Download or read book The Ethics of Nature and the Nature of Ethics written by Gary Keogh and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2017-10-18 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores questions which emerge from considering the relationship between nature and ethics through philosophical, theological, ethical and environmental lenses. It will examine the nature (understood as essence or character) of ethics itself and whether nature (understood as natural world) has embedded in it a moral code, as well as examining how particular ethical/theological worldviews influence our treatment of nature. Is there an abstract, objective moral code in nature? If so, how do we gain access to this code of ethics? Is it only accessible through revelation, as in some religious traditions, or is this code of ethics more generally accessible to humanity? Indeed, does such an objective notion of ethics exist; could it be that ethics are a natural and subjective development? Is ethics a feature of nature, or have we invented it? There is, this volume might suggest, no consensus on these questions, as they at times divide and at times unite both the contributors to this volume and the bodies of scholarly work with which they engage. As time moves forward, investigations into ethics in the context of the relationship between humanity and nature have become more complex, taking account of advances in the natural sciences and a growing appreciation of nature. How are we to understand our relationship with nature, and how does this have implications for our understandings of ethics? Are we now realising the repercussions of our failure to take seriously our experience of climate change? This volume offers the reader a unique and underrepresented interdisciplinary perspective, from philosophers, theologians and environmentalists on the dynamic relationship between nature and ethics. It offers breadth in terms of the range of theoretical, cultural, philosophical and theological frameworks, but balances this with chapters providing an in-depth treatment of particular lenses, e.g. the work of Hegel, or the work of Gordon Kauffman. Through philosophical and theological investigation, these collected essays deepen and problematize the scientific and pragmatic discourses on nature, offering scholars solid resources to engage with some of the most pressing issues of our time in light of ongoing debates at many levels on dealing with climate change.
Download or read book Ethics of Nature written by Angelika Krebs and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 1999 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is nature's value only instrumental value for human beings or does nature also have intrinsic value? Can traditional anthropocentrism be defended or must we move to a new, physiocentric moral position? This study develops a critical taxonomy or "map" of thirteen arguments for the conservation of nature. It defends the moral intrinsic value of sentient animals, but not of nonsentient nature. The arguments are phrased in a simple, plastic, and concise language.
Download or read book The Birth of Ethics written by Philip Pettit and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-15 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagine a human society, perhaps in pre-history, in which people were generally of a psychological kind with us, had the use of natural language to communicate with one another, but did not have any properly moral concepts in which to exhort one another to meet certain standards and to lodge related claims and complaints. According to The Birth of Ethics, the members of that society would have faced a set of pressures, and made a series of adjustments in response, sufficient to put them within reach of ethical concepts. Without any planning, they would have more or less inevitably evolved a way of using such concepts to articulate desirable patterns of behavior and to hold themselves and one another responsible to those standards. Sooner or later, they would have entered ethical space. While this central claim is developed as a thesis in conjectural history or genealogy, the aim of the exercise is philosophical. Assuming that it explains the emergence of concepts and practices that are more or less equivalent to ours, the story offers us an account of the nature and role of morality. It directs us to the function that ethics plays in human life and alerts us to the character in virtue of which it can serve that function. The emerging view of morality has implications for the standard range of questions in meta-ethics and moral psychology, and enables us to understand why there are divisions in normative ethics like that between consequentialist and Kantian approaches.
Download or read book The Nature of Buddhist Ethics written by Damien Keown and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-07-27 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book the author considers data from both early and later schools of Buddhism in an attempt to provide an overall characterization of the structure of Buddhist ethics. The importance of ethics in the Buddha's teachings is widely acknowledged, but the pursuit of ethical ideals has up to now been widely held to be secondary to the attainment of knowledge. Drawing on the Aristotelian tradition of ethics the author argues against this intellectualization of Buddhism and in favour of a new understanding of the tradition in terms of which ethics plays an absolutely central role. In the course of this reassessment many basic concepts such as karma, nirvana, and the Eightfold Path, are reviewed and presented in a fresh light. The book will be of interest to readers with a background in either Buddhist studies or comparative religious ethics.
