ENVS200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Sentience, Deontological Ethics, Consequentialism
10 Dec 2017
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Consequentialism: when judging the moral worth of an action, what counts is collective welfare. Always act so as to provide the greatest benefit to the greatest number. Sentience (the capacity to feel pain and pleasure) as the key quality that makes a being worthy of moral consideration. Actions are judged based on whether they are in accordance with the moral law: kant offers 2 definitions of moral law which he calls "categorical imperatives". Conservationism: nature exists for the good of people or society; responsible environmentalism is about effective stewardship and management of natural resources. Preservationism: nature has an intrinsic dignity and value, independent of its connection to human beings. We care about the environment in ways that are intuitive and difficult to explain using the traditional ethical concepts like those listed above.
