Constructing Ethical Presumptions

We have a duty to act on the basis of reason. Traditional deontological reasoning distinguishes between direct duties to persons and indirect duties that are implied by our moral duties to others. This means any duty we may have with respect to the environment is, by definition, only an indirect duty reflecting our actual duty to other persons.

In environmental ethics, however, we offer reasons for affirming direct duties to nature. Now that science has confirmed the self-organizing character of every organism and ecosystem, might this analogy to human autonomy justify ascribing moral consideration to both? 

Our individual character is relevant for doing ethics. Most moral philosophers rely on duty and consequential arguments to draw conclusions about human responsibility for nature. Yet, there is a tradition of thought affirming that personal happiness, as well as a good and just society, can only be realized by good persons. Should environmental ethics encourage virtues such as integrity, gratitude, and frugality?

Perhaps caring relationships should be as much the focus of moral philosophy as individual virtues generally have been. This concern is especially relevant for doing environmental ethics, because our cultural traditions have long relied on rationalizations to excuse the abuse of women and nature.  Might we now learn from nature, and also from the experience of women, how we can live more ecologically?

We also have rights to consider. In law rights are supported by the secular argument that individuals have natural rights, as autonomous and rational beings, and by the religious affirmation that rights come from God.

International human rights law affirms the right of every people to social and economic development, and the right to a healthy environment of every person. Recent laws offer some protection for animals, but generally do not grant them rights. How are we to resolve the moral and legal conflicts between protecting human rights and preserving endangered species and the earth’s ecosystems?

In doing ethics we explore these four patterns of reasoning to construct ethical presumptions as to what we should do and the kind of persons we should be. These presumptions assert what we understand to be intrinsically right and good. We test these ethical hypotheses by predicting the likely consequences of acting on them, to see if the possible or probable outcomes confirm or challenge our reasoning.

Most of us already think much like this, although we probably describe ethical presumptions as feelings or intuitions. We have a sense of what we believe to be right that is based on our experience, which we explain to others by referring to our feelings and the reasons that support these feelings.

Also, we usually consider the likely consequences of acting on our sense of what is right, before we make a decision and carry it out. Doing ethics is a way of trying to clarify our moral reasoning.

analogy to rule of law 
critical reasoning
faith and reason
environmental ethics 
ethical traditions
feelings
ethical relativism
right and good 
testing presumptions

   Seeing is believing...

Can you believe that this person has a sense of duty to care for the nature? I can. We need to find that sense of relatedness to nature in ourselves and encourage that feeling in others. For feeling that we belong to the earth is crucial for taking responsibility for it.

This second painting by Matisse also expresses a sense of conviction. The eyes, however, seem to be questioning, and the lips have just a hint of a smile. There's a sense of hope in this painting, and we will need that as we face the difficult ethical issues of our time. Art and music strengthen our sense of hope.

This painting by Matisse of women dancing is lovely rather than lewd. It is rich in the delight of life that sustains our sense of care for the earth and one another.

In this painting Matisse entices us to see the order as well as the beauty in nature. Leaves absorb carbon dioxide and, through photosynthesis, sustain the life of all plants, as well as release into the air the oxygen that animals need for life. This cycle of absorption and respiration is the wonder that makes everything else possible.

What do you see in this painting? Your mind at work? The creativity of nature that continues to produce novelty on earth? Our hope for the future? The beginning of a decision you are making?