Download or read book Respect for Nature written by Paul W. Taylor and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-11 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What rational justification is there for conceiving of all living things as possessing inherent worth? In Respect for Nature, Paul Taylor draws on biology, moral philosophy, and environmental science to defend a biocentric environmental ethic in which all life has value. Without making claims for the moral rights of plants and animals, he offers a reasoned alternative to the prevailing anthropocentric view--that the natural environment and its wildlife are valued only as objects for human use or enjoyment. Respect for Nature provides both a full account of the biological conditions for life--human or otherwise--and a comprehensive view of the complex relationship between human beings and the whole of nature. This classic book remains a valuable resource for philosophers, biologists, and environmentalists alike--along with all those who care about the future of life on Earth. A new foreword by Dale Jamieson looks at how the original 1986 edition of Respect for Nature has shaped the study of environmental ethics, and shows why the work remains relevant to debates today.
Download or read book Aristotle s Ethics written by Hope May and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-10-20 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is devoted to the topic of human happiness.Yet, although Aristotle's conception of happiness is central to his whole philosophical project, there is much controversy surrounding it. Hope May offers a new interpretation of Aristotle's account of happiness - one which incorporates Aristotle's views about the biological development of human beings.May argues that the relationship amongst the moral virtues, the intellectual virtues, and happiness, is best understood through the lens of developmentalism.On this view, happiness emerges from the cultivation of a number of virtues that are developmentally related.May goes on to show how contemporary scholarship in psychology, ethical theory and legal philosophy signals a return to Aristotelian ethics.Specifically, May shows how a theory of motivation known as Self-Determination Theory and recent research on goal attainment have deep affinities to Aristotle's ethical theory.May argues that this recent work can ground a contemporary virtue theory that acknowledges the centrality of autonomy in a way that captures the fundamental tenets of Aristotle's ethics.
Download or read book Nature Ethics written by Marti Kheel and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2008 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Nature Ethics: An Ecofeminist Perspective, Marti Kheel explores the underlying worldview of nature ethics, offering an alternative ecofeminist perspective. She focuses on four prominent representatives of holist philosophy: two early conservationists (Theodore Roosevelt and Aldo Leopold) and two contemporary philosophers (Holmes Rolston III, and transpersonal ecologist Warwick Fox). Kheel argues that in directing their moral allegiance to abstract constructs (e.g. species, the ecosystem, or the transpersonal Self) these influential nature theorists represent a masculinist orientation that devalues concern for individual animals. Seeking to heal the divisions among the seemingly disparate movements and philosophies of feminism, animal advocacy, environmental ethics, and holistic health, Kheel proposes an ecofeminist philosophy that underscores the importance of empathy and care for individual beings as well as larger wholes.
Download or read book World Mind and Ethics written by James Edward John Altham and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1995-04-06 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A distinguished international team of philosophers offer responses to the work of Bernard Williams, followed by the author's reply.
Download or read book The Theory of Abstract Ethics written by Thomas Whittaker and published by . This book was released on 1916 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Cosmic Ethics written by William Cave Thomas and published by . This book was released on 1896 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Theory of General Ethics written by Warwick Fox and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2006-09-22 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With A Theory of General Ethics Warwick Fox both defines the field of General Ethics and offers the first example of a truly general ethics. Specifically, he develops a single, integrated approach to ethics that encompasses the realms of interhuman ethics, the ethics of the natural environment, and the ethics of the built environment. Thus Fox offers what is in effect the first example of an ethical "Theory of Everything." Fox refers to his own approach to General Ethics as the "theory of responsive cohesion." He argues that the best examples in any domain of interest—from psychology to politics, from conversations to theories—exemplify the quality of responsive cohesion, that is, they hold together by virtue of the mutual responsiveness of the elements that constitute them. Fox argues that the relational quality of responsive cohesion represents the most fundamental value there is. He then develops the theory of responsive cohesion, central features of which include the elaboration of a "theory of contexts" as well as a differentiated model of our obligations in respect of all beings. In doing this, he draws on cutting-edge work in cognitive science in order to develop a powerful distinction between beings who use language and beings that do not. Fox tests his theory against eighteen central problems in General Ethics—including challenges raised by abortion, euthanasia, personal obligations, politics, animal welfare, invasive species, ecological management, architecture, and planning—and shows that it offers sensible and defensible answers to the widest possible range of ethical problems.
