Abstract
Many nonanthropocentric environmental ethicists subscribe to a ``principle-ist'' approach to moral argument, whereby specific natural resource and environmental policy judgments are deduced from the prior articulation of a general moral principle. More often than not, this principle is one requiring the promotion of the intrinsic value of nonhuman nature. Yet there are several problems with this method of moral reasoning, including the short-circuiting of reflective inquiry and the disregard of the complex nature of specific environmental problems and policy arguments. In the present paper, we advance an alternative, pragmatic contextualist approach to environmental ethics, one grounded in the moral theory of John Dewey. We present the results of an empirical study of public environmental ethics and natural resource management attitudes to support our position, and we conclude with a few recommendations for future inquiry in the field of environmental ethics.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Burgess, J., M. Limb, and C. Harrison, “Exploring Environmental Values Through the Medium of Focus Groups. 1. Theory and Practice,” Environment and Planning A20 (1998a), 309-326.
Burgess, J., M. Limb, and C. Harrison, “Exploring Environmental Values Through the Medium of Focus Groups. 2. Illustrations of a Group at Work,” Environment and Planning A20 (1998b), 457-476.
Callicott, J. B., In Defense of the Land Ethic(State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, 1989).
Callicott, J. B., Beyond the Land Ethic(State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, 1999a).
Callicott, J. B., “Silencing Philosophers: Minteer and the Foundations of Anti-Foundationalism,” Environmental Values8 (1999b), 499-516.
Caspary, W., Dewey on Democracy(Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 2000).
Davies, A. “What Silence Knows-Planning, Public Participation, and Environmental Values,” Environmental Values10 (2001), 77-102.
Dewey, J., Reconstruction in Philosophy(Beacon Press, Boston, 1957 (orig. 1920)).
Dewey, J., Ethics. Collected in The Later Works of John Dewey, Vol. 7, Jo Ann Boydston (ed.) (University of Southern Illinois Press, Carbondale, 1989 (orig. 1932)).
Dewey, J., Human Nature and Conduct(The Modern Library, New York, 1959 (orig. 1922)).
Gundersen, A., The Environmental Promise of Democratic Deliberation(University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI, 1995).
Katz, E., Nature as Subject: Human Obligation and Natural Community(Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD, 1996).
Light, A. and E. Katz, (eds.), Environmental Pragmatism(Routledge, London, 1996).
Manning, R., W. Valliere, and B. Minteer, “Values, Ethics, and Attitudes Toward National Forest Management: An Empirical Study,” Society and Natural Resources12 (1999), 421-436.
Meier, K. J. and J. L. Brudney, Applied Statistics for Public Administration(Harcourt College Publishers, Fort Worth, 2002).
Minteer, B. A., “No Experience Necessary? Foundationalism and the Retreat from Culture in Environmental Ethics,” Environmental Values7 (1998), 338-348.
Minteer, B. A., “Intrinsic Value for Pragmatists?” Environmental Ethics22 (2001), 57-75.
Minteer B. A., “Deweyan Democracy and Environmental Ethics,” in Minteer and Taylor (eds.), Democracy and the Claims of Nature, pp. 33-48.
Minteer, B. A. and R. E. Manning, “Pragmatism in Environmental Ethics: Democracy, Pluralism, and the Management of Nature,” Environmental Ethics21 (1999), 191-207.
Minteer, B. A. and R. E. Manning, “Convergence in Environmental Values: An Empirical and Conceptual Defense,” Ethics, Place and Environment3 (2000), 47-60.
Norton, B., Toward Unity Among Environmentalists(Oxford University Press, New York, 1991).
Norton, B., “Why I am not a Nonanthropocentrist: Callicott and the Failure of Monistic Inherentism,” Environmental Ethics17 (1995), 341-358.
Norton, B., “The Constancy of Leopold's Land Ethic,” in A. Light and E. Katz (eds.), Environmental Pragmatism(Routledge, London, 1996), pp. 84-102.
Norton, B., “Pragmatism, Adaptive Management, and Sustainability,” Environmental Values8 (1999), 451-466.
Regan, T., “The Nature and Possibility of an Environmental Ethic,” Environmental Ethics3 (1981), 19-34.
Richardson, H., “Specifying Norms as a Way to Resolve Concrete Ethical Problems,” Philosophy and Public Affairs19 (1990), 279-310.
Rolston, III, H., “Is There an Ecological Ethic?” Ethics85 (1975), 93-109.
Rolston, III, H., Environmental Ethics(Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1988).
Rolston, III, H., Conserving Natural Value(Columbia University Press, New York, 1994).
Routley, R. “Is There a Need for a New, an Environmental Ethic?” Proceedings, 15thWorld Congress of Philosophy1 (1973), 205-210.
Taylor, P. Respect for Nature(Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1986).
Thompson, P. B., “Pragmatism and Policy: The Case of Water,” in A. Light and E. Katz, (eds.), Environmental Pragmatism(Routledge, London, 1996), pp. 187-208.
Westbrook, R. B. “Pragmatism and Democracy: Reconstructing the Logic of John Dewey's Faith,” in M. Dickstein (ed.), The Revival of Pragmatism(Duke University Press, Durham, 1998), pp. 128-140.
Weston, A., “Beyond Intrinsic Value: Pragmatism in Environmental Ethics,” Environmental Ethics7 (1985), 321-339.
Westra, L., An Environmental Proposal for Ethics: The Principle of Integrity(Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD, 1994).
Westra, L., “Why Norton's Approach is Insufficient for Environmental Ethics,” Environmental Ethics19 (1997), 279-297.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Minteer, B.A., Corley, E.A. & Manning, R.E. Environmental Ethics Beyond Principle? The Case for a Pragmatic Contextualism. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 17, 131–156 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JAGE.0000017392.71870.1f
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JAGE.0000017392.71870.1f