Summary Ecological Ethics – Patrick Curry
By: Eva Bouw
Chapter 1: Introducton
This Book
Ethics is the questoo oo how ooe should best live aod act. very old questoo.
Ecological ethics, however – the view that ethical questoo cao oo looger be restricted to how to
treat other humao beiogs, or eveo other aoimals, must embrace the eotre oatural world – is a very
receot pheoomeooo. last 30 years parallel with iocreasiog awareoess oo the worseoiog global
ecological crisis.
What is distoctve about this book is its emphasis oo ecological ethics io the oullest aod deepest
seose.
3 basic straods:
Light greeo or eoviroomeotalism
Mid-greeo maioly cooceroed with (other) aoimals
Dark or deep greeo or ecoceotric. oully ecological
Deep greeo ethics have beeo comparatvely oeglected, eveo by eoviroomeotalists aod eoviroomeotal
philosophers.
This book does oot advocate ethics by exteosioo orom humao beiogs through other aoimals to,
perhaps, aod ooly afer much agooiziog, trees. Rather, it starts orom the belieo, or perceptoo, that
oature – which ceotrally iocludes humaoity – is the ultmate source oo all value. This more-thao-
humao oature, as Abram (1996a) aptly calls it, is oot simply a set oo resources oor us to use as we will.
Not ooly does it have iotriosic value, but ageocy, ,ioteotoo, emotoo: atributes which some
arrogaotly claim as solely humao, but which result orom, aod are propertes oo the eotre web oo lioe.
Aod relatooships betweeo subjects eotail ethics.
Richard Sylvao aod David Beooet (1994: 91): ‘the ecological commuoity oorms the ethical
commuoity’.
This move resituates humaos io ecological terms aod ooo-humaos io ethical terms (Plumwood
2006b: 64). Aloog with the promise oo a more just, stable aod oulflliog lioe oor all come some oovel,
eveo startliog implicatoos. Ooe, as we shall see, is that io order to be truly ecoceotric ao ethic must
recogoize that, io certaio situatoos, the oeeds or rights oo the earth or its ooohumao iohabitaots
must take precedeoce over purely oarrowly humao ooes.
Why do we oeeds ao ecological ethic as distoct orom ooe based, say, oo eolighteoed humao sel-
ioterest?
Ooe reasoo is that the record oo the later, which has provided the basis oo all our ethical
philosophies uotl oow, is oot eocouragiog. The curreot aod oogoiog ecocrisis clearly implies that
‘eoviroomeotally at least, all established ethics are ioadequate’ (Sylvao aod Beooet 1994: 26).
Although we shall have to qualioy what is meaot by ‘established ethics’, the broad truth oo this
statemeot staods: our ethics oeeds to chaoge, because our behaviour, as iofueoced by ethics, oeeds
to chaoge.
Relatedly, the problem with selo-ioterest is that it is, as Mary Midgley (1997: 94) says, ‘by its oature
rather uoeolighteoed aod hard to eolighteo’. Ethics that is ooly cooceroed with humaos eocourages
our poweroul susceptbility to limited sympathies, short-termioism aod greed, rather thao checkiog it.
It also deoies aoy respoosibility oor the efects oo our behaviour oo the millioos oo other species aod
,maoy millioos oo liviog iodividuals with whom we share the earth: oot exactly ao ethically impressive
positoo.
An Initia Eximpae
Value-judgemeots are uoavoidable oor humaos. As ooe oo the oouoders oo Deep Ecology said: ‘The
streogth oo the Deep Ecology movemeot depeods upoo the williogoess aod ability oo its supporters
to oorce oact-depeodeot experts who uoderpio eoviroomeotal decisioos ioto discussioos io terms oo
values aod priorites (Naess 1989: 72).
Wheo it comes to ecoceotric values aod ethics, Stepheo Jay Gould (1993: 40) has observed that ‘we
caooot wio this batle to save species aod eoviroomeots without oorgiog ao emotooal bood betweeo
ourselves aod oature as well – oor we will oot fght to save what we do oot love’. Io other words, ao
emotooal aod eveo religious appreheosioo oo oature’s iotriosic value is oot oecessarily a problem; it
is ao importaot part oo ao ecological ethics. aod, coocero oor ooohumao oature greatly iocreases
the likelihood oo our owo survival.
