Environmental Ethics

Utalitarianism

1.Humans are separate from nature & superior to nature
2.Nature is only as valuable as it is useful to humans

Lepold

ex. yosemite
Humans treat nature only as a tool for making $$ rather than a living community

Ecocentrisms hollism

wellbeing over entire ecosystems > the protection of individual components

Idea of prestine nature

in the americas was created systematically, prefigured social constructions of native landscapes

talk about nature is tied to

social institutions (churches, govs, schools, AKA sites of power)

Cronon Argument

wilderness is not a prestine, untouched environment but rather a human cultural creation constructed by socities at specific moments in history

Cronon Paradox

if ‘true nature’ is defined as wild land untouched by human presence we place humanity completely outside nature & leaves no room for humans to live sustainablity on earth

Romantic Sublime

belief that awe inspiring landscapes are rare places where you can glimpse the face of god

Frontier myth

moving into the wild forged American national character

Critiques of wilderness ideology

forced erasure of native people

Wilderness vs wildness

Wilderness - culturally constructed, remote landscape
Wildness - autonomy & nonhuman “otherness” of nature which can be found elsewhere

“The only thing we have to preserve wildness with is domesicity”

humans must use, alter, & harm nature to build a home, but we should do so with deep respect, care and restraint

Guha Argument

Deep ecology is uniquely American rooted in specific cultural and environmental history

Utilitarianism “Pinchot”

Biblical traditions, man over nature, what is useful to humans is good, nature should only be conserved so it can serve the interests of humans (ex. forests for timber)

Ecocentrism - Muir

Nature should be kept completely separate from humans because of its beauty, look don’t touch, dismissed history of native stewarding of land

(L) wilderness

is a social construction fueled by a particular discourse/narrative and mode of representation

(L) social construction

ideas, cultural norms, and beliefs which makes the phenomenon “natural”

(L) Discourse

written and spoken meanings that are attached to a phenomenon or process that give hegemonic power