A paradox
However, in light of the definition of 'nature' that we have been assuming the second of Mill's two senses , there appears to be something extremely paradoxical about the idea that we can protect or restore nature. It is analogous to the paradox that Mill found in the idea that we might adopt the injunction to 'follow nature' as a principle of action following nature would have to be a deliberate act, and precisely for that reason could not count as following nature. There appears to be a...
Extending the boundaries of moral considerability
The central move in much recent environmental ethics has been to attempt to go beyond the circle of sentient beings drawn by utilitarians such as Singer and rights-based theorists like Regan and to extend the scope of moral con-siderability still further. Why might it be thought there is a need to thus extend the circle of considerability At least part of the reason has to do with the implications for environmental policy of stopping at sentience. At a practical level nature conservation bodies...
Valuing the natural
A central claim of those who advocate the need for a new environmental ethic has been that nature has intrinsic value. In the last chapter we considered the meta-ethical debates that this claim has engendered. In this chapter we will consider the claim itself in more detail. In particular we will examine the status of one strong version of the claim, that at least part of the basis for our concern with the natural world is that we value what is natural as such i.e. we value it just because it...
Restitutive ecology
To make these points about the more general role of history in our evaluation of landscape directs us to something that survives the specific problems in Elliot's analysis. A core objection to some forms of restoration ecology, such as those inspired by the Starker Leopold report cited earlier, is that they are blind to the full range of the historical significance of places. Either, like some forms of cultural restoration, they freeze places at some arbitrary point in their history, or they...
Consequentialist responses
In this chapter so far we have outlined two sets of objections to consequentialism. The first is that consequentialism permits too much there are constraints on performing certain kinds of actions even where those actions produce a greater value than not performing them. We considered the view that such constraints are grounded on the moral standing of individuals, that there are things one cannot do to individuals even if it leads to a greater overall good. Individuals have rights that cannot...
Telic egalitarianism
One form of egalitarianism is that which combines the value of equality with consequentialism. Rather than argue indirectly for equality, via the priority of the worst off, the consequentialist can assert that equality is an end in itself. If one combines consequentialism with this form of egalitarianism, one arrives at a position sometimes called telic egalitarianism Parfit 1997 Telic egalitarianism We should promote equality because it is a good outcome in itself. What is wrong with...
Metaethics and normative ethics
A central traditional question in meta-ethics is whether ethical utterances are assertions that can be true or false. The 'ethical realist' holds that ethical statements are descriptions of states of the world, and in virtue of being so they are, like other fact stating assertions, true or false independently of the beliefs of the speaker. On this view, it is the job of our ethical judgements to track properties in the world, to get something right about the way the world is. Against ethical...
New theories for old
We noted at the start of this chapter that defenders of the claim that we need a new environmental ethic have a particular picture of what that involves. What is required is a new ethical theory with new basic ethical postulates that will replace the primitive postulates of older ethical theories such as utilitarianism and Kantianism. In the last chapter we suggested that the search for ethical theories of this kind was a mistake. There is no reason to assume that rational ethical reflection...
Structural pluralism
In the last section we contrasted consequentialist, deontological and virtues perspectives on resolving conflicts. We noted that each of these perspectives can take pluralist forms. A consequentialist can assume many values in determining what makes for a good state of affairs. A deontologist can assume many basic obligations irreducible to each other. A virtues ethicist can assume that there exist an irreducible plurality of virtues. However, as these theories are usually presented in...
Human wellbeing and substitutability
Consider the first question. What is it for one thing to be a substitute for another To understand how that question has been answered in economics we need to distinguish two conceptions of substitutability which we might call 'technical substitutability' and 'economic substitutability'. a. Technical substitutability We often use the concept of a substitute with respect to some specific end or purpose. We say that margarine can be used as a substitute for lard in a recipe, or that an artificial...
Making comparisons utilitarianism economics and efficiency
As we noted in the first chapter, a major practical expression of the utilitarian approach to environmental decision making has been cost-benefit analysis CBA , one of the most widely used decision-making tools in environmental policy over the past thirty years. CBA normally proceeds by assuming a preference-satisfaction account of welfare. Individuals have preferences whose satisfaction increases their welfare. The strength of preferences for marginal changes to their current range of goods...
Ethical pluralism and the limits of theory
In this chapter we have assessed and criticised the consequentialist component of utilitarianism. In doing so we have outlined two alternative perspectives on ethical choices, deontology and virtues ethics. As they are normally described, the consequentialist, deontological and virtues-based perspectives express incompatible moral theories of a certain kind. They are moral theories which are reductionist in that they offer different accounts of the primitive concepts of ethics and they attempt...
Addressing conflicts
Environments are sites of conflict between different values and different social groups. They are also sites of conflict within social groups and even within individuals, where they appear as dilemmas. These conflicts occur at a number of different levels - at the local level in the management of environmentally significant sites, at the level of decisions about specific economic and environmental projects, at the level of policy and at the level of regulation. They are conflicts that concern...
