Environmental ethics

‘This is surely the first time in human history when people have become aware that they’re doing serious damage to life on this planet. That novelty upsets our ruling moral concepts, which are adapted for quite different circumstances.’

This thought is used by Mary Midgley, moral philosopher and specialist in ethics and animal rights, to set up her audio presentation ‘Do we need a new morality?’ in this learning pathway.

The pathway tackles the complex but intriguing subject of environmental ethics. It offers a deep and challenging introduction to a subject that has only emerged in recent years, but has become more significant as our impact on the environment grows. It starts by considering whether animals matter morally to us. And is there a limit to the type of animals that we care about? It broadens out to tackle the idea of whether the environment, or parts of it, has intrinsic value, or not. The ideas of ‘shallow’ and ‘deep’ ecology are elaborated on.

But what are the different ways in which we value nature? How does the way in which nature is valued contribute to how we might decide to take care of it or not? The problems and questions in the pathway are brought together in a real-world eco-tourism case study of protecting, but also giving access to the mountain gorilla in Uganda.

Note that while the study time for the pathway is indicated a week, some of the ideas are difficult, and it may take more time if you have limited background in philosophy, and in particular morality and ethics.