culture, subculture and counterculture - Facultatea de Litere
culture, subculture and counterculture - Facultatea de Litere
culture, subculture and counterculture - Facultatea de Litere
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THE ROLE AND PLACE OF ECOLOGICAL ETHICS IN BALANCING<br />
THE RELATIONSHIPS OF HUMAN BEINGS WITH NATURE<br />
VIORICA - TORII CACIUC<br />
“Dunărea <strong>de</strong> Jos” University of Galaţi, Romania<br />
The existence of the complexity <strong>and</strong> mutual connexions between human beings<br />
<strong>and</strong> nature involves the <strong>de</strong>velopment of the society in the conditions of social<br />
equality <strong>and</strong> equality regarding the nature. The problems of the environment can<br />
be solved by improving the relationships between human beings <strong>and</strong> nature,<br />
in<strong>de</strong>ed between society <strong>and</strong> nature. Consequently, a new way of thinking needs<br />
to be shaped so that a reconsi<strong>de</strong>ration of the cultural <strong>and</strong> moral values system (in<br />
which nature holds a high <strong>and</strong> honourable place) becomes possible. Apart from<br />
the educational system, contemporary ethics may come up with another solution<br />
in forming <strong>and</strong> reconsi<strong>de</strong>ring human behaviour regarding nature. For this reason,<br />
it is necessary to re-evaluate the philosophical system of each person, but also to<br />
i<strong>de</strong>ntify another philosophy to gui<strong>de</strong> the science <strong>and</strong> technique in the future<br />
strategies of <strong>de</strong>velopment.<br />
The relationships between humanity <strong>and</strong> nature manifest themselves either<br />
successively, or simultaneously, through their fundamental components:<br />
unbalance <strong>and</strong> balance (rebalancing). The unbalance in human nature is more<br />
meaningful <strong>and</strong> has more severe consequences; its manifestations are direct (the<br />
intervention of the human element in the environment) <strong>and</strong> indirect (the<br />
unbalance between the natural components). The second category of<br />
relationships, strictly speaking, represents the object of ecology; but, generally,<br />
knowledge-wise, they are studied by philosophy – especially by natural<br />
philosophy. In what concerns the perspective of the human behaviour towards<br />
nature, it is studied specifically by ethics. Seen globally, the relationships of<br />
balance, unbalance <strong>and</strong> rebalancing are the object of some interdisciplinary<br />
research or, to be more precise, of ecological ethics.<br />
Ecological ethics is an applied ethics because it represents the practical<br />
answer to the abstract theories of normative ethics; it focuses on the application<br />
of an ethical perspective to specific problems <strong>and</strong> in practical situations. The<br />
solving of some controversies concerning the problems of the environment<br />
presupposes an appeal to principles that should offer a moral orientation to our<br />
actions towards nature, <strong>and</strong> their consequences (species becoming extinct, soil<br />
erosion, unpopulated waters etc.). These kinds of principles, that are orienting<br />
our attitu<strong>de</strong> towards nature, form an ecological ethics characterised by a variety<br />
of competing or partly coinciding theories (Elliot 2006: 313-323):<br />
• The ecological ethics focused on man is based on the principle of evaluating<br />
environmental policies, only in what concerns the manner in which they affect<br />
human beings. This ethics posits that only humans can be meaningful from the<br />
moral point of view.<br />
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