9781118494721

The second edition of Environmental Ethics combines a strong theoretical foundation with applications to some of the most pressing environmental problems. Through a mix of classic and new essays, it discusses applied issues such as pollution, climate change, animal rights, biodiversity, and sustainability. Roughly half of the selections are original essays new to this edition.

Accessible introduction for beginners, including important established essays and new essays commissioned especially for the volume
Roughly half of the selections are original essays new to this edition, including an entirely new chapter on Pollution and climate change and a new section on Sustainability
Includes new material on ethical theory as a grounding for understanding the ethical dimensions of the environment, our interactions with it, and our place in it
The text incorporates helpful pedagogy, including extensive editorial material, cases, and study questions
Includes key information on recent developments in the field
Presents a carefully selected set of readings designed to progressively move the reader to competency in subject comprehension and essay writing

Michael Boylan is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Marymount University. He is the author and editor of 26 books, including his manifesto on social/political philosophy A Just Society (2004), and on cosmopolitanism Morality and Global Justice: Justifications and Applications (2011). Boylan was himself the focus of an edited volume, Morality and Justice: Reading Boylan’s A Just Society (2009). He has served on professional and governmental policy committees and was a fellow at the Center for American Progress and a program presenter at The Brookings Institution. He has been an invited speaker in nine countries around the world, including talks in Oxford, Cambridge, Cologne, Oslo, Dublin, Sidney, and the Sorbonne.

Notes on Contributors x

Preface to the Second Edition xii

Source Credits xiv

Part I Theoretical Background 1

1 Ethical Reasoning 3
Michael Boylan

2 The Self in Context: A Grounding for Environmentalism 14
Michael Boylan

Evaluating a Case Study: Developing a Practical Ethical Viewpoint 25

3 Worldview Arguments for Environmentalism 32

A. The Land Ethic and Deep Ecology 35

The Land Ethic 35
Aldo Leopold

The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movement: A Summary 42
Arne Naess

What Is Social Ecology? 46
Murray Bookchin

B. Eco-Feminism and Social Justice 59

Ecofeminism and Feminist Theory 59
Carolyn Merchant

The Power and the Promise of Ecological Feminism 64
Karen J. Warren

Patently Wrong: The Commercialization of Life Forms 71
Wanda Teays

C. Aesthetics 83

Aesthetics and the Value of Nature 83
Janna Thompson

Worldview and the Value-Duty Link to Environmental Ethics 95
Michael Boylan

Evaluating a Case Study: Finding the Conflicts 109

4 Anthropocentric versus Biocentric Justifications 115

A. Anthropocentric Justifications 118

Human Rights and Future Generations 118
Alan Gewirth

Environmental Values, Anthropocentrism and Speciesism 122
Onora O’Neill

B. Biocentric Justifications 135

Environmental Ethics: Values in and Duties to the Natural World 135
Holmes Rolston III

Respect for Nature: A Theory of Environmental Ethics 152
Paul W. Taylor

C. Searching the Middle 163

Reconciling Anthropocentric and Nonanthropocentric Environmental Ethics 163
James P. Sterba

On the Reconciliation of Anthropocentric and Nonanthropocentric Environmental Ethics 176
Brian K. Steverson

Reconciliation Reaffirmed: A Reply to Steverson 186
James P. Sterba

Evaluating a Case Study: Assessing Embedded Levels 191

Part II Applied Environmental Problems 199

5 Pollution and Climate Change 201

A. Air and Water Pollution 203

Blue Water 203
Michael Boylan

Polluting and Unpolluting 216
Benjamin Hale

Moral Valuation of Environmental Goods 231
Mark A. Seabright

B. Climate Change 243

Does a Failure in Global Leadership Mean It’s All Over? Climate, Population, and Progress 243
Ruth Irwin

Collective Responsibility and Climate Change 257
Seumas Miller

Evaluating a Case Study: Applying Ethical Issues 268

6 Animal Rights 275

All Animals Are Equal 277
Peter Singer

The Radical Egalitarian Case for Animal Rights 291
Tom Regan

A Critique of Regan’s Animal Rights Theory 300
Mary Anne Warren

Mary Anne Warren and “Duties to Animals” 308
Michael Boylan

Against Zoos 313
Dale Jamieson

Evaluating a Case Study: Structuring the Essay 321

7 Sustainability 329

A. Sustainability: What It Is and How It Works 331

Defining Sustainability Ethics 331
Randall Curren

A Perfect Moral Storm: Climate Change, Intergenerational Ethics, and the Problem of Moral Corruption 345
Stephen M. Gardiner

Sustainability and Adaptation: Environmental Values and the Future 358
Bryan G. Norton

B. Sustainability and Development 371

‘Sustainable Development’: Is It a Useful Concept? 371
Wilfred Beckerman

On Wilfred Beckerman’s Critique of Sustainable Development 387
Herman E. Daly

Evaluating a Case Study: Cases on Sustainability 393

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Environmental Ethics

Environmental Ethics

1118494725

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials