Environmental ethics is that branch of philosophy dealing with the major ethical questions regarding the relationships between humans and the environment. This includes issues such as biodiversity, wildlife management, ecological preservation, hunting practices, farming techniques, and food regulations.
Emergence of the Field
Environmental ethics emerged as a distinct field in in early 1970s. Among its driving forces were the environmental concerns regarding the dependability of our society on natural resources as well as the threat that our use of those resources poses to the integrity of the ecosystem; it should also be noted that the increased attention to an ecological perspective on life was promoted also by the prospect of exploring life on other planets.
It should be noted that around the same period a cognate field was also developed: philosophy of biology. In the 70s, in other words, our theoretical perspective on life was deeply transformed and has led to movements such as the green revolution and the contemporary quest for sustainable living. Retrospectively, the emergence of those fields seems almost obvious.
A Non-Anthropocentric Philosophy?
Although environmental ethicist have applied ethical theories – such as consequentialism – to try and solve environmental concerns, the specificity of environmental problems facilitated the development of some novel ethical perspectives; an example of this is the non-anthropocentric perspective endorsed by a wide number of scholars in the field. Let’s look at one example.
Speciesism
Probably one of the most well-known arguments against the anthropocentric ethical perspective was proposed by Peter Singer in Animal Liberation(1975). In the first chapter of this classical book, Singer argues that most ethical views nowadays upheld can be accused of speciesism. As racism is based on an unjustified prejudice of superiority of a certain race over others, so speciesism is based on an unjustified prejudice of superiority of a species over others. Humans consider themselves superior to other animals, so they inflict pain over them that could be avoided. Cattle, pork, and chicken farms in contemporary America are an example of the unjustified torturing that humans inflict over other species in order to provide cheap foods.
In Animal Liberation Singer advocates vegetarianism as a antidote to the rampant speciesism of our society. It is unethical to inflict unnecessary sufferance, so we should avoid it by all means that are necessary to us. Vegetarianism seems to be the best solution, according to Singer.
Singer’s argument has been criticized under several points. For example, eating plants does not imply that no animal sufferance will be involved, as other animals may depend on those plants for their survival. So, a deer may use a crop field to hide its children so that, once the crops are harvested, the children’s life will be at risk. There is no free lunch, really. Nonetheless, Singer’s argument contributed to show the significance of a non-anthropocentric ethical perspective to Western societies. The needs for such a perspective are not just rooted in our diets, but more generally in our relationship to the environment. Let’s see an example of this sort.
Main Topics
Environmental ethics comprises several of the most relevant questions some contemporary societies are facing: to what extent should our society invest in preserving biodiversity and what are the best means to do so? Just think about the massive loss of food varieties and insect species that live off of them: should we change our agricultural practices to reverse this process?
Or, consider wildlife management: to what extent should hunting be employed as a technique of population control for certain species? How about fishing? Singer’s philosophy, for example, seems to forbid them; on the other hand, in some regions of America (for example contemporary New England) there seem to be good consequentialist arguments to morally approve of hunting and fishing.
The moral acceptability of pollution is another key topic of environmental ethics, as well as the debate surrounding sustainable living.
Future Outlook
To date, environmental ethics is a fertile branch of philosophy, whose interdisciplinary character and practical outlook attracts much attention from the non-philosophical community. Environmental ethicists are often at work also with governmental agencies, lawyers, or non-governmental organizations; alongside with life scientists, economists, and engineers they play an important role in decisional processes that concern the society at large and its economic development; they inform and educate the public to one of the most poignant chapters of our civilization.
