An Ecological Ethics

The chapter asks what constitutes our flourishing given that we are modes of Nature. Essentially, the answer is: do what actually advances our disposition to realize ourselves. To achieve this, we have to develop certain virtues whose possession will contribute to our success. Since self-realization will require that we have self-knowledge, the first group of such virtues are “virtues of self-knowledge”: conscientiousness, honesty, open-mindedness, adaptability, and practical wisdom, as well as ecological self-knowledge. Since we also have to know how to put our self-knowledge into action, we will need to acquire “virtues of self-realization.” These include the dispositions to pay attention, to care, and to sympathize. The chapter uses the extended example of a gardener to illustrate all of this. The last section discusses two conceptions of ecology: the instrumentalist and the intrinsic. It argues that though the former is the conventional way to understand ecology, the latter is far richer and should replace the former.