Download or read book Body Soul written by J. P. Moreland and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2009-09-20 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While most people throughout history have believed that we are both physical and spiritual beings, the rise of science has called into question the existence of the soul. Many now argue that neurophysiology demonstrates the radical dependence, indeed, identity, between mind and brain. Advances in genetics and in mapping human DNA, some say, show there is no need for the hypothesis of body-soul dualism. Even many Christian intellectuals have come to view the soul as a false Greek concept that is outdated and unbiblical. Concurrent with the demise of dualism has been the rise of advanced medical technologies that have brought to the fore difficult issues at both edges of life. Central to questions about abortion, fetal research, reproductive techologies, cloning and euthanasia is our understanding of the nature of human personhood, the reality of life after death and the value of ethical or religious knowledge as compared to scientific knowledge. In this careful treatment, J. P. Moreland and Scott B. Rae argue that the rise of these problems alongside the demise of Christian dualism is no coincidence. They therefore employ a theological realism to meet these pressing issues, and to present a reasonable and biblical depiction of human nature as it impinges upon critical ethical concerns. This vigorous philosophical and ethical defense of human nature as body and soul, regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees, will be for all a touchstone for debate and discussion for years to come.
Download or read book Outlines of the History of Ethics for English Readers written by Henry Sidgwick and published by . This book was released on 1902 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Children on Demand written by Thomas R. Frame and published by UNSW Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This is a book that starts of by acknowledging the pain of infertility for many people and then examines the options for conceiving that have developed so rapidly since Louise Brown the first 'test tube baby' was born 30 years ago. Tom Frame argues that ethics, law and community desires haven't been able to keep up with technological advancement, and that this is a problem. He starts by looking at adoption, and includes details about his own experience as an adoptee. He writes about sperm and egg donors, asking whether it's fair that they be allowed to remain anonymous; he writes about IVF and surrogacy and finishes by writing about cases where women have asked to use the dead husbands' stored sperm to become pregnant. He looks at science, religion, philosophy, ethics but his starting point is always 'what's best for the child'. His view that the ideal family is a mother, a father and a child will create some controversy."--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book The Ethics of Invention Technology and the Human Future written by Sheila Jasanoff and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2016-08-30 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We live in a world increasingly governed by technology—but to what end? Technology rules us as much as laws do. It shapes the legal, social, and ethical environments in which we act. Every time we cross a street, drive a car, or go to the doctor, we submit to the silent power of technology. Yet, much of the time, the influence of technology on our lives goes unchallenged by citizens and our elected representatives. In The Ethics of Invention, renowned scholar Sheila Jasanoff dissects the ways in which we delegate power to technological systems and asks how we might regain control. Our embrace of novel technological pathways, Jasanoff shows, leads to a complex interplay among technology, ethics, and human rights. Inventions like pesticides or GMOs can reduce hunger but can also cause unexpected harm to people and the environment. Often, as in the case of CFCs creating a hole in the ozone layer, it takes decades before we even realize that any damage has been done. Advances in biotechnology, from GMOs to gene editing, have given us tools to tinker with life itself, leading some to worry that human dignity and even human nature are under threat. But despite many reasons for caution, we continue to march heedlessly into ethically troubled waters. As Jasanoff ranges across these and other themes, she challenges the common assumption that technology is an apolitical and amoral force. Technology, she masterfully demonstrates, can warp the meaning of democracy and citizenship unless we carefully consider how to direct its power rather than let ourselves be shaped by it. The Ethics of Invention makes a bold argument for a future in which societies work together—in open, democratic dialogue—to debate not only the perils but even more the promises of technology.
Download or read book Ethics written by G. E. Moore and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2023-09-30 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reprint of the original, first published in 1873.
Download or read book Nature and Life written by Md. Munir Hossain Talukder and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2018-07-27 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores some recent thoughts and trends in environmental philosophy and applied ethics. The topics selected here are contemporary and offered in academic programs across the globe. This book is an essential reference work for those who are keen to conduct detailed research within the fields of environmental philosophy, environmental humanities, culture, public health, applied ethics, bioethics, and political philosophy, as well as the general reader interested in the ethical and philosophical issues that are transforming and touching our lives. The book uniquely focuses both western and non-western approaches.
