Historical Roots 2- What Good is Nature

Exam 1

What are the two authors in Historical Roots 2?

Dobel and Moncrief

What did Dobel believe that the world is complicated?

it is unlikely we are going to look back at history and find a single problem

What did Dobel believe was the best?

The attempt to discover historical roots is dubious at best

• Earth-centered Christina ideals of Renaissance :Chain of Being

• Non-Christain deism/theism of the 17th and 18th centuries

• The rise of secularized nation-states

What did Dobel say about the Great chain of beings?

God was descended, then beings below, hell below. Metaphor is who’s closest to God? The closer you are the more intrinsic value you have 

-The lower you are doesn't mean you are not valuable 

Ex. nature and trees

-Do not need full equality to be respected

What is Dobel’s Objection?

-Christianity

- Nation states; becoming democracy problem of global working; there is a rise in 

non-Christian deism and theism and a shift to separating God. 

What does Dobel say about all cultures?

• All Cultures have abused large areas of the world (East and West)

• Does animal equality challenge the inherent worth/dignity of human beings?

-If we make all living things equal, does that take away the intrinsic value of humans?

Ex. a piece of food given to a human or a dying bird

What id Dobel’s solution?

 God owns the earth, human beings are merely stewards. At the root of Christianity, but not all live up to this.

• He believes if you have land, you can do what you want with it, but believes this lies a restriction. We can’t just use the world the way we want

• Each generation is only a “sojourner” or “pilgrim”. (Future Generations)- so future generations have it better than we do 

• The World is good, independent of use value. (created as goof)

• Obligation not to exhaust nonrenewable resources, provide accessible replacements, improve conditions, ect. 

  • If we are going to use it up, we need to provide replacements. 

Ex. gasoline, we need to have replacements for the future, possibly electric cars

Dobel provides a Christian belief

Peter: "Each of you has received a special gift, so like good stewards responsible for all the different gifts to God, put yourself at the services of others’

We inherit responsibility to respect and protect this gift 

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Moncrief’s believe

Wealth is tied to waste

What does Moncrief say about cultures?

No culture has succeeded in screening out the egocentric tendencies of human beings. 

• Hierarchies of values, positions, and Groups. Exclusion. 

• Those treated less than others, jobs more pursuing than others

What does Moncrief believe the byproduct is?

Byproduct of affluence is waste in production/consumption —Tied to Wealth

       -resulting from the political revolutions of the 18th and 19th century (French and American Revolutions)

What does Moncrief say about complication with population increase?

 (it is the rich who wreck the environment)

-many people in the world live the lives that wreck the world more than us

What does Moncrief say the problem is?

American Frontier: Nature is to be burned, plowed, destroyed. Citizenry land ownership (initially): decentralized decision makers 

-Democracy (gave more power), but when they acted in self-interested, caused destruction

-Wealth 

-Democracy         Combination

-Waste     

Three reasons we lack a quick solution:

1. Absence of personal moral direction regarding nature resources

• We need better accounting systems to compute the cost of irresponsible behavior

• Back in the day, if you had trash you could burn it. It is your land. Now, we know this affects the atmosphere. Accounting system: fine people who burn trash because it harms nature. All instruments were created before we knew what they were. 

• Not just scientifically accountable, but morally

2. Inability of social institutions to adjust this stress

• The Government is indecisive to act in regulating natural resources

• Social institutions move slow

• Large portions of the population are implicated in environmental degradation. (though some more than others) Because we have to convince large populations

3. An abiding faith in technology

• Money and brain power does not guarantee a technological solution to a problem. 

• We shouldn’t view it as our environmental savior- saving us despite ourselves 

Ex. AI bubble, some companies flourished, while others went down

Just because some have power and money, doesn’t mean they have a solution

What does Dobel and Moncrief believe in that is alike to White?

Both believe its not a western problem