Environmental Ethics: What Really Matters, What Really Works

by David Schmidtz (Editor), Elizabeth Willott (Editor)

Featuring sixty-two accessible selections--from classic articles to examples of cutting-edge original research-- Environmental What Really Matters, What Really Works addresses both of the principal areas of inquiry in the the exploration of morality from an environmental
perspective and the analysis of the current state of our environment. Aiming to determine what issues really matter, the first section of the book responds to such questions What is value? What types of things have value? Is the value of a human being fundamentally different from the kind of
value we find elsewhere in nature? What role do consumer goods and services play in a good life? and Is there room for environmental consciousness in a good life? The second section turns to the question of what it would take to solve our environmental problems. It strives to go beyond the "hype" to
present informed perspectives on the true nature of those problems and investigates important questions What is causing or exacerbating these problems? and What solutions have been tried? The selections present philosophical, biological, and social scientific approaches to the major issues.
Environmental Ethics features first-hand descriptions from people who have actually been involved in such projects as wildlife management in Africa, ecofeminist initiatives in India, and radical activism on the high seas. It also provides up-to-date data on population issues and community-based
wildlife initiatives. Ideal for undergraduate courses in environmental ethics, environmental issues, and applied ethics, this unique text will also be a helpful resource for graduate students and professors, as it retains most of the footnotes from the original articles.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Environment

592 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

David Schmidtz is a Canadian-American philosopher. He is Presidential Chair of Moral Science at West Virginia University's Chambers College of Business and Economics. He is also editor-in-chief of the journal Social Philosophy & Policy. Previously, he was Kendrick Professor of Philosophy and Eller Chair of Service-Dominant Logic at the University of Arizona. While at Arizona, he founded and served as inaugural head of the Department of Political Economy and Moral Science.

Reviews

[Mo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have a career and academic focus in the environmental sector.. I did not find this textbook inspiring at all, and if you are considering choosing this for a class please take into account that it is not very engaging. If you are going to use it to teach please incorporate relevant figures, cases, and real life applications. The book wraps things up with a section called "Taking Action" that discussed the discourse on Environmental Ethics as a field, perpetuating the problems it in itself is creating. It's self aware... Does that make it better? No. I was excited about Environmental Ethics before this book. Not anymore.

[Elizabeth Vilchis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good for a required reading. Didn’t like the way it was organized, but that doesn’t take too much away from the material.

[Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent textbook for Environmental Ethics. It covers all the most important terrain, and on most subjects it provides readings that help students become acquainted with the issues and that provoke interesting discussion. The material covering deep ecology is unfortunately not very good, but this is in part due to the philosophical poverty of thought marking its main exponents in America, George Sessions and Bill Devall. More by Arne Naess would have helped on this, but any professor can easily find supplemental readings and provide them to the class. Overall I found it a very good text.