Utilitarianism and distribution
For the utilitarian the distribution of goods or welfare has only instrumental value. We should choose that distribution of goods that maximises the total amount of well-being. That feature of the theory appears to allow some deeply inegalitarian implications. Consider, for example, the following justification offered by one of the policy makers involved in the decision to build the Narmada Dam in India which left large numbers of peoples displaced from their homes Then there was the question...
Preference utilitarianism
For the preference utilitarian, then, well-being consists in the satisfaction of preferences, the stronger the preferences the greater the increase in well-being. The best policy will be that which maximises the satisfaction of preferences over their dissatisfaction. Preference utilitarianism has been particularly influential in welfare economics. One major reason for this influence is that the theory allows for the use of monetary measures in assessing the value of goods. The basic idea is...
Indirect utilitarianism
The starting point for indirect utilitarianism is the observation that there are a number of aims in life which you will only realise if you do not actively pursue them. This may sound paradoxical, but the paradox is a version of a familiar one in everyday life. Consider the paradox of success, for example, the case of individuals engaged in a sport who are so desperate to win that it interferes with their game. The advice one might offer is that if you want to win, don't make winning your aim,...
Bibliography
Agarwal, B. 2001. 'Participatory exclusions, community forestry and gender', World Development, 29 1623-1648. Allison, G. 1971. Essence of Decision Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, Boston Little, Brown. Alvares, C. and Billorey, R. 1988. Damming the Narmada, Penang, Malaysia Third World Network. Anderson, E. 1993. Value in Ethics and Economics, Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press. Annas, J. 1993. The Morality of Happiness, Oxford Oxford University Press. Anscombe, G. E. M. 1958. 'Modern...
Public decisions and environmental goods
What makes for good public decisions about the environment We saw in part one that the dominant answer to that question has its basis in a particular maximising form of consequentialism. A good decision is one that best improves the well-being of affected agents. A form of consequentialism is embodied in many of the standard tools for public decision making, most notably in cost-benefit analysis. In the first part of the book we argued that this dominant answer to the question is inadequate. It...
Value pluralism value commensurability and environmental choice
In chapter 2 we noted that classical utilitarianism, the view that the best action is that which produces the greatest improvement in total happiness, makes three distinct claims 1. it is welfarist - the only thing that is good in itself and not just as a means to another good is the happiness or well-being of individuals 2. it is consequentialist - whether an action is right or wrong is determined solely by its consequences 3. it is an aggregative maximising approach - we choose the action...
Sustainability weak and strong
The response of defenders of the concept of sustainability in economics to the objection that it has nothing new or useful to add to the debate on the distribution of goods over time is often to insist on the importance of particular states of the natural world for the welfare of future generations. The point is still stated in terms of 'capital', specifically in terms of the concept of 'natural capital'. A distinction is thus drawn between natural and human-made capital human-made capital...
Consequentialism demands too much
So far, our criticism of consequentialism has focused on the claim that it permits too much. There are actions we ought not to do even if they have the best consequences. We have examined one possible source of this problem, that individuals have a moral standing such that there are certain things one cannot do to persons even if it leads to a greater overall good. We have seen that one articulation of this view is that individuals have rights, and we have considered some objections to liberal...
The dangers of moral trumps
We suspect, however, that the approach we have advocated here will have its critics not just among those inclined to employ traditional consequentialist approaches to environmental policy but also among those who think that our approach has been too 'human centred' or 'anthropocentric'. For reasons we have already outlined in chapter 6 we do not think the distinction between 'biocentric' and 'anthropocentric' is helpful in approaching environmental policy. However, one source of concern for...
Living from the world
We live from the world we mine its resources cultivate and harvest its fruits shape the contours of the land for human habitation, roads, minerals and agriculture dredge rivers for transport. And all these activities are subject to the action of the natural world flood, drought, hurricane, earthquake and landslide can be a source of ruined endeavour and human sorrow. Human life, health and economic productivity are dependent upon the natural and cultivated ecological systems in which we live -...
Indirect utilitarian arguments for distributive equality
The second line of response is an indirect argument - that, other things being equal, an equality in distribution will tend to produce the greatest total welfare. The indirect argument from utilitarianism to egalitarianism in the distribution of some goods appeals to what is known as their 'decreasing marginal utility'. The marginal utility of a good is the amount of happiness or well-being one gets from the next small increase in it. The idea of decreasing marginal utility is basically that...
History narrative and environmental goods
A central claim that emerges from this chapter is that we need to take history seriously in our understanding of environmental values. One reason for taking history seriously is that the concept of the natural as opposed to the artificial is historical. The concept of 'naturalness' is a spatio-temporal concept. There is no such thing as a state or condition of something which constitutes its 'being natural', or an identifiable set of characteristics which makes any item or event 'natural'....