Transcript The Philosophy Program at Buffalo State College & the ERIE

The Philosophy Program at Buffalo State College & the ERIE Program at the University at Buffalo present:
Contemporary Debates in Environmental Philosophy
& Ecosystem Restoration
Every Tuesday February 1st - March 22nd 2011 4:30-6:00 p.m. in Butler Library 210
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For more
information:
www.erie.buffalo.edu
National
Science
Foundation
Ecosystem Restoration
through
Interdisciplinary Exchange
Justin Donhauser
•
“determinations of environmental
policy are not a matter of determining
the way the world is – presumably that
is the job of science. [E]nvironmental
policy involves determining what to do,
as a body politic, about some matter
given the way the world is” (2009, 178).
•
White House established Interagency
Ecosystem Management Task Force
deemed the ‘ecosystem’ the “basic unit
of environmental policy” in 1994ish
•
To date, principles of “ecosystem
management,” borrowed from
theoretical ecology, appear in upwards
of 90 pieces of US legislation.
•
there is no standard or accepted
(scientific) theory of what, if anything,
ecosystems are
Philosophy of Science
(theory & methods)
Metaphysics
Environmental Policy
– [concepts?, extant causal structures?,
abstract models?, all of the above?]
What are we going to do?
How?
Why?
Robert Earle
•
•
•
Dissertation Title: “Deep Intentionality
in Environmental Value”
Topic: The cognitive/non-cognitive
debate in aesthetics of nature (as
applied to the realm of ecological
restoration) and the link between
aesthetics and environmental ethics
Thesis: By setting up nature as
something “out there”, that must be
considered “on its own terms”
appreciable through scientific study
alone, we have neglected the active
human component to nature
appreciation. Aesthetic appreciation of
nature conceived of as a triadic relation
reminds us that we are wrapped up in
the historic process of the valuation of
nature. It also offers us the chance to
reclaim our right to the land.
–
Image: Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer
above the Sea of Fog”
Environmental Philosophy and
Ecosystem Science
• Ecologist Frank Golley suggests that ecological
theory has roots in the sixth-century B.C. theories
of pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus.
– “it is wise to acknowledge that all things are one.”
• Ecologist Robert Ulanowicz acknowledges that Aristotle’s
influence is seen in the theories of some the most
influential figures in ecology.
• Plato, John Locke, Immanuel Kant, William James, are
also frequently cited in theoretical ecology.
Historical Expansion of Moral Considerability  Contemporary Debates
Historically we have been slow at integrating ethical reform:
-
Children’s rights (1850’s)
-
Women’s rights (1890-1950)
-
Equal rights for all races (1950-1960’s)
_________________________1962_?_________________________
-
Wilderness protection: Wilderness Act (1964) protects lands supposedly opposite of those
where “man and his works dominate the land”
-
Animal rights: (1966 Animal Welfare Act in US) (1635 law in Ireland) / (6th Century BC
Pythagoras)
-
Water protection: Clean Water Act (1972) calls for eliminating release of high amounts of toxins
-
Species Rights (in 1973 species were granted protected existence in US) – though the
Endangered Species Act is contested to date
-
Ecosystem Protection? Interagency Ecosystem Management Task Force (IEMTF) 1993-1996
Aldo Leopold’s (1949)
“Land, like Odysseus’ slave
girls, is still property. The
land-relation is still strictly
economic, entailing
privileges but not
obligations” (1949, 38).
“your true modern is
separated from the land”
(1949, 46).
*even more so now; we live in
plastic houses and get
everything via the internet (even
food, sex, and socialization)
Human as Dominator vs. Humans as Biotic Member
• We, as homo sapien
sapiens, share a layer in the
biotic pyramid (the food
chain) with bears, raccoons,
and squirrels; eating meat
and vegetables
• Land is an Energy Circuit :
– land is not just soil
– the natural/native system of a
place can adapt to changes by
evolving
– man made alterations are too
unnatural and systems may
not be able to adapt
Leopold on Destruction of the Land (in 1940’s)
Referring to obvious cases of
livestock depleted land in New
Mexico and the “dustbowl”:
“we have more education and
less land” (1949, 41).
•we know that depleting the land is bad for us in the long run, but it’s easier and
cheaper
•because we are catastrophe driven—a community has to be affected to implement
rules that apply a “land ethic.”
•Cites cases of farmers, showing that we only do enough to stop our immediate
problems ;
* like spraying pesticides, chemically deicing planes, etc.
