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Ecofeminism and Environmental Ethics

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Ecofeminism and Environmental Ethics ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS Uppsala Studies in Social Ethics 28 David Kronlid ECOFEMINISM AND ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS An Analysis of Ecofeminist Ethical Theory Uppsala 2003 Dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Theology in Ethics Presented at Uppsala University 2003 ABSTRACT Kronlid, David, 2003. Ecofeminism and Environmental Ethics. An Analysis of Ecofeminist Ethical Theory, Uppsala Studies in Social Ethics, 28, 227 pp., Uppsala. ISBN 91-554-5516-6. This study focuses on ecofeminist ethical theory. A first aim is to clarify ecofeminist views on five central issues in the field of environmental ethics. These issues are: (1) Views of nature, (2) social constructivism and nature, (3) values of nature, (4) ethical contextualism, and (5) ethical pluralism. A second aim is to compare ecofeminist standpoints with certain standpoints within nonfeminist environmental ethical theory. A third aim is to critically discuss some of the main standpoints in ecofeminism. The analysis focuses on the works of Karen Warren, Sallie McFague, Chris Cuomo, and Carolyn Merchant. Other important sources are the environmental philosophers and ethicists J. Baird Callicott, Paul Taylor, Irene Klaver, Bryan G. Norton, Christopher Stone, Eugene Hargrove, Holmes Rolston III, Per Ariansen, Don E. Marietta, and Bruno Latour. The result of this study is that there are no main differences between ecofeminism and nonfeminist environmental ethics regarding the main standpoints on the five issues. Rather, the significant differences are found within these main standpoints. In addition, one important characteristic of ecofeminist ethics is its “double nature,” that is, the fact that it is rooted in feminism and environmentalism. The double nature of ecofeminism results in a foundation out of which ecofeminism as an environmental philosophy has a unique potential to handle some of the theoretical tensions that environmental ethics creates. From the perspective that environmental problems consist of complex clusters of nature- culture-discourse and that environmental ethical theory ought to be action guiding, it is argued that ecofeminist ethical theory has an advantage compared to nonfeminist environmental ethics. This standpoint is explained by the fact that ecofeminism holds a variety of views of nature, kinds of social constructivism and contextualism, and conceptions of values and of the self, and from the presumption that this variety reflects the reality of environmental problems. However, in order for ecofeminist ethical theory to fulfill its promise as an acceptable environmental ethical theory, its theoretical standpoints ought to be explicated and further clarified. Key words: Ecofeminism, environmental ethics, environmental ethical theory, ecofeminist ethical theory, views of nature, human/nature dualism, intrinsic value, intrinsic worth, social constructivism, ethical contextualism, intrapersonal pluralism, inconsistent self, cyborg self, practical ethics. David Kronlid, Department of Theology, Box 1604, SE- 751 46 Uppsala, Sweden. David Kronlid Cover: Förenade Ord, Uppsala ISSN 0346-6507 ISBN 91-554-5516-6 Typesetting: Alex Luna, David Kronlid, and Tryck och Medier, Uppsala University Printed in Sweden by Elanders Gotab, Stockholm 2003 Distributor: Uppsala University Library, Box 510, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden Daughters Contents Acknowledgements ...........................................................................................11 Introduction........................................................................................................13 Aims and Problems.......................................................................................18 Method...........................................................................................................19 Five Central Issues in Environmental Ethics ...............................................21 Main Material................................................................................................27 Terminology..................................................................................................28 The Field of Research...................................................................................30 Outline...........................................................................................................34 Chapter 1. Five Central Issues in Environmental Ethics..................................35 1. Views of Nature ........................................................................................35 2. Social Constructivism and Nature............................................................39 3. Values of Nature .......................................................................................40 Anthropocentric, Biocentric, and Ecocentric Values of Nature.........41 Origins of Values of Nature ................................................................45 4. Environmental Ethics and Ethical Contextualism ...................................47 Universalism and Four Meanings of Context.....................................47 Kinds of Ethical Contextualism ..........................................................52 Contextual Influence on Ethical Theory.............................................54 5. Intrapersonal Pluralism and the Conception of an Inconsistent Self ......55 Reconstructing an Ideal of the Consistent Self...................................57 Conclusion ...........................................................................................58 Chapter 2. Ecofeminism and Views of Nature.................................................61 Nature as Subject ..........................................................................................61 Nature as Our Partner ...................................................................................65 Nature as Informant ......................................................................................66 Nature as Ecological Communities ..............................................................69 Conclusion.....................................................................................................72 Chapter 3. Ecofeminism, Social Constructivism, and Nature..........................75 Construing the Meaning of Nature...............................................................75 Constructing Knowledge of Nature..............................................................78 Inventing Meanings of Nature through Metaphor .......................................84 Conclusion.....................................................................................................87 Chapter 4. Ecofeminism and Values of Nature................................................89 The Value of Nature and Subjectivism ........................................................89 The Value of Nature, Moral Sentiments and Nonhuman Flourishing ........91 The Intrinsic Value of Eco/Social Goods.....................................................94 The Intrinsic worth of Nature as Process .....................................................99 Conclusion...................................................................................................104 Chapter 5. Ecofeminism and Ethical Contextualism.....................................107 A Strong Contextualism Based on Touch..................................................108 Context as Particular Relationships............................................................109 Epistemological and Normative Contextualism...............................109 Strong Contextualism........................................................................111 A Strong Contextualism Based on Power Structures ................................112 Context as Power Structures .............................................................113 Semantic and Normative Contextualism ..........................................114 Strong Contextualism........................................................................115 Radical and Strong Contextualism based on Rules of Ethical Thinking..........................................................................................118 Normative and Epistemological Contextualism...............................119 Radical, Strong, and Moderate Contextualism.................................120 Individual Contextualism ..................................................................122 Universally Shared Aspects to Consider ..........................................123 Radical Contextualism and Historical Processes.......................................124 Conclusion...................................................................................................125 Chapter 6. Ecofeminism, Intrapersonal Pluralism, and the Idea of an Inconsistent Self.......................................................................127 A Relational Self.........................................................................................127 From “Nature” to “Nonhuman Nature”............................................128 An Ecological Relational Self...........................................................129 A Consistent Self ........................................................................................130 Conceptual Frameworks and a Consistent Self................................131 A Cyborg with a Curdled Self....................................................................134 A Curdled Self...................................................................................135 An Embodied Self.......................................................................................137
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