Environmental Ethics
PHIL 323 / INDS 323
David Schmidtz, Elizabeth Willott, Matt Zwolinski

Notes from Sept 27, 2001
For use in-class
What's Singer's key argument?
  1. Animals feel pain and suffer.
  2. It's not OK to cause that for trivial reasons.
  3. Given '1' and '2', much modern animal husbandry is wrong.



What's Leopold's key argument?
  1. We need the ecosystem healthy if we are to survive
  2. The ecosystem has worth in itself we ought to respect (or, if not respect, we at least ought to act prudently)



"It is inconceivable to me that an ethical relation to land can exist without love, respect, and admiration for the land, and a high regard for its value. By value, I of course mean something far broader than mere economic value; I mean value in the philosophical sense." Leopold, Land Ethic




What does he mean by "philosophical sense"?
Seems he means "has intrinsic value".
(To review distinction: see Intro to Env Phil paper on the web.)





Leopold continues:
"The 'key-log' that must be moved ... is simply this: quit thinking about decent land-use as solely an economic problem. Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and esthetically right, as well as is economically expedient. A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."

Is it OK (i.e., morally permissible) to
  1. Plant native plants to help nature rejuvenate land damaged by roads
  2. Temporarily block traffic, after giving people warning that you would, to bring attention to something
  3. Ram whaling ships
  4. Torch MacDonald's, making sure no one will be physically hurt
  5. Injure people who do research that involves injuring or hurting animals
  6. Injure children of people who do that research

If you believe world population is a threat to the environment, what do you think it is morally permissible to do?
OK for you to use birth control or abstain from reproducing?
OK for you to kill people outright to reduce the population?
OK for you to sterilize a woman against her will? with her consent? (what constitutes consent?) what if she is poor and you offer her money--is that OK?

I hope you get my drift.
What divides different acts into morally permissible and morally impermissible?





What was Milbrath's conception of the good life?

Milbrath's High Quality of Life
  1. A sense of happiness but not simply a momentary happiness; rather a long-run sense of joy in living.
  2. A sense of physical well-being; usually this means good health but the sense of physical well-being can be realized by persons having lost certain capacities.
  3. A sense of completeness or fullness of life; a sense that one is on the way to achieving, or has achieved, what one aspires to become as a person.
  4. A sense of zestful anticipation of life's unfolding drama, greeting each day with hope and confidence that living it will be good.
Milbrath's Low Quality of Life
  1. A sense of hopelessness and despair; morning are greeted with fear and dread. A sense that one is buffeted by fate and has lost control of one's life.
  2. A sense of having failed to live up to one's image of oneself; that one's life has been a failure.
  3. A sense of poor physical well-being; illness, injury, hunger, discomfort.
  4. A pervading sense of unhappiness.
What relationship do these have to materialism and 'stuff'?
If materialism has problems, how far do we wish to go to denounce materialism?
What is the problem?
Are people with material goods WORSE off than those without? In general? in some specific cases?

A short discourse on soap and the pharmaceutical industry.

Concerning ducts, we ask:
"What ductworth is needed to meet the aims of this building."



Concerning our life in general, we might ask:
"What purchases are needed or desired to really enhance my quality of life?"


And, in specific instances, we might ask:
"Will this purchase or do these materials really enhance my quality of life?"

Two off-site links: (Use 'back' button to return to this document - you may have to scroll back down to this site after)
Kansas Structural Composites, Incorporated

More on Bridge Building






"Owning or acquiring 'stuff' is right when it tends to preserve or enhance the quality of life an individual experiences, consistent with maintaining a thriving biocommunity and society. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."
A Willott-generated synthesis of Milbrath and Leopold