NATURE, HUMAN NATURE and VALUE a Study in Environmental
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NATURE, HUMAN NATURE AND VALUE A Study in Environmental Philosophy Helen Barnard Submitted to the University of Wales in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Wales, Cardiff 2006 UMI Number: U584128 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U584128 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 DECLARATION AND STATEMENTS CANDIDATE’S ID NUMBER OVVV i - C . CANDIDATES’S LAST NAME 13 B ^ M ^ CANDIDATES’S FIRST NAMES Hr£rU T>^ 6 t n j DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed. h. Date.??, ^ * STATEMENT 1 This th e ^ is being submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Signed. (r*. Date.9?.. ($ /. ^ Q 4 STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. Signed....V ................. Date.^.TTV.....^^.f^^?r!1-:... u ^ STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organizations. S i g n e d . ..L...., ' r * ............... Date.??./. i... ^ STATEMENT 4 - BAR ON ACCESS APPROVED I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loans after expiry of a bar on access approved by the Graduate Development Committee. Signed. /^Srr^T.V . D a t e ^ ^ L c^z -C ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Robin Attfield, who has supervised my thesis with such care and encouraged me to pursue my own process of thinking. I cannot thank him enough for his infinite patience with me over nine years and the many helpful and interesting debates we have had together. Over the last decade I have met so many interesting people both at Cardiff University and at philosophical conferences and seminars that I am not able to recall all their names and the many ideas that I discussed with them. All that I can say is that they all have helped in the formulation of my thoughts. I would also like to thank my long suffering husband, Andrew, who, at times, has found it somewhat irritating to have a wife either buried in a book, or engaging him in philosophical issues which he had rather never have known about. Also my thanks to my eldest daughter, Laura, with whom I have had some very helpful intellectual discussions and to my youngest daughter, Eleanor, whose cheerful banter has kept me sane. Thanks also to Barry Cobb who enlightened me on many aspects of science and mathematics. Most of all I would like to thank my mother who taught me at an early age to appreciate the things of nature and without whose instruction I would never have begun to think about the ideas that are within my thesis. And finally, my thanks to PFK, who has been the source of my inspiration. ABSTRACT The main concern of environmental philosophy has been to find value for nature. The thesis is an attempt to link a theory of nature, a theory of human nature and a theory of value, which Andrew Brennan stipulated for a viable environmental philosophy. The problem is set forward in Part I where a definition of nature is explored. The complexity of the task leads to a brief history of the concept of nature (after a criticism of other historical accounts by three environmental philosophers) whereby two opposing explanations of nature and human nature are revealed: teleological and non-teleological. Part II traces the decline of teleological explanation in favour of non- teleological explanations and the development of two main explanations of human nature in relation to nature that are prevalent today: Ultra-Darwinism (a reductionist explanation of human nature) and postmodernism. An analysis of these two positions shows that neither have an adequate metaphysics for finding value for nature, and this is revealed by an examination of two different types of environmental philosophy influenced respectively by the two opposing views. In Part III the problem of values is discussed with particular emphasis on moral values. An argument for objective values based on objective knowledge is put forward as well as a theory of human nature which leads to the conclusion that teleological explanations link a theory of nature, a theory of human nature and a theory of value more satisfactorily than the non-teleological explanations of Ultra- Darwinism and postmodernism. The relevance of this conclusion to the problems of the environment is shown. PREFACE The subject of my thesis covers a broad area. It is the nature of such a broad overview that a selective approach needs to be taken, and so it was not possible to include all the major philosophers, as I would have liked. Often I had neither the space nor the time to pursue all the philosophical problems and arguments that arose. I hope my readers will be tolerant about the many paths that I have not taken because it was not possible in a thesis of this length to include everything that was relevant. I have read widely and could perhaps say that there is a lifetime of reading and exploring ideas behind the words I have written. My main interest was in the third part of the thesis and particularly in the arguments for realism and objective value because of the importance of these concepts for a viable environmental ethics. I hope that at a future date I may be able to do further research in this area and tighten my argument. This thesis has led me to question further many of the philosophical problems I have come across. I have tried to obtain an answer to some of these problems, although of course it is the nature of these problems to be always somewhat elusive. In this way the completion of my thesis has not been for me an end, but very much a beginning. CONTENTS Introduction. 1 Part I Nature. Introduction. 7 Chapter 1. A History of the Concept of Nature. 21 Chapter 2. Ancient Greece and Rome. 1 .Teleological explanations. 50 2.Non-teleological explanations.70 Chapter 3. From Medieval Europe to the Beginnings of Science. 84 Chapter 4. Hume and Kant. 104 Part II Human Nature. Introduction. 120 Chapter 1. Continental Philosophy. 128 Chapter 2. Analytical Philosophy and Science. 152 Chapter 3. Continental Philosophy and Science: comparisons and 174 contrasts in their concepts of human nature. Chapter 4. Scientism and Postmodernism. 199 Part III Value. Introduction. 221 Chapter 1. Science-informed Environmental Philosophy. 226 Chapter 2. Postmodernism and its Influence on Environmental. 267 Philosophy. Chapter 3. Ethics. 284 Chapter 4. Metaphysics. 1. Objective Knowledge. 302 2. Objective Values. 330 3. Value for Nature. 338 Conclusion. 348 Bibliography. 360 NATURE, HUMAN NATURE AND VALUE A Study in Environmental Philosophy NATURE, HUMAN NATURE AND VALUE A Study in Environmental Philosophy INTRODUCTION Environmental philosophy as an academic discipline began in the mid twentieth century after a century or more of writers, using various styles, had expressed their concern that a nature which was free from human interference was rapidly disappearing. The increase of industrialization across the world and an ever- expanding capitalist market eventually made it evident that the non-human world was being threatened as it had never been before. While it once had been assumed that the natural world was a never-ending resource, more perceptive people realized that what had always been taken for granted was no longer immune to human greed and human destruction. The natural world was no longer resilient in the face of the level of utilization of natural resources by humans across the world. For the last century the amount of literature written about environmental concerns has increased considerably. The word ‘environment’ may be considered to have extended its meaning so that it no longer refers only to a local area, as in ‘.. .the environment of this loch reminded me of Grasmere.’1, but now also has a global meaning. The entire geosphere with its hydrosphere, biosphere and surrounding atmosphere are all included in the meaning of the word 1 The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd edition. Prepared by J.A. Simpson and E.S.C. Weiner. Ox ford .Clarendon Press, 1989. Vol. 5. p.315. 1 ‘environment’. This extension of the meaning has been necessary because of the ability of humans to affect every part of the world through an increase of technological skills. In this thesis it will be assumed that the term ‘environment’ will be applied in this total way as in the ‘global environment’. Ever since humans developed into tool-wielding animals they have inflicted change on the Earth. It is not that humans are the only animals to change the environment, for many other animals do also, but it is the extent and nature of that change which is important. With increasing technological skills humans have altered vast areas of the Earth’s surface.