Abstract
In 1973, Richard Sylvan began his seminal essay, "Do We Need a New, an Environmental Ethic?" with these words: "It is increasingly said that ... Western civilization ... stands in need of a new ethic ... setting out people's relations to the natural environment." In the intervening years, it has increasingly been said that Western civilization is in need of ecocentrism, an ethic according to which a thing's value is derived from its contribution to the integrity, stability, and beauty of ecosystems. Do those interested in agricultural ethics need a new, an ecocentric, ethic? I argue that the answer is no. Agriculturalists must look elsewhere for an adequate ethic setting out our relations to the natural environment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Additional information
Gary L. Comstock is associate professor in the Religious Studies Program at Iowa State University and coordinator of the ISU Bioethics Program. He edited the volume,Is There A Moral Obligation to Save the Family Farm? (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1987); compiledReligious Autobiographies (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1985); and served as guest editor for two recent numbers of theJournal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics: "Ethics and Agricultural Biotechnology: Opposing Viewpoints" (1991) and "Might Morality Require Veganism?" (1994). Professor Comstock served as president of the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society for 1994.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Comstock, G.L. Do agriculturalists need a new, an ecocentric, ethic? 1994 Presidential address to the agriculture, food, and human values society. Agric Hum Values 12, 2–16 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02218070
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02218070