Lecture 1

Some of our main issues:

Conflicts arising from interaction between human societies, and non-human animals, and the natural world

What are some examples?

Sustainability
Animal rights
Land preservation
Resource depletion
Waste disposal
Species extinction
Habitat destruction

Definition of "environmental ethics":

“The field of study concerned with the values and principles that should guide human interaction with the natural world.

• Values
• Principles

The field that examines debates about environmental issues (like the examples above) with a special focus on the “universal language of ethics”

Debates where we find concepts like:

Right Obligation Virtue Good character

The common good Beauty Economic efficiency

Why philosophy?

The field of philosophy represents a specific approach, with a major focus on ideas, concepts, arguments, values, and principles

• Attributes of a valid argument
• Watching for all the “pitfalls”
• Clear writing & distinctions
• A tradition of debate and discussion
• Aristotle, Locke, Bentham, Kant, Marx, Mill,
• Singer, Regan, Taylor, Leopold, Warren, Bookchin

Why ethics?

Ethics is a sub-field of philosophy concerned primarily with values and principles

• Values & principles worked out clearly and methodically
• Systematic theories of ethics
• Standardized arguments

Philosophy and ethics are indispensable for understanding and resolving environmental issues