Ethics in the Wilderness
Introduction
Should mankind be able to do what it likes, when and where it likes, if it has the necessary technology? This is an ethical question that stands at the gateway to the subject of sustainable development. If people think and act in this way and are prepared to accept the consequences of their actions, despite warnings about the effects of unsustainable practices, must we conclude that mankind has the power to doom itself to eventual extinction?
It can be argued that this is the latest representation of two specific problems that have concerned mystics and philosophers over the centuries: are we to take a pessimistic or optimistic view of man and the universe; and is there a distinction between what "is" and what "ought to be"? The two case studies, which were discussed at Staffordshire University on 10th February 2000, provide good, practical examples to test the relevance of these issues to the present and, in particular, to the concept of sustainable development.
Optimism & pessimism
The first case study, 'Secret wilderness', caused some people to think that information on 'wild areas…presently unprotected' should be published because this would increase the likelihood that they would be respected and protected. They could be said to be taking an optimistic view about human nature that has its roots in the dominant religious tradition of this country. Clatworthy (1997, pp.19-36) suggests that the creation stories contained in the early chapters of Genesis are an 'optimistic theology' that the Hebrew writers meant to contrast with the pessimistic 'Babylonian Creation Epic' and that this viewpoint is represented 'throughout the history of Christianity'. In contrast, those in the discussion, who thought, as the geographer of the case study feared, that publication would attract people whose only wish would be to exploit the wilderness, were adopting a pessimistic point of view. According to Clatworthy, it is not just the Babylonians but also Zoroaster, Plato and the Gnostic Christians who thought that evil is intrinsic to this world (1997, pp.38-55). Therefore it can be acknowledged that pessimism is also likely to have had some significant impact on the climate of religious and philosophical debate, at least in the past.
Is-ought
If a 'modern', secular perspective is taken, especially the 'concepts of orthodox economics of 'rational' behaviour in a mechanical, linear world of equilibrium' (Ormerod, 1994 p.211 - original emphasis), the question changes from whether the world and people are 'good' or 'evil' to whether there is or should be any reason for constraints on human behaviour?
Locke states that 'reason must be our last judge and guide in everything' (Mautner 1999 p.321). However, because Locke also identifies reason with 'those moral rules which may be found in the Bible' (Mautner 1999 p.321), he is not arguing from a truly secular perspective. Whereas Bentham, writing a hundred years later, is more concerned with justifying actions politically, when formulating the 'principle of utility, which approves of an action in so far as the action has an overall tendency to promote the greatest amount of happiness. Happiness is identified with pleasure and the absence of pain' and Bentham tried to produce a secular happiness-making calculus, 'which takes into account the intensity, duration, likelihood, extent, etc. of pleasures and pains' (Mautner 1999 p.64).
Clatworthy uses Bentham's theories and Darwinian evolution as support for
his contention that 'western society is dominated by the neutralist evaluation
of the world' (1997 p.133), describing neutralism as believing 'that only
humans can create values' (1997 p.122). On a similar critical theme, Gellner
quotes
Neutralism, as Clatworthy calls it (1997 p.16), even challenges the existence of ethics as a useful concept (Mautner 1999 pp.374-375). This makes it difficult to establish the basis for evaluating problems in the secular world described by Gellner, Clatworthy and Ormerod. Even 'science, as an ideology and set of practices has been no less immune to the post-structuralist critique than other areas of social life' (Harrison and Burgess, 1994 p.295). Perhaps the only defence for any sort of ethical position lies in Hulme's Law, which proposes 'the principle that factual premises alone cannot imply an ought-statement' (Mautner 1999 p.259). Thus, the statements about the economic potential of the project made in the second case study 'To dam or not to dam' cannot imply that it ought to go ahead.
The philosophy of sustainable
development
Harrison and Burgess (1994 pp. 297-298) describe how social scientists have proposed that there are four potential sets of beliefs and attitudes about environmental change. Only one of these would be expected to be held by environmental activists, such as people studying 'Habitat Creation and Management' and 'Sustainable Development' (Staffordshire University, 1999 p.140 & p.144) at Masters' level, who led the discussions on the two 'protection of the wilderness' case studies. Given this theoretical construct, it would be expected that the implicit assumption for the approach adopted by both groups was that the wilderness should be preserved and, therefore, human interference, especially for economic purposes, should be limited.
