Environmental Ethics

1. Environmental Ethics

2. Intention

3. Intention Action

4. Intention Action Consequence

5. Intention Action Consequence Duty Deontological Ethics

6. Intention Action Consequence Consequentialist Ethics

7. If one’s intentions are good, then the action is good, irrespective of the outcome of that action I.e., one meant to do good Regardless of one’s intention, the consequence of the action is paramount. If the outcome is good the action is good. If it is not, then the action is bad. Deontological vs. Consequentialist Ethics

8. How does one define “good” and “bad” actions or intentions? • Something is bad if it harms a thing to which we have granted moral standing. Something is good if it does not harm that thing.

9. What is “moral standing”? • Moral standing is granted when we feel an obligation to an entity to treat it well. When that entity has a “hold” on us that makes us constrain our actions.

10. To whom do we grant moral standing? • Contractarianists grant moral standing to an entity that can enter into a “contract” with them. To enter into a “contract” requires the ability to think and reason. Therefore, only humans are granted moral standing in this view.

11. To whom do we grant moral standing? • Utilitarians believe that we should maximize “good” in the world. The absence of pain is “good”. Therefore, we grant moral standing to anything that can feel pain. • This viewpoint also believes that we should grant the greatest good for the greatest number. Pain can not be altogether avoided, but rather should be minimalized.

12. To whom do we grant moral standing? • The philosopher, Thomas Regan, heads up a group that believes that any living entity should receive moral standing whether or not it can feel pain in the human sense of the word. This viewpoint believes that the “bearer-of-a-life” should receive moral standing.

13. To whom do we grant moral standing? • The ecologist, and former forester, Aldo Leopold wrote a crucial essay in his collection of essays entitled “The Sand County Almanac”. This essay was “The Land Ethic”. He proposes that the land, ecosystems and species should be granted moral standing.

14. So, you had a bad day at work… • Do you yell at the neighbor’s bratty kid?

15. Contractarianism

16. So, you had a bad day at work… • Do you yell at the neighbor’s bratty kid? • Do you kick their yappy little dog?

17. Utilitarianism

18. So, you had a bad day at work… • Do you yell at the neighbor’s bratty kid? • Do you kick their yappy little dog? • Do you rip the leaves off a neighborhood tree?

19. "Bearer-of-a-Life"

20. So, you had a bad day at work… • Do you yell at the neighbor’s bratty kid? • Do you kick their yappy little dog? • Do you rip the leaves off a neighborhood tree? • Do you tear up your newspaper and throw it into the wind?

21. The Land Ethic

22. Which ethic applies when? • No hard and fast “rule”. • Many times, people apply one ethic in one circumstance and another in a different instance. • The important thing is to realize which ethic is being used by yourself and others and try to understand their use of that ethic.