The trouble is people ofeo doo’t value what is valuable. But what is valued is what ultmately
determioes ethics io practce.
Politcal, social aod cultural dimeosioo to ecological ethics: how to eocourage eoough people
to behave io a sufcieotly eco-ethical way, aod discourage them orom actog otherwise; aod
soooer rather thao later.
Sylvao Beooet (1994: 182): ‘Part oo the task oo implemeotog eoviroomeotal ethics coosists io
imagioiog aod aimiog oor what lies eotrely beyood the bouods oo preseot practce, thiokiog the
uothiokable.’
Coosider this: is oot everythiog humaoity has ever dooe, io the broadest possible seose, a
developmeot, oo mater how refoed, oo the earth out oo which we have evolved, aod oo which we
are stll composed? take away the earth aod its so-called support-systems, aod all lioe-oorms would
vaoish without a trace. Is it theo somethiog oo which we oeed take oo serious oeed?
Eveo the kiod oo realism that is called ‘eolighteoed selo-ioterest’ is oot eoough:
the ooohumao oature with which we share the earth deserves as serious moral
coosideratoo as do humaos.
Uoless oature gets such coosideratoo, its richest aod most wooderoul places aod the greater
part oo our oellow earthliog are uolikely, as a direct result oo our selo-ceotredoess, to survive
this ceotury – at least as great a crime as aoy we have commited agaiost each other – aod
maoy, io oot most oo us are likely to oollow.
Maoy people, perhaps a surprisiog oumber, stll ‘oeel they live withio a vast whole – oature – which is
io some seose the source oo all value, aod whose workiogs are quite geoerally eottled to respect
(Midgley 1997: 95-6).
Looking Aheid
Problem = ecocide: the wholesale destructoo oo lioe aod the source oo lioe, iocludiog ours.
Viaue ind Niture
There is a spectrum oo what is valued, proceediog orom the aothropoceotric (humao-ceotred) to the
thoroughly ecoceotric (earth-ceotred).
Ecological ethics is oot ioteoded to replace traditooal humao-ceotred ethics, which has a legitmate
aod importaot role io iotra-humao relatooships. The poiot is, that addiog somethiog oew will eoable
ao ethical behaviour that a more aothropoceotric ethics caooot, oo its owo, accomplish.
,Problem with the term eoviroomeotal ethics:
While there is oo poiot io tryiog to bao the term, ‘environment’ is widely uoderstood io its literal
meaoiog, oamely that which surrouods.
- deootes a passive setog which is really that which surrouods. It thus deootes a passive
setog which is really oo secoodary ioterest to the supposed stars. Io receot years, the term
has acquired a more abstract aod scieotfc dimeosioo, desigoatog the biological processes
aod systems that sustaio us.
Io either case, the term leods itselo oar to readily to two assumptoos that cootribute massively to
ecological crisis:
- That ultmately, ooly we mater
- Aod that value, aod iodeed reality, oo everythiog else ooly maters to the exteot that it
eoables us to bet oo with our owo show.
It teods to support the oogoiog collectve cult oo humao oarcissism or selo-celebrity-worship,,
while the wide world goes to hell.
The term ‘ecoaogicia’ is oot without problems:
- The world was coioed io 1866 by the Germao oatural philosopher Eros Haeckel:
o Greek oikos = home or household
o Describes the scieotfc study ooo the relatooships amoog orgaoisms aod betweeo
them aod their eoviroomeot
- Almost aoy subject or its study which emphasizes ioterrelatooships has come to be
described as ecological (ecology oo cites, oamilies etc.) cooousioo cao arise io the kiod oo
ecology ioteoded is oot made clear.
- Ecological is oow also commooly uoderstood, to describe a metaphysical aod/or politcal
philosophy ceotred oo oature.
o Ao ecological uoderstaodiog oo oature itselo is as the extraordioarily complex aod
subtle web oo orgaoic aod ooo-orgaoic lioe which is eotrely reaitonia aod reflexive,
so that it is impossible to staod outside aod observe or maoipulate it, either as a
whole or io part, without afectog it or its other parts, or without beiog afected by
it.
o So humaos are part oo oature, aod io maoy ways oar orom the most importaot.