Leopold’s “Land Ethic”
Leopold = environmental problems are based in a
philosophy; based in the way we view nature
Leopold analogically describes “nature’s song”:
“To hear even a few notes of it you must first live here for a long
time, and you must know the speech of hills and rivers…Then
you may hear it—a vast pulsing harmony—its score inscribed
on a thousand hills, its notes the lives and deaths of plants
and animals, its rhythms spanning the seconds and the
centuries.” (1949, 149)
Key Distinctions
Individualism vs. Holism
Individualism: extension of moral considerations
beyond humans should be limited to other individuals,
namely, those individuals who could be argued to have
interests. Otherwise there is no coherent basis for
ascribing value to non-human entities
Holism: Extension of moral considerations beyond
humans should not be limited to individuals because
individualism fails to offer direct reason for moral
consideration of ecosystems, wilderness, or
endangered species (considered collectiviely)
Anthropocentricism vs. Non-anthropocentrism
anthropocentrism: The restriction of direct moral
obligations only to humans.
non-anthropocentrism: The expansion of direct moral
obligations to living things other than humans.
intrinsic value: The worth objects have in their own
right, independent of their value to any other end.
Intrinsic vs. Instrumental Value
instrumental value: The worth objects have in virtue of
something else
Jump to 1962:
Nature as Vehicle for Injustice
• Identified biological impacts
of indiscriminate usage of
pesticides [DDT].
• Prompted applied science,
industry testing to challenge
her claims.
• Widely regarded as the
impetus for the
environmentalist movement.
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring
• In the official history of the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA):
“EPA today may be said without exaggeration to be the
extended shadow of Rachel Carson. The influence of
her book has brought together over 14,000
scientists, lawyers, managers, and other employees
across the country to fight the good fight for
‘environmental protection’.”
1960’s  1970’s
Carson’s Silent Spring prompted looking at the nature as a common
resource that we should all have equal rights to.
•
1967: historian Lynn White Jr. “The Historical Roots of our Environmental Crisis” published in Science =
argues that Judeo-Christian thinking encourages overexploitation of nature by maintaining human superiority.
•
1968: Paul Ehrlich The Population Bomb = warns that human population growth rate threatens the viability of
needed natural resources.
•
1968: Garrett Hardin's "The Tragedy of the Commons" published in Science = points out that every individual
in a community takes a little more than they need has a catastrophic net effect on common resources.
•
1970: Leopold’s Sand County Almanac is made widely available via a special edition published by the Sierra
Club
•
1973: Australian philosopher, Richard (Routley ) Sylvan, presented “is There a Need for a New, an
Environmental, Ethic?” at the 15th World Congress of Philosophy
•
1975: Holmes Rolston, III's "Is There an Ecological Ethic?" published in Ethics = attention of environmental
ethics in mainstream philosophy
•
1979: Eugene Hargrove established the journal Environmental Ethics.
Standing Contemporary Debates
Concerns on which modern analytic philosophers focus fall into four
broad categories, well expressed in the form of the following questions:
1. Why should we value ecosystems?
(1970’s  today)
2. What is the nature of a “restoration”?
(1980’s  today)
3. Is there a best or single right way to
restore any given ecosystem?
(1990’s  today)
4. What is the essential nature of
ecosystems?
(2000’ish  today)
Tentative Lecture Series Schedule
In the next seven lectures we will focus on the following topics. We hope
you join us!
•
Feb 8
What is ‘Naturalness’; Does Naturalness matter?
•
Feb 15
Is it Possible to Integrate our Distinctive Values?
•
Feb 22
Is Nature a Place?
•
March 1
Sustainability and What we Owe the Future
•
March 8
Formal Paper Presentation by Robert Earle
•
March 15
Formal Paper Presentation by Justin Donhauser
•
March 2
Should We, Can We, “Do No Harm”?
This lecture is made possible by National Science Foundation Grant No. DGE-0654305
“Ecosystem Restoration through Interdisciplinary Exchange (ERIE) Traineeship Program,”
awarded to the University at Buffalo. The views expressed in this lecture have not been
subject to any peer or policy review by NSF, they do not necessarily reflect the views of this
funding agency, and no official endorsement should be inferred.
FOR NEXT TIME
Topic: ‘naturalness’: what is it? why is it a major focus of
environmental management/restoration? Should it be???
Suggested readings (available on ANGEL and our LISTSERV)
1. Elliot, R. (1982). "Faking nature." Inquiry, 25(1), 81-93.
2. Katz, E. (2000). The Big Lie: Human Restoration of Nature. In W. Throop (Ed.),
Environmental Restoration (pp. 83–93). Amherst, NY: Humanity Books.
1. Light, A. (2000). "Ecological restoration and the culture of nature: A pragmatic
perspective." Restoring nature: Perspectives from the social sciences and
humanities, 49-70.