Transcript Chapter 5 Discussion: Ethics and the Environment

Chapter 5 Discussion:
Ethics and the Environment
Paul L. Schumann, Ph.D.
© 2004 by Paul L. Schumann. All rights reserved.
5-1
Ethics of Pollution Control
 Why does treating the air and water as free
goods result in pollution?
 Why does treating the environment as an
unlimited good result in pollution?
 What is ecological ethics (deep ecology)?
5-2
Ethics of Pollution Control
 Animal rights argument: pollution threatens
the rights of all animals (not just humans)
 PETA Summary: www.peta.com/mc/facts.html
 Do all animals (not just humans) have moral
rights? Why or why not?
 Do all living things (not just animals, but
plants) have moral rights? Why or why not?
 Do all things in existence (not just living
things, but lakes, rivers, mountains) have
moral rights? Why or why not?
5-3
Ethics of Pollution Control
 Human rights argument: pollution threatens
human rights
 Do humans have a moral right to a livable
environment? Why or why not?
• If humans have a right to a livable environment,
what corresponding duties exist?
• If humans have a right to a livable environment, and
if that right conflicts with property rights, which
right should take precedence? Why?
• If the right to a livable environment takes
precedence over property rights, is it feasible to stop
all pollution? Explain.
5-4
Ethics of Pollution Control
 How does the utilitarian principle help us
analyze environmental problems?
 What is meant by private cost?
 What is meant by external cost?
 What is meant by social cost?
5-5
Ethics of Pollution Control
 Why is the divergence between private costs
and social costs (i.e., the presence of
external costs) a problem in a market
economy?
 What are the 3 deficiencies that occur?
 What is the remedy for external costs?
 How can the external costs associated with
pollution be internalized?
5-6
Ethics of Pollution Control
 What about distributive justice—how does
the utilitarian way of dealing with pollution
by internalizing the costs associated with
pollution also achieve distributive justice?
 What about retributive justice?
 What about compensatory justice?
 According to the utilitarian principle, how
much should an organization invest in
pollution control?
5-7
Ethics of Pollution Control
 What is the view of social ecology?
 What is the view of eco-feminism?
 How does social ecology and eco-feminism
relate to the ethics of care?
5-8
Ethics of Resource Conservation
 What is meant by resource conservation?
 Do future generations have an equal right to
limited resources as us, so that we have a
duty to save resources for them? Why or
why not?
 What are the 3 arguments for why they don’t
have an equal right as us to limited resources?
5-9
Ethics of Resource Conservation
 How can the ideas of John Rawls be used to
decide how to fairly allocate resources
across the generations?
 What does the ethics of care suggest about
resource conservation?
5-10
Ethics of Resource Conservation
 What does the utilitarian principle say about
resource conservation?
 What difficulties are there in relying on the free
market to allocate resources across the
generations?
 Is economic growth good or bad? Why?
5-11
Case: Genetic Engineering
 What moral issues are involved in genetic
engineering?
 Does Monsanto have an obligation to delay
marketing of genetically engineered
organisms until more tests have been done?
 If Monsanto has an obligation to delay
marketing until more tests are done, to whom
does it owe that obligation?
 Can we ever be 100% certain that something is
safe? How much testing is enough? Why?
5-12
Case: Genetic Engineering
 Is it ethical for Monsanto to sell genetically
engineered organisms?
 Do companies that sell products that contain
genetically engineered organisms have an
obligation to tell consumers? Why or why
not?
 Should the government regulate genetically
engineered organisms? Why or why not?
5-13