Table of Contents
Preface ix
1 The environment as an ethical question 1
1.1 Nature and the environment 1
1.2 Dualism and ambivalence 2
1.3 Environmental problems 6
1.4 Questions of scale 8
1.5 Types of harm 10
1.6 Causes of environmental problems 11
1.7 The role of technology 12
1.8 The economic perspective 14
1.9 Religion and worldviews 20
1.10 Ethics, aesthetics, and values 22
2 Human morality 26
2.1 The nature and functions of morality 26
2.2 Challenges to morality 30
2.3 Amoralism 31
2.4 Theism 33
2.5 Relativism 38
2.6 What these challenges teach us 44
3 Meta-ethics 46
3.1 The structure of the field 46
3.2 Realism 48
3.3 Subjectivism 56
3.4 The sensible center 62
3.5 Intrinsic value 68
4 Normative ethics 76
4.1 Moral theories 76
4.2 Consequentialism 77
4.3 Virtue ethics 85
4.4 Kantianism 92
4.5 Practical ethics 101
5 Humans and other animals 102
5.1 Speciesism 102
5.2 Animals and moral theory 112
5.3 Using animals 120
5.4 Animals and other values 142
6 The value of nature 145
6.1 Biocentrism 145
6.2 Ecocentrism 149
6.3 Valuing reconsidered 153
6.4 The plurality of values 155
6.5 Conflicts and trade-offs 168
7 Nature's future 181
7.1 Travails of the biosphere 181
7.2 Questions of justice 190
7.3 Visions of the future 196
7.4 Conclusion 204
References 206
Index 216