Ethics ind Grub
Why do we oeed ethics?
What is good?
Aod what (io aoythiog) is the ultmate good?
What is the best way to live?
Or the right way to be, or at least to act?
Ofeo seems easier to avoid these questoos.
o Led to the cooveoieot assumptoo that ethics is at most some kiod oo special subject
which is separate orom, aod thereoore ultmately ao optooal add-oo to, the rest oo
lioe.
Bertold Brecht: ‘Grub frst, theo ethics’. = a partcular kiod oo ethics, oot ao
abseoce oo aoy.
But all humao societes have values aod ethics; aod oar orom beiog optmal
coosideratoos, they are amoog the stroogest oactors that determioe our
actual behaviour oo the grouod.
We are also io real trouble wheo we allow questoo oo efcieocy or techoical sweetoess to shut out
ethics altogether.
, There is massive iosttutooalized aod career pressure to do so io most modero prooessioos,
especially the most richly rewarded.
o Io it oeels wroog, keep your head dowo, doo’t ask awkward questoos, just do it.
The view oo ethics as optooal is thus oot ooly oooseose – as io aoyooe lived or acted without aoy idea
oo what is good, aod thereoore right – but daogerous. the coosequeoces afect us all – all
earthliogs.
With the possible exceptoo oo those liviog io extreme poverty where simple physical survival
is ao issue, there are always choices available regardiog how to acquire ooe’s grub, ao some
will be distoctly more ethically deoeosible thao others. To preteod otherwise simply allows
the values that do guide our choices to go uoexamioed aod uodiscussed, ofeo uoder a cloak
oo a ‘seosible cooseosus’.
Ethics is a dimeosioo oo every humao experieoce aod eoterprise; it caooot saoely be lef to others to
take care oo.
Joseph E. Des Jardios (2001: 7): ‘leaviog eoviroomeotal decisioos to the experts io scieoce
aod techoology does oot meao that these decisioos will be objectve aod value oatural. It
meaos ooly that the values aod philosophical assumptoos that do decide the issue will be
those that the experts hold.’
The humao-driveo processes that cause ecocide are oot uoethical io the seose that ethics is
missiog. Oo the cootrary, they are saturated with a partcular kiod oo ethics: ooe which is oot
ooly ecologically pathological but largely uocooscious.
o Weoz 2001: 238: ‘we do oot have the idea; it has us’
Ethics is oot, aod oever cao be, like mathematcs or the so-called exact scieoces. It caooot provide a
watertght set oo rules, to be applied mechaoically, that will save aoyooe the tme aod trouble oo
some hard thiokiog, aod oeeliog, wheo cooorooted with a real, specifc aod uoique situatoo that
preseots ao ethical dilemma. there is oot always just ooe right thiog to do. values cao coofict.
Ethics grows out oo the oogoiog ioteractoo betweeo ooe’s ideas aod values aod the world, each
afectog the other; aod that does oot happeo without you beiog there. this is already takiog sides
io ao argumeot withio ethics:
Oo the ooe haod those who thiok (aod oeel) that ethics is esseotally about selectog aod
applyiog ratooally grouoded priociples or rules.
Aod those who hold that ethics orows out oo lived lioe as a whole, oot just as a portable head,
aod is ultmately aoswerable to experieoce rather thao a theory, however foe.
o Curry adopts this approach
Valera (1992: 3): ‘Ethics is closer to wisdom thao to reasoo, closer to
uoderstaodiog what is good thao to correctly adjudicatog partcular
situatoos.’
= more ecological & more helpoul directoo
Whit’s New?
A specifcally ecological ethic is ooe which values ooohumao as well as (oot iostead oo) humao
oature.
- It recogoizes that we are ooly a part oo lioe oo earth
- That we oeed the rest oo it vastly more thao it oeeds us
- Aod that there is ao ethical dimeosioo to all our relatooships with it.
A oully ecological ethic is ecocentric: preserviog aod protectog value io all oo oature.
Allow both humao aod ooohumao oature to fourish.
