Conservation and Practical Morality: Challenges to Education and Reform PDF
Preview Conservation and Practical Morality: Challenges to Education and Reform
CONSERVATION AND PRACTICAL MORALITY CONSERVATION AND PRACTICAL MORALITY Challenges to Education and Reform Les Brown Formerly Professor of Education University of New South Wales Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 978-1-349-08529-3 ISBN 978-1-349-08527-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-08527-9 © Leslie Melville Brown, 1987 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1987 All rights reserved. For information, write: Scholarly & Reference Division, St. Martin's Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010 First published in the United States of America in 1987 ISBN 978-0-312-16272-6 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Brown, Les, 1914- Conservation and practical morality. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Ethics. 2. Social ethics. 3. Conservation of natural resources Moral and ethical aspects. I. Title BJ103l.B74 1987 170 86--1795 ISBN 978-0-312-16272-6 Contents Preface vii 1 MORALITY, THE COMMON INTEREST AND THE COMMON GOOD 1 Nature and Purpose of Morality: Persons 2 Social Context of Morality 6 The Fundamental Idea of Morality 10 The Common Interest and the Common Good 14 Moral Points of View 28 Summary 37 2 CONSERVATION AND THE COMMON GOOD 40 The Meaning of Conservation 40 Conservation and Quality ~;>f Life 41 Inadequacies in Environmental Ethics 43 Distributive Justice and Conservation 50 A Global Morality and Conservation 54 Posterity and Conservation 56 Conservation and a Morality of Animal Interests 64 Summary 70 3 CONSERVATION, ADMINISTRATION AND THE COMMON GOOD 72 Underlying Principles 73 Politicians and Political Thinking in a Party Political System 79 Political Thinking, Decision-making and Conservation 83 The Law, Morality and Conservation 92 International Law, a Global Morality and Conservation 99 Summary 103 v vi Contents 4 CONSERVATION AND THE QUALITY OF LIFE: PRACTICAL PROBLEMS AND OBSTACLES TO MORAL SOLUTIONS 106 Moral and Rational Fallibility in Decision-making 107 Developing and Developed Countries 117 The Developed Countries: Industrialization and Technology 120 World Population 128 Political Conflict and the Nuclear Threat 133 Complexity of Conservation Problems 140 Summary 143 5 THE POTENTIAL COMMON GOOD: THE CHALLENGE TO EDUCATION 145 The Idea of Education 146 Practical Judgements 151 Human Imperfection 156 Political Reform 159 Social and Legal Reform 164 Priorities for Action 168 Conclusion 179 Notes 185 Select Bibliography 208 Author Index 214 Subject Index 217 Preface In broad terms this book may be considered a companion to Justice, Morality and Education, since each traverses similar territory in moral theory and the associated area of distributive justice, as well as in fundamental educational theory. In other respects the two books diverge, with quite different complexities in each. Moral theory now widens from individuals in relation with others to a more general viewpoint on the well-being or quality of life of all persons, wherever they may live, constituting their common good. This clearly gives it a utilitarian flavour, but utilitarianism - in any of its varying formulations - is shown to be inadequate for a normative theory of the common good. The book will be seen to fall roughly into two parts, though a formal organizational structure has seemed to be unnecessary. In the first two chapters fundamental theoretical distinctions are made. Succeeding chapters have a more practical orientation, including the last which, apart from bringing into focus some of the main preceding emphases, considers the high demands placed on education, in conjunction with social and political reform. The argument begins with an essential basis of moral theory in order to show what a moral problem is. In the second chapter it is shown that some problems of conservation are also moral problems, but that some others are not. The criteria for these distinctions are a set of moral principles which are found to be common ground in contemporary moral philosophy. As standard moral principles they are compatible with much of continental philosophy, such as existentialism, and also with most of the major religious traditions throughout the world. At specific points certain religious doctrines are in conflict with the principles, as in the respective interpretations of 'person', and in the attitude to sentient animals. It is preferred, therefore, to rely on moral principles which are common to the various forms of moral philosophy in English-speaking countries, viewing moral philosophy as an academic discipline, and its principles as justified by reason with the support of common moral vii viii Preface values. Beliefs in the continuous efficacy of intellectual or religious traditions may be based on different assumptions and may lead to different arguments and judgments from those expressed in this book. An attempt is made to encourage critical and reflective reader participation by interleaving philosophical ideas from time to time, both to sharpen the particular ideas being introduced and