Moral and Political Reasoning in Environmental PracticeWhat role can philosophers play in helping to resolve the moral and political dilemmas faced by environmental activists and policymakers? Moving away from environmental philosophy's usual focus on abstractions such as nonanthropocentrism and the intrinsic value of nature, this book focuses on environmental practice as the starting point for theoretical reflection. Philosophical thinking, it argues, need not be divided into the academic and the practical. Philosophy can take a more publicly engaged approach. The authors combine a deep understanding of the environmental ethics literature with a sympathetic sociological and political examination of environmental activists and their reasoning. The book is divided into three parts: Political Theory and Environmental Practice, Philosophical Tools for Environmental Practice, and Rethinking Philosophy through Environmental Practice. Case studies are included from Canada, Denmark, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Topics range from the specific, such as fox hunting and leaded gasoline, to the more general, such as biodiversity in India, biomedical ethics, and crop biotechnology. |
What people are saying - Write a review
We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
Contents
| 1 | |
| 31 | |
| 45 | |
| 77 | |
A Case for Political | 109 |
A Practical Option for Realizing | 131 |
Operationalizing | 155 |
Putting | 187 |
Importance of Narrative | 219 |
What Environmental | 239 |
The Case of Foxhunting | 281 |
A View from the South | 295 |
Bibliography | 317 |
About the Contributors | 345 |
Other editions - View all
Moral and Political Reasoning in Environmental Practice Andrew Light,Avner De-Shalit No preview available - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
action activism activists agricultural animals appears applied approach argues argument believe biodiversity biotechnology chapter claim concept concern consider constitutional context courts critical crops cultural debate decisions discussion distribution ecological economic effect environment environmental ethics environmental justice environmental philosophy equal example existing experience fact future gasoline genetic given green groups human hunting idea important individuals interests intuitions involved issues kind land lead limits living means moral movement nature objects organizations Oxford participation particular philosophers plant political political theory position possible potential practice principle problems proposed protection question reason recognition reference reflective relation requires respect restoration risks sense social society species suggest sustainability theory thought tion trust understanding United University Press
Popular passages
Page 121 - Nor does this conclusion by any means suppose a superiority of the judicial to the legislative power. It only supposes that the power of the people is superior to both ; and that where the will of the legislature, declared in its statutes, stands in opposition to that of the people, declared in the Constitution, the judges ought to be governed by the latter rather than the former. They ought to regulate their decisions by the fundamental laws rather than by those which are not fundamental.
Page 243 - We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes — something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters
Page 150 - Act, it is the continuing responsibility of the Federal Government to use all practicable means, consistent with other essential considerations of national policy, to improve and coordinate Federal plans, functions, programs, and resources...
Page 243 - Since then I have lived to see state after state extirpate its wolves. I have watched the face of many a newly wolfless mountain, and seen the south-facing slopes wrinkle with a maze of new deer trails. I have seen every edible bush and seedling browsed, first to anemic desuetude, and then to death. I have seen every edible tree defoliated to the height of a saddle horn.
Page 70 - By going back and forth, sometimes altering the conditions of the contractual circumstances, at others withdrawing our judgments and conforming them to principle, I assume that eventually we shall find a description of the initial situation that both expresses reasonable conditions and yields principles which match our considered judgments duly pruned and adjusted. This state of affairs I refer to as reflective equilibrium.
Page 84 - For a norm to be just, everyone who follows it must in principle have an effective voice in its consideration and be able to agree to it without coercion. For a social condition to be just, it must enable all to meet their needs and exercise their freedom; thus justice requires that all be able to express their needs.
Page 80 - I want to argue for more than this: that the principles of justice are themselves pluralistic in form; that different social goods ought to be distributed for different reasons, in accordance with different procedures, by different agents; and that all these differences derive from different understandings of the social goods themselves—the inevitable product of historical and cultural particularism.
Page 150 - NEPA states, among other things, that it is the continuing responsibility of the Federal Government to use all practicable means, consistent with other essential considerations of national policy...
Page 94 - Environmental Justice demands the right to participate as equal partners at every level of decision-making, including needs assessment, planning, implementation, enforcement and evaluation.
References to this book
Ecological Politics and Democratic Theory: The Challenge to the Deliberative ... Mathew Humphrey No preview available - 2007 |
Bibliographic information
| Title | Moral and Political Reasoning in Environmental Practice |
| Editors | Andrew Light, Avner De-Shalit |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | MIT Press, 2003 |
| ISBN | 0262621649, 9780262621649 |
| Length | 357 pages |
| Subjects | › › Philosophy / Ethics & Moral Philosophy Political Science / Public Policy / General Science / Environmental Science |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |