6th Global Conference
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Monday 2nd July - Thursday 5th
July 2007
Mansfield College, Oxford
Session 1: Values, Technology and Justice
Chair: S. Ram Vemuri
Environmental Ethics: Core Concepts and Values
Mark
Dixon
Department of Philosophy & Religion,
Ohio Northern University,
Ada, Ohio,
USA
The common practice in environmental ethics is to attempt
to derive our ethical obligations to the natural environment through
either the teleological or deontological ethical traditions. The
aim here is to articulate more-or-less explicit ethical principles or
duties to govern our interactions with the natural environment. The
problem though is that these attempts are rather abstract and thus miss
a crucial realization. Ethics is more than the attempt to
formulate abstract theories or rules – it must also reorient or
refocus our perceptions and our characters. Even the most persuasive
principles or duties will have little value unless human beings are able
to internalize them, i.e., to connect them to their lives and experiences.
What is it then that can bridge the chasm between principle and action?In
the end it is character that provides the motivational connection between
ethical knowledge and ethical behavior. Persons who have a virtuous
character will do more than acknowledge the moral law, their character
will also encourage moral behavior.
In this paper I propose to formulate
our ethical obligations to the natural environment through certain core
concepts and virtues that an environmental ethics must encompass in order
to become and remain a viable ethical force. These concepts and
virtues represent basic philosophical, ecological, spiritual and ethical
insights into the connections between human beings and the natural environment. A
viable environmental ethics must incorporate and build upon these insights. These
core concepts and virtues are: place, interdependence, enough, reverence and compassion.
I
argue that the attitudes and dispositions that these insights underlie
are essential to environmental ethics and environmental ethics education. Their
presence provides the means to connect abstract ethical ideas and principles
to our lives and experiences, and thus provide a greater motivation to
interact with the natural environment in an ethical and sustainable manner.
Advanced Technology Paths to Intergenerational Justice
Rasmus
Karlsson
Department of Political Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Traditionally,
the green narrative has rejected “big science” in
favour of small-scale solutions, local knowledge, and the development of “soft” or “intermediate” technologies.
In a similar vein, concern for future generations is often used to propose
dramatic reductions in energy- and material flows, as well as the adoption
of a more frugal lifestyle thought to be “sustainable”.
Contrary
to this paradigmatic viewpoint, I argue that not only would such a green
vision be inherently unsustainable but the transition phase would in itself
require enormous sacrifices and lead to the violation of basic human rights.
Instead,
by assessing our own historical situation through the ethical lens of hypothetical
contractualism, it is argued that the interest of future generations is
best served by rapid global political integration and an aggressive research
agenda aimed at achieving climate stability through the innovation of new
energy sources (such as nuclear fusion). It is further argued that we presently
are living through a unique “window
of opportunity” in which idealism and technological optimism are
both urgently needed.