Environmental Ethical Issues Essay Example for Free

Environmental Ethical Issues Essay The world has over the last few years been witnessing a remarkable rise in awareness in philosophical ideologies that are geared towards the environment. A number of theories such as animal rights, eco-feminism, deep ecology, bio-centric ethics and other theories have been proposed with the main aim of providing value to the environment. Environmental philosophies have helped in exploring various causes of environmental destruction and the proposals they put across that would help to reverse the trend of destruction and restore the environment to an acceptable level. Most of the practices that these theories try to raise are geared towards grappling with the effects produced by the industrial and economic cultures that thrive in most countries. However, a variety of issues arise pertaining to the applicability of environmental ethics and whether the theoretical outcomes are attainable (Brennan and Lo, 2009). Nature has always been an important aspect of human life, this is evident with the recent surge of focus in the subject as more and more people become aware of the environment. The issue of environmental ethics came into being as a discipline in schools in the 1970’s. Philosophies during the 1960’s had the perception that the late 20th century would witness a ‘population time bomb†. Rachael Carol was one of the vocal scientists who drew much attention to the issue of an environmental crisis by detailing the impact that pesticides would have on the environment. Lynn White jr. also did a masterpiece essay that traced the roots of environmental crisis by arguing that Judeo-Christian thinking was a major contributor in the over-exploitation of nature. He argues that the thinking was that human beings were superior to nature, which is a theory that is widely discussed in theology and history. This as he argues tends to cause a kind of arrogance towards nature and this tends to be a cause environmental crisis (Brennan and Lo, 2009). Polluting or destroying the environment is behaviors that are considered as immoral and this perception proves that human beings are embracing the concept that a sustainable environment is necessary for survival. However, the process of keeping a sustainable environment may mean culling animals, destroying overpopulated species, putting out natural fires and this often leads to some issues such as the morality of the actions taken. Another issue that arises is the restoration of an environment after destruction such as when a mining company restores a land after working on it for a while which begs the question of whether there is a â€Å"difference between restoring an environment or a natural one† (Brennan and Lo, 2009). Modern day scientists have often argued that finding a distinction between â€Å"instrumental values and intrinsic values† is of great importance (Brennan and Lo, 2009). Instrumental values mean that are usable while on the other hand, intrinsic values are not reusable are an end to their survival. Fruits are considered to be of instrumental value to bats that feed on them since this makes the bats survive. The fruits on the other hand are not widely regarded as having an intrinsic value for themselves. This debate has been one of the contentious environmental ethics issues. Things considered being of intrinsic value demand protection morally with regard to those that are instrumental. Most traditional thinkers often tagged the term intrinsic value only to humans with a renowned philosopher Aristotle arguing that â€Å"nature has made all things specifically for the sake of man† which means that everything else is classified as instrumental (Keller 2010). However, with the advent of the environmental ethics, the issue of man’s moral superiority to other species in the planet is been challenged. The other borne of contention that is trying to be tackled, is the classification of intrinsic and instrumental values among various species. Modern scientists have often argued that the main essence of environmental ethics is directed towards providing moral grounds for policies that are aimed at protecting the planets environment and tackling issues of environmental degradation before they get out of hand (Keller, 2010). The fate of the outcomes that environmental ethics aims to fulfill lies in how various laws will be enacted. A considerable number of philosophers have come up with ideologies and they should be used in order to formulate laws so as to promote environmental values that are acceptable and also attainable. Everybody should be part of ensuring that the environment is being conserved so as to ensure survival of for the present and future generations. It cannot escape out attention that we are living in a nuclear age where we heavily depend on energy that produces waste which some of it is hazardous to the environment and even unrecyclable. These types of waste require careful management in getting rid off, so as to ensure that they do not pose significant threats to the environment. Although these types of waste may not have short-term effects at the present, they may be catastrophic for the future generation and thus the need to practice wise environmental ethics at the present to ensure survival and a future for the planet. References: Keller, D. R. (2010). Environmental Ethics: The Big Question. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Brennan, A. and Lo, Y. (2009). Environmental Ethics, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2009 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed. ), derived on August 16, 2010 http://plato. stanford. edu/archives/win2009/entries/ethics-environmental/ .

Comparing Characters in OConnors A Good Man is Hard to Find and Revel

Comparing Characters in O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find and Revelation The grandmother and The Misfit of Flannery O'Connor's 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' are backward, opposite images of each other. However, the grandmother does have similarities with the character, Ruby Turpin in O'Connor's short story, 'Revelation'. The grandmother is portrayed as being a selfish self-involved woman who wants her way, a person with little memory, just a basic old woman living with her only son. The Misfit on the other hand is a man who feels he has done no wrong, but has just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but in the end comes too close to the truth, which scares him. From the beginning, the author introduces the grandmother and right off you see how she wishes they could take a trip to where she used to live, she tries every chance she gets to change the plans for the trip with her only son. ?Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida,? ?I wouldn?t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it.? As they drive and they talk, everything she says toward someone else is always a put down, towards the people they see and the people in the car. She sees a little ?Nigger? boy and comments ?Little Nigger?s in the country don?t have things like we do?. As they drove she talks Bailey, her son, into taking a detour to see an old plantation she visited when she was younger, halfway...

