Ecological ethics

Two famous American philosophers were the cause of the thoughts involved in Transcendental Preservation Ethics. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were the two great thinkers. A man named John Muir used their thoughts to campaign this idea of preserving wild nature. They had the idea of the world being used for something other than the norm of what most see it as. They see nature as a "temple" which is used to come close with God. This also relates to the effort to harmonize society with nature. It could be a solution if the majority of people saw the world as this "tool" to come close with God. Instead the majority is using society as a way place to build and increase technology.

We need not be so materialistic is what he is getting at I believe. Nature itself is a blessing which we should appreciate as it is rather than change it.

Another man named Pinchot insisted on a different mode of ethics in nature. This is called Resource Conservation Ethics which is based upon the notions of equity and efficiency. Just as the name spells out, the main objective is to conserve. Conserving resources would not prevent negative effects on the globe, but will slow things down a bit.

That is an interesting concept which differs some from the ethical view according to Muir. He beleived that using these natural resources as they are is more important than Pinchot's idea of using nature for our material desires as he refers to John Stuart Mill. Muir thinks that nature should only be appreciated for its aesthetic beauty and value. To him that is what is "morally superior".

"...people going to forest groves, mountain scenery, and meandering streams for religious transcendence, aesthetic contemplation, and healing rest and relaxation put these resources to a "better" ---i.e., morally superior---use than did lumber barons, mineral kings and captains of industry hell-bent upon little else than worshiping at the shrine of the Almighty Dollar and seizing the Main Chance." (177)

The third ethical idea that Callicot discusses is known as Evolutionary Ecological Land Ethics. This sort of evolves from Darwin's ideas of evolution and ecology. This method includes God as a big part of what is ethically right as far as nature. Every creature has some importance in this world acording to this theory. Therefore we should not kill things in order to beneift ourself as a society in some manner. This set of ethics is similar in a way to the preservation ethics stated above, only slightly stricter. Nothing should be changed and humans should not consider themselves as the primary species.