The questions raised about the dam were:
- What information is there about the need for the electrical power?
- Is it economically viable?
- Have local (indigenous) peoples' views been sought?
- What effects will there be downstream?
- Where will the employees for both the construction and production phases come from?
- What damage will the associated road building and quarrying do?
- What assessment has been made about the effects on Biodiversity and forestry?
This standpoint agrees with the expected position because it challenges the notion that such development 'is' the necessary price of economic progress. In the terms of Hulme's Law, it suggests an alternative view of what 'ought' to be. It also implies that something can be done, which is an optimistic perspective, within Clatworthy's thesis.
Statements arising from different secular and religious traditions can be used to illustrate that this is, indeed, a significant feature of the wider environmental movement, of which these two groups of students form a part. Thus, John Matthews, 'an internationally recognised expert on Celtic Traditions' (Element Books 1991, back cover), writes:
Even as you read these words our world is dying. It has been systematically desacralized and exploited by modern society to the point where huge areas are already wastelands, and the effect is spreading. It is essential that we do something now to reverse the process, if not for our own sake then for that of our children and their children. Working shamanically is one way of helping. (Matthews, 1992 p.131 - original emphasis and spelling)
Although Matthews represents the 'New Age' pagan revival, his concern is shared by the apparently opposed tradition of 'Celtic Christianity': 'Celtic spirituality is 'green' through and through' (Duncan, 1992 p.103 - original emphasis). The writer of that statement, Anthony Duncan, is a Priest in the Established Church of England, as is Jonathan Clatworthy, who devotes the concluding three chapters of his book 'Good God' (1997) to the argument for an optimistic change towards the 'God-given order of nature' (1997 p.218). Their ideas are also echoed at the highest levels of Anglicanism, as is confirmed by the resolutions of the 1998 Lambeth Conference of Archbishops and Bishops on Creation and Ecology (Resolutions 1.8 & 1.9).
The Ecology Resolution calls for partnership with 'other faith communities, governments and transnational companies' and the 'Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC)' is a tangible sign of such co-operation across the 'nine major religions' (Palmer, 1999, p.12). The Journal 'The Ecologist' carried further examples of a confluence of thought and hope in its edition entitled 'The Cosmic Covenant' (Goldsmith & Goldsmith, 2000). Even the 'grim picture of global devastation' painted by the book of Revelation can be seen as containing 'the richest of all early Christian teaching on the consequences of the despoliation of the Earth while offering a hope-filled vision of its restoration and transformation (Woods, 1999 p.20).
The Schumacher Society has opted for the secular (and political) concept of
'briefings', which offer readers information on 'key aspects of sustainable
development', which can be considered and acted on (1999 p.80). Following in
this vein of what 'ought' to be done to achieve sustainable development in the
secular economic world,
Surprisingly, perhaps the most optimistic interpretation of the alternative future comes from an entrepreneur writing about the future for both his and other businesses:
The Prototypical Company of the 21st Century. What are its characteristics? It is strongly service orientated, resource-efficient, wasting nothing, solar-driven, cyclical (no longer take-make-waste linear), strongly connected to our constituencies-our communities (building social equality), our customers, and our suppliers-and to one another. (Anderson, 1998 p.126 - original punctuation)
However, perhaps he can be regarded as speaking with the zeal of the convert!
Conclusion
There is plenty of evidence that there are those within the environmental movement who believe that everything is sacred. But there are others, fellow humans but with different motives, who act as if nothing is sacred, if there is the chance of a quick profit. Some spiritual environmentalists are so optimistic that they believe anything can be changed, even to the new heaven and earth of the book of Revelation. Yet there are those who are so deterministic (or fatalistic) that they accept that what 'is' just 'is' and that is all there is. Both of these alternatives to the environmentalist position are expressing attitudes that accord with one of the four proposed by social scientists.
The lesson that can be drawn from the two 'wilderness' case studies is of the danger that those seeking to promote and implement sustainable development become so confident about what should be done that they forget that there are other points of view. Thus, it can be easy to write other people off as 'unethical' because they believe that happiness can only come from bodily activity, material possessions and chemical stimulants, all of which are, of course, unsustainable. To be ethical in our own