Personal Ethics Essay

When faced with a decision which requires an ethical framework, my usual pattern of decision making follows a pattern of reflection and introspection. The introspective element is both cerebral, that is: based in a rational analysis of the issue or matter at hand, and also intuitive, of which is to some degree an assessment of the emotional components of the decision at hand. However, intuitive introspection, at least in my opinion, transcends the boundaries of rationality as we understand it, and it even transcends our understanding of emotional responses, so intuition, although critical to my own decision making process is a slightly difficult aspect to illuminate. I once read the following paradigm somewhere. The origin of the paradigm is lost to my present memory, but the paradigm was this: whenever you are faced with a truly perplexing â€Å"yes or no† or â€Å"do or don’t† or â€Å"either or† decision, and you really can’t seem to make up your mind, flip a coin and assign â€Å"heads† to one outcome, and â€Å"tails† to the other. Now, when the result of the coin flip is shown, assess your feeling about the result and you will see what you wanted to do all along. In other words, say your choice is between going to a movie or playing a video game with your friends online. You can’t make up your mind which would be abetter choice, so you flip the coin, assigning â€Å"heads† to going to the movie, and â€Å"tails† to playing video games, vowing to abide by the result. Now, let’s assume the result of the coin flip is â€Å"tails† — staying home to play video games — and you feel excited, pleased and happy right away without thinking. Then staying in is what you wanted all along. If the coin-flip result of â€Å"tails† — staying home to play video games — made you want to flip the coin again for a different result, then you would know the same thing, that what you actually wanted to do was stay home and not go out to the movie. That is not to say that I make my decisions, trivial or profound, based on a coin flip! What I am driving at is that we often have intuitive feelings that lurk below the level of our rational consciousness and we can access this intuition in some cases when making decisions. As someone who has little faith in absolute ethical systems, or in a morality which is based on abstract philosophy, I like to include my own feelings, as well as my rational understanding of ethical concepts when I am faced with decisions. The underlying principles which inform the way I live my life are also drawn from the aforementioned notion of intuition or deep-introspection. For example, if I refuse a certain job offer, or even the offer of friendship on specific occasions this may have less to do with something which could be expressed in a linear fashion: the job was too demeaning, or that person had the wrong hair-style or hobby, but with something that might be more difficult to articulate clearly, but which is much more crucial than any superficial notions that might be viewed by some as important gauges or cues. In short, I don’t have any kind of â€Å"maxim† or concrete set of principles — edicts, I believe they are called — but rather a sense of personal disposition and emotional bearing. For example, I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings; viscerally: I just do not like to witness their pain so I avoid doing so when I can manage it. On the other hand, I take a rather dim view of altruism or the notion of helping people or giving them charity. I feel awkward placing myself in a position where I am apt to start pitying or feeling sorry for people; I myself dislike being pitied or felt sorry for, so I guess I assume it is the same for others. I tend to adopt the pursuit of happiness and personal joy (not to be confused with hedonism) as key aspects of my world view. That is, I am, at heart, an optimist who dislikes â€Å"whining† and cynicism and the pursuit of superficial self-gratification at the expense of others. That certainly does not mean that I advocate â€Å"selflessness† — whatever that term may indicate as a way of life, but rather, that I view joy, success, and fulfillment at least to some degree to be communal in nature. It is necessary that all acknowledge that everyone is a part of the human experience, no matter who or what they are. there are no exceptions. In my work, I try very hard to be both competent and respectful of those who I work with and for — but I often find it difficult to refrain from voicing my opinions, especially when I believe there is a possibility that my input may be helpful. I realize that work is a primary form of self-expression and self-fulfillment in life. My idea is that most people either love their jobs and derive a large part of their self-identity and worldly power through their jobs, or they hate their jobs and are constricted, limited, and oppressed by them. So, to my mind, it is crucial that you endeavor as much as possible to find a job that puts you in the former rather than the latter category because so much of life keys off of one’s work. One thing that I am convinced about is that everyone should bring the same emotional involvement and enthusiasm to their jobs as they very often bring to their hobbies, just as I believe most people should try to bring the same level of integrity and competence to their personal relationships as is usually required by their jobs. Obviously, I would not advocate the pursuit of money as a reliable indicator of whether or not a job is the right or wrong job. It is much more important that a job facilitate one’s sense of self-esteem and emotional security than whether or not the financial rewards are above and beyond â€Å"fair. † That said, a fair salary is always indicated because without it, maintaining self-respect and self-esteem is made more difficult. While there is no single â€Å"litmus test† for whether or not one’s work is the right work for them, the emotional and intuitive aspects of decision making can help as much in assessing a job’s strengths and weaknesses as a cold rational evaluation of the facts.

An Understanding And Appreciation Of History - 862 Words

Throughout history there have been groups of people used as the scapegoat, being forced to take the blame for the world’s problems. Such as in Nazi Germany, as the rise of Hitler lead to the discrimination, mass deportation, and eventual genocide of Jews in the Holocaust. Other examples of genocide â€Å"the deliberate killing of people who belong to a particular racial, political, or cultural group.† took place in Armenia, Cambodia, Bosnia and Darfur (Merriam-Webster). Developing an understanding and appreciation of history allows people who are living in the present, and only focused on planning for the future, to study people and societies of the past in depth. It is important to emphasize teaching history in all levels of school in order to fully grasp how we have grown into a modern society, avoid repetition of past injustices, and provide background information to individuals, groups, and nations to assist in forming identities. The Holocaust, the most known genoc ide in the world today resulted in the death of over 6 million Jews and millions of other minorities. Firsthand accounts of this tragedy such as through Elie Wiesel’s book Night, provide horrific insight on the atrocities that were committed toward Jews in the deportation process and concentration camps. The book shows how Jews were not just immediately murdered, but they were transitioned into the dehumanization process gradually. First â€Å"The Germans arrested the leaders of the Jewish community. From thatShow MoreRelatedBand Program Essay1166 Words   |  5 Pages†¢ Freshman Band- Freshman is included in my curriculum because this allows the directors focus on the development of 9th grade students understanding of music and fundamentals. 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