to stimulate further thought, sometimes by contrast. Chapter summaries are designed with the same end in view, putting the complexity of ideas in perspective before proceeding to further complexities. The final pattern is one of relationships between conservation and practical morality which draw together a diversity of disciplines and social concerns. Without critical reader-involvement there is a danger that some of the ideas which are developed will become ends in themselves, such as the historical perspective on philosophers' (and others') notions of the common good in Chapter 1; or on decision-making and the law in Chapter 3; or on practicalities of Commissions in Chapter 5. The exploration of viewpoints on the common good shows their consistent connection with social circumstances, pointing to conser vation as a relatively recent moral concern. Decision-making has a clear relationship with the question of who is to make the judgements on the large moral and social questions of our time, such as conservation in some of its aspects, leading to a positive suggestion for political reform. The law draws attention to particular relationships between practical morality and conservation, some times negatively, or by contrast, at other times positively in its influence on quality of life. The same practical relationships depend partly on the administrative feasibility of Commissions. Since the book is concerned with practical mQrality, the judgements made depend on asking at many points, What is the case? There is therefore more factual information provided than is usual in a book of ideas on conservation and morality which links moral theory with social and political theory. The Selected Bibliography is itself an indication of the wide social ramifications of the conservation issue, the need to explore viewpoints in many areas other than in moral or political philosophy in order to avoid ungrounded enthusiasms or superficial judgements. Some of the books and articles included express views which the author does not support; they are not all of equal intellectual rigour; but together they do help to make up a complex picture of some of the ideas and Preface IX information relevant to the making of practical judgements on conservation as a moral question. It is difficult enough for most persons to live a practical morality in relation to persons in the family and the immediate circle of acquaintances; harder by far to live a practical morality which brings in the suffering of people of other countries; highly improbable, without much better education, for wide practice of a morality that includes weighing the probable needs of unborn kin in the next century or so; and almost impossible, it would seem, in the light of the considerations of this book, to improve the quality of life of persons everywhere - the common good of people of the habitable earth - without fundamental social and political reforms, initiated and sustained by unprecedented changes in public education. The moral face of conservation is indeed complex, but it is genuine. It presents an enigmatic or a false face mainly to those with insufficient knowledge and understanding of moral, social and political complexities, and of the prospects for improvement through education. L.M.B. 1 Morality, the Common Interest and the Common Good The central concern of this book is the problem of whether conservation may be regarded as a practical moral activity, but like morality and education (as well as many other activities in which we engage in relation with others, such as politics, business adminis tration, law and so forth) there is always a body of theory to enlarge our understanding of practice and in some ways to guide it. We therefore begin by asking in the widest sense what morality means, and what its purpose is. In this undertaking we shall be setting certain boundaries of moral activity. The need to do this may not be immediately obvious, but will be made so as soon as the understanding of morality is applied to a specific problem such as conservation where vaguenesses and misunderstandings are not uncommon. To use the customary language of moral philosophy, our approach will be both normative and meta-ethical: that is, we shall propose a coherent moral outlook as a system of ideas, beliefs or judgements to use as a standard in subsequent discussions; and we shall enquire into the nature of our thinking as we make our moral judgements, decisions or conclusions prior to moral action. The meta-ethical explanation we make is independent of the normative position we take on morality, but by throwing light on mental states and processes during and preceding our practical judgements on what we ought (morally) to do, we have an opportunity to increase self-understanding and thereby facilitate moral relationships with others. Before we consider conservation as a moral problem, therefore, it is necessary to understand what a moral problem is. Our starting point is the very assumption that our morality is concerned with our relationship with others. In pursuance of the general intentions we have stated, the plan will be gradually to 1
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