Teaching Holism in Environmental Ethics
Environmental Ethics 32 (1):33-49 (2010)
| Abstract | Students who enroll in my environmental ethics courses often come with a background in ecology and natural resources. Moreover, they often point to this background when they express their frustration with, or outright rejection of, individualistic or atomistic moral theories that simply strive to include individual living things within the purview of a moral community. They ultimately evoke the concept of holism as the source of their frustration. Addressing this concern requires trying to make sense of both the concept of holism generally and the supposed connection students sense between their training as young scientists and the attempt to ground a worthy environmental ethic. Many theories within the field of environmental ethics either evoke or rest upon the concept of holism. To date, however, the concept of holism has not been unpacked in any detail. To begin such an unpacking teachers need (1) to demonstrate how and when holism appears within the field of environmental ethics, (2) to explain the core idea underpinning holism and compare it to reductionism, and (3) to provide a general classification of how holism is employed in both a metaphysical and ethical sense within environmental ethics | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,664 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesDon E. Marietta Jr (1988). Ethical Holism and Individuals. Environmental Ethics 10 (3):251-258.
G. E. Varner (1985). The Schopenhauerian Challenge in Environmental Ethics. Environmental Ethics 7 (3):209-229.
Simon P. James (2000). “Thing-Centered” Holism in Buddhism, Heidegger, and Deep Ecology. Environmental Ethics 22 (4):359-375.
Steve F. Sapontzis (1993). Holism: Revolution or Reminder? Topoi 12 (1):31-39.
Karyn L. Lai (2003). Conceptual Foundations for Environmental Ethics: A Daoist Perspective. Environmental Ethics 25 (3):247-266.
Gary E. Varner (1991). No Holism Without Pluralism. Environmental Ethics 13 (2):175-179.
Kevin Behrens (2010). Exploring African Holism with Respect to the Environment. Environmental Values 19 (4):465-484.
Frederick Ferré (1989). Obstacles on the Path to Organismic Ethics:: Some Second Thoughts. Environmental Ethics 11 (3):231-241.
Lawrence E. Johnson (1983). Humanity, Holism, and Environmental Ethics. Environmental Ethics 5 (4):345-354.
John N. Martin (1991). Order Theoretic Properties of Holistic Ethical Theories. Environmental Ethics 13 (3):215-234.
Michael Esfeld (1999). Holism in Cartesianism and in Today's Philosophy of Physics. Journal for General Philosophy of Science 30 (1):17-36.
Ned Block (1995). Ruritania Revisited. Philosophical Issues 6:171-187.
Henry Jackman (1999). Moderate Holism and the Instability Thesis. American Philosophical Quarterly 36 (4):361-69.
M. McDermott (2001). Quine's Holism and Functionalist Holism. Mind 110 (440):977-1025.
Johannes L. Brandl (1993). Semantic Holism is Here to Stay. In Holism: A Consumer Update. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2011-01-09Total downloads6 ( #145,498 of 549,007 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,261 of 549,007 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
