A Refutation of Environmental Ethics

A Companion to Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand (Second Edition)

“…Janna Thompson considered anthropocentrism to be inevitable and any attempt to disengage value from human valuers to be incoherent, but, following Marcuse, she argued for an enlightened anthropocentrism, according to which a way of social life premised on appreciation for and receptivity to the joy and, as Marcuse put it, the 'erotic energy' of nature would be conducive to harmony and creativity in society and hence to human fulfilment. The psychology that led to the domination of nature was, from this point of view, indicative of a larger political psychology of domination, and was therefore ultimately opposed to human welfare (Thompson 1983(Thompson , 1990). More sceptical even than Thompson concerning the prospects for a new environmental ethic was John McCloskey.…”

Ethics, animals and the environment: A review of recent books

“…If the goods are not delivered, opponents who accept the ideal of generality will simply conclude that the relevant endeavours of ethics have no merit. In this way Thompson (1990) has militated against environmental ethics (for critical comments see Plumwood, 1991). It is wiser to have extant lack of generality out in the open, and to defend it on methodological grounds.…”

Atman, Identity, and Emanation: Arguments for a Hindu Environmental Ethic

“…It is simply one of many areas within the field of ethics (and/or animal ethics), much like medical ethics or business ethics, that deal fundamentally with the ways that human beings should treat one another (and perhaps other sentient entities) (Norton 1984, 131-2). This is why many of those who deny the plausibility of an environmental ethic still define an environmental ethic in this way (such as Thompson [1990]). So "environmenal ethic" should not be understood here as a success term, equivalent to "plausible ethic of the environment" or "adequate ethic of the environment", since authors disagree widely on what constitutes a plausible ethic of the environment.…”