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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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