Environmental Ethics and Philosophy

8/20/2019 Environmental Ethics and Philosophy

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Myself, Society, and the

Environment


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Good and Bad

Normal and Not Normal

Beautiful and Ugly


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People

Infrastructure

Nature


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Environmental Ethics and

Philosophy


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Outline:

• Introduction

• Ethical Principles

•

Worldviews• Science and the Scientific Method

• Technology


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INTRODUCTION• Ethics is a branch of:

– Morals: Distinction between right and wrong

– Values: Ultimate worth of actions or things

• Environmental ethics deals with the moral

relationships between humans and the

surrounding world.


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WORLDVIEWS

• Anthropocentric - Human-centered.

• Stewardship - Custodian of resources.

• Biocentricism - All living things have

intrinsic value.

• Ecocentricism - Whole is more important

than the parts.


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Worldviews on the Environment:

Man is above the Environment

Anthropocentrism

Man is not above the EnvironmentBiocentrism - Nature is above Man

Stewardship - Man and Nature are equal


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Group 1: http://www.world-earthquakes.com/index.php

Group 2:

http://earthquakepredictionbytiempe.blogspot.com/

Group 3: http://www.quakeprediction.com/

Assignment

• Get one statement from the website below.

http://www.world-earthquakes.com/index.phphttp://earthquakepredictionbytiempe.blogspot.com/http://www.quakeprediction.com/http://www.quakeprediction.com/http://earthquakepredictionbytiempe.blogspot.com/http://www.world-earthquakes.com/index.phphttp://www.world-earthquakes.com/index.phphttp://www.world-earthquakes.com/index.php


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Past

Future

Aspirations


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SCIENCE

• Science - Provides an orderly, methodical

approach to investigating phenomena

while suggesting testable explanations for

those phenomena.

– Assumes the world is knowable, and that

systematic investigations can yield meaningful

insights.• Parsimony - When two competing explanations

appear equally plausible, accept the simpler one.


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Science

• Deductive Reasoning - Starts with a

general principle and proceeds to a

specific case.

• Inductive Reasoning - General principles

are inferred from examination of specific

cases.


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Scientific Theory


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Hypothesis vs. Theory

• Hypothesis - A provisional explanation that

can be falsified by further investigation.

– When tests support hypothesis, it is only

considered provisionally true.

• Scientific Theory - Hypothesis supported

by multiple experiments and a majority of

experts. – Not casual everyday “theory”


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Technology

• For past two centuries, central tenet of

Western culture has been a strong faith in

progress.

– Technology allows mistakes to be made

faster and on a larger scale than before.

• Appropriate Technology - Promotes

machines and approaches suitable forlocal conditions and cultures.


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Group 1: http://www.world-earthquakes.com/index.php

Group 2: http://earthquakepredictionbytiempe.blogspot.com/

Group 3: http://www.quakeprediction.com/

Group 4: USGS earthquake prediction programGroup 5: El Niño may develop this year from PAGASA

Describe how the information on earthquakes/El

Nino predictions was determined.

Is the information from the source scientific?

Basis for your answer.

Names of groupmates and leader

To be presented in class
http://www.world-earthquakes.com/index.phphttp://earthquakepredictionbytiempe.blogspot.com/http://www.quakeprediction.com/http://www.quakeprediction.com/http://earthquakepredictionbytiempe.blogspot.com/http://www.world-earthquakes.com/index.phphttp://www.world-earthquakes.com/index.phphttp://www.world-earthquakes.com/index.php

Documents

Environmental Ethics and Philosophy