Environmental Pragmatism

ENVIRONMENTAL PRAGMATISM Environmental pragmatism is a new strategy in environmental thought: it argues that theoretical debates are hindering the ability of the environmental movement to forge agreement on basic policy imperatives. This new direction in environmental philosophy moves beyond theory, advocating a serious inquiry into the practical merits of moral pluralism. Environmental pragmatism, as a coherent philo sophical position, connects the methodology of classical American pragmatist thought to the explanation, solution and discussion of real issues. This concise, well-focused collection is the first comprehensive pre sentation of environmental pragmatism as a new philosophical approach to environmental thought and policy. Contributors: Larry Hickman, Bryan G. Norton, Paul Thompson, Anthony Weston, Kelly Parker, Sandra Rosenthal and Rogene Bucholz, Andrew Light, Eric Katz, David Rothenberg, Emery Castle, Ari Santas, Edward Schiappa, and Gary Varner, Susan Gilbertz and Tarla Peterson. Andrew Light is a research fellow in the Environmental Health Program and adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Alberta, Canada. Eric Katz is Director of the Science, Technology and Society Program at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. ENVIRONMENTAL PHILOSOPHIES SERIES Edited by Andrew Brennan Philosophy, in its broadest sense, is an effort to get clear on the problems which puzzle us. Our responsibility for and attitude to the environment is one such problem which is now the subject of intense debate. Theorists and policy analysts often discuss environmental issues in the context of a more general understanding of what human beings are and how they are related to each other and to the rest of the world. So economists may argue that humans are basically consumers sending signals to each other by means of the market, while deep ecologists maintain that humans and other animals are knots in a larger web of biospheric relations. This series examines the theories that lie behind different accounts of our environmental problems and their solution. It includes accounts of holism, feminism, green political themes, and the other structures of ideas in terms of which people have tried to make sense of our environmental predica ments. The emphasis is on clarity, combined with a critical approach to the material under study. Most of the authors are professional philosophers, and each has written a jargon-free, non-technical account of their topic. The books will interest readers from a variety of backgrounds, including philosophers, geogra phers, policy makers, and all who care for our planet. Also available in this series ECOLOGY, POLICY AND POLITICS John O'Neill THE SPIRIT OF THE SOIL Agriculture and environmental ethics Paul B. Thompson ECOLOGICAL FEMINISM Edited by Karen J. Warren WHY POSTERITY MATTERS Avner de-Shalit ENVIRONMENTAL PRAGMATISM Edited by Andrew Light and Eric Katz R London and New York First published 1996 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York NY 10016 Transferred to Digital Printing 2005 Selection and editorial matter © 1996 Andrew Light and Eric Katz; individual chapters © the contributors Typeset in Adobe Garamond by Keystroke, Jacaranda Lodge, Wolverhampton All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-415-12236-8 0-415-12237-6 (pbk) This book is dedicated to my parents A. Ronald Light and Elizabeth Pelligrino Light -AL This book is dedicated to my mother Irene Davis Katz and to the memory of my father Mortimer Katz -EK CONTENTS List of figures x Notes on contributors xi Acknowledgments xv INTRODUCTION: ENVIRONMENTAL PRAGMATISM AND ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS AS CONTESTED TERRAIN 1 Andrew Light and Eric Katz Part 1- Environmental thought and classical American philosophy PRAGMATISM AND ENVIRONMENTAL THOUGHT 21 Kelly A. Parker HOW PRAGMATISM LS AN ENVIRONMENTAL ETHIC 38 Sandra B. Rosenthal and Rogene A. Buchholz NATURE AS CULTURE: JOHN DEWEY'S PRAGMATIC NATURALISM 50 Larry A. Hickman THE ENVIRONMENTAL VALUE IN G. H. MEAD'S COSMOLOGY 73 Ari Santas THE CONSTANCY OF LEOPOLD'S LAND ETHIC 84 Bryan G. Norton Vll CONTENTS Part 2 Pragmatist theory and environmental philosophy 6 INTEGRATION OR REDUCTION: TWO APPROACHES TO ENVIRONMENTAL VALUES 105 Bryan G. Norton 7 BEFORE ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS 139 Anthony Weston 8 COMPATIBILISM IN POLITICAL ECOLOGY 161 Andrew Light Part 3 Pragmatist approaches to environmental problems 9 PRAGMATISM AND POLICY: THE CASE OF WATER 187 Paul B. Thompson 10 TOWARDS A PRAGMATIC APPROACH TO DEFINITION: "WETLANDS" AND THE POLITICS OF MEANING 209 Edward