UV and the Environment: An Introduction

Abstract

What is the environment, and how does it figure in an ethical life? This book is an introduction to the philosophical issues involved in this important question, focussing primarily on ethics but also encompassing questions in aesthetics and political philosophy. The environment as an ethical question : Nature and the environment ; Dualism and ambivalence ; Environmental problems ; Questions of scale ; Types of harm ; Causes of environmental problems ; The role of technology ; The economic perspective ; Religion and worldviews ; Ethics, aesthetics, and values -- Human morality : The nature and functions of morality ; Challenges to morality ; Amoralism ; Theism ; Relativism ; What these challenges teach us -- Meta-ethics : The structure of the field ; Realism ; Subjectivism ; The sensible center ; Intrinsic value -- Normative ethics : Moral theories ; Consequentialism ; Virtue ethics ; Kantianism ; Practical ethics -- Humans and other animals : Speciesism ; Animals and moral theory ; Using animals ; Animals and other values -- The value of nature : Biocentricism ; Ecocentrism ; Valuing reconsidered ; The plurality of values ; Conflicts and trade-offs -- Nature's future : Travails of the biosphere ; Questions of justice ; Visions of the future ; Conclusion.