HL.c Environmental ethics flashcards

Topic 11: HL.c Environmental ethics

Intrinsic versus instrumental value

Intrinsic: valuable in itself (ecocentric views). Instrumental: valuable for its use to someone (anthropocentric and technocentric views). (HL only)

Consequentialism, deontology and virtue ethics

Consequentialism: judge actions by outcomes (utilitarianism: the greatest good for the greatest number). Deontology: judge by duties and rights, whatever the outcome. Virtue ethics: ask what a person of good character would do. (HL only)

Who has moral standing? Anthropocentric, sentientist, biocentric, ecocentric

Anthropocentric: humans only. Sentientist: beings that can suffer (Singer, 1975). Biocentric: every living organism (Taylor, 1986). Ecocentric: ecosystems, species and processes as wholes (Leopold's land ethic, 1949; Naess's deep ecology, 1973). (HL only)

Distributive, procedural and intergenerational justice

Distributive: who gets the costs and benefits. Procedural: who has a say in decisions. Intergenerational: duties to future people. (HL only)

What is climate justice?

The idea that the impacts of climate change fall hardest on many low-emitting, low-income countries and people, who did least to cause it, so responsibility and support should reflect that. (HL only)

How do the three HL lenses explain the success of the Montreal Protocol?

Law: a binding phase-out. Economics: affordable substitutes made compliance cheap and benefits to health and crops large. Ethics: precaution and intergenerational equity justified acting before every uncertainty was resolved. (HL only)