Moral and Political Reasoning in Environmental Practice

366 Pages·2003·0.98 MB·English

by  Andrew Light, Avner de-Shalit

Moral and Political Reasoning in
Environmental Practice
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Moral and Political Reasoning in
Environmental Practice
edited by Andrew Light and Avner de-Shalit
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2003 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any
electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or informa-
tion storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book was set in Sabon by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Moral and political reasoning in environmental practice / edited by Andrew
Light and Avner de-Shalit.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-262-12252-9 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0-262-62164-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Environmental sciences—Philosophy. 2. Environmental ethics. I. Light,
Andrew, 1966– II. de-Shalit, Avner.
GE40 .M67 2003
179¢.1—dc21 2002026349
This book is in memory of Eimear Herbert-Barry.
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Contents
Introduction: Environmental Ethics—Whose Philosophy? Which
Practice? 1
Andrew Light and Avner de-Shalit
I Political Theory and Environmental Practice 29
1 Political Theory and the Environment: Nurturing a Sustainable
Relationship 31
Michael Freeden
2 Intuition, Reason, and Environmental Argument 45
Mathew Humphrey
3 The Justice of Environmental Justice: Reconciling Equity,
Recognition, and Participation in a Political Movement 77
David Schlosberg
II Philosophical Tools for Environmental Practice 107
4 Constitutional Environmental Rights: A Case for Political
Analysis 109
Tim Hayward
5 Trusteeship: A Practical Option for Realizing Our
Obligations to Future Generations? 131
William B. Griffith
6 Ecological Utilization Space: Operationalizing
Sustainability 155
Finn Arler
7 The Environmental Ethics Case for Crop Biotechnology: Putting
Science Back into Environmental Practice 187
Paul B. Thompson
viii Contents
8 Yew Trees, Butterflies, Rotting Boots, and Washing Lines: The
Importance of Narrative 219
Alan Holland and John O’Neill
III Rethinking Philosophy through Environmental Practice 237
9 The Role of Cases in Moral Reasoning: What Environmental
Ethics Can Learn from Biomedical Ethics 239
Robert Hood
10 Grab Bag Ethics and Policymaking for Leaded Gasoline: A
Pragmatist’s View 259
Vivian E. Thomson
11 Animals, Power, and Ethics: The Case of Foxhunting 281
Clare Palmer and Francis O’Gorman
12 Ethics, Politics, Biodiversity: A View from the South 295
Niraja Gopal Jayal
Bibliography 317
About the Contributors 345
Index 347
Introduction: Environmental Ethics—
Whose Philosophy? Which Practice?
Andrew Light and Avner de-Shalit
When philosophers talk to one another in conferences, at universities,
and through books and articles, they tend to generalize, theorize, and
express themselves in the abstract. They often ask questions that are
purely hypothetical, about an ideal, theoretical world. Environmental
philosophers are no exception.
In this book the editors and authors claim that while traditional philo-
sophical practice has much value, it is not the only way to philosophize
and reason about the environment. It may in fact not be the best way to
bring philosophy to environmental questions. Coming mainly from a
background of pragmatism and communitarian political theory, we claim
that philosophy can be expressed as a public event. It can, and perhaps
should, aim at changing the world, and it can do so only if it (1) takes
seriously arguments that derive from real cases, from practice, and (2)
applies itself to searching for novel philosophical tools that can be of use
in environmental practice. In other words, environmental philosophers
should find a way to become more involved in argumentation that takes
place in environmental campaigns and is discussed in the broader envi-
ronmental literature. Such arguments should be part of what constitutes
environmental philosophy, and we believe that they could contribute pos-
itively to environmental practice.
But how wide is the scope of environmental practice? Or more pre-
cisely, what can be legitimately labeled as environmental practice? Is it
only conservation? Is it only activism? Or does it include the production
of humanly manipulated landscapes that bring together human and non-
human communities? Is environmentalism only supportable through
biocentric arguments, or can we make human-centered claims as well,
such as arguments for obligations to future human generations to protect