain is bad
 How to remove this?
 Hedonistic calculus; Jeremy Bentham
 Peter Singer: trying to solve minorities getting in trouble

Overview normative ethical theories & Expanding moral circle
 Deontology  Deon = duty By Kant