Schiappa 11 A PLURALISTIC, PRAGMATIC AND EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 231 Emery N. Castle 12 LAWS OF NATURE VS. LAWS OF RESPECT: NON-VIOLENCE IN PRACTICE IN NORWAY 251 David Rothenberg 13 TEACHING ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS AS A METHOD OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT 266 Gary E. Varner, Susan J. Gilbertz and Tarla Rai Peterson Part 4 Environmental pragmatism: an exchange 14 BEYOND INTRINSIC VALUE: PRAGMATISM IN ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS 285 Anthony Weston vm CONTENTS 15 SEARCHING FOR INTRINSIC VALUE: PRAGMATISM AND DESPAIR IN ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS 307 Eric Katz 16 UNFAIR TO SWAMPS: A REPLY TO KATZ UNFAIR TO FOUNDATIONS?: A REPLY TO WESTON 319 Anthony Weston and Eric Katz 17 ENVIRONMENTAL PRAGMATISM AS PHILOSOPHY OR METAPHILOSOPHY? ON THE WESTON-KATZ DEBATE 325 Andrew Light Index 339 IX FIGURES 1 Correlation of human concerns and natural system dynamics at different temporal scales 129 2 Multi-scalar relationship of individual, community and global scales 130 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Rogene A. Buchholz is the Legendre-Soule Professor of Business Ethics at Loyola University of New Orleans. Articles by Professor Buchholz have appeared in, among other places, the Journal of Management Studies, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Harvard Business Review and the Journal of Business Ethics. He is the author of nine books in the areas of business and public policy, business ethics and the environment. He is past Chair of the Social Issues in Management Division of the Academy of Management. Emery N. Castle is Professor in the University Graduate Faculty of Economics at Oregon State University. He has authored numerous articles and edited books on resource and environmental economics and policy. From 1975 to 1985 he served as Vice-president and then President of Resources for the Future. Since 1987 he has served as the Chair of the National Rural Studies Committee, a multi- disciplinary group of scholars, financed by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, engaged in a study of the problems of rural America. Susan J. Gilbertz is a senior lecturer in the Department of Speech Communication at Texas A&M University. She specializes in con flict negotiations and persuasion theory. She is currently pursuing a PhD in geography with emphasis on cultural interpretations of landscapes. Larry A. Hickman is Director of the Center for Dewey Studies and Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. In addition to numerous articles on American pragmatism and the philosophy of technology, he is the author of Modern Theories of Higher Level Predicates and John Deweys Pragmatic Technology. He is the co-editor of Technology and Human Affairs and the editor of Technology as a Human Affair. XI NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Eric Katz is Director of the Science, Technology and Society Program at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, where he teaches environmental philosophy, engineering ethics and the philosophy of technology. Katz is the author of two comprehensive annotated bibliographies of the field of environmental ethics, as well as over two dozen articles. He has recently completed a book on deep ecology for Routledge, Deep Green: A Critical Introduction to the Philosophy of Deep Ecology. Andrew Light is a research fellow in the Environmental Health Program and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Alberta. In addition to a number of articles on philosophy of technology, environmental philosophy and Marxist political theory, he is the editor of the forthcoming volumes, The Environmental Materialism Reader and Anarchism, Nature, and Society: Critical Perspectives on Social Ecology. He is the co-editor of the annual Philosophy and Geography. Bryan G. Norton is Professor of Philosophy in the School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology. He writes on intergenerational equity, sustainability theory, and biodiversity policy. He is the author of Why Preserve Natural Variety? Toward Unity Among Environ mentalists^ editor of The Preservation of Species and co-editor ofEcosystem Health: New Goals for Environmental Management and Ethics on the Ark Norton has served on numerous panels, including the Ecosystem Valuation Forum and The Risk Assessment Forum (US EPA). Kelly A. Parker teaches in the Philosophy and Liberal Studies Programs at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan. His main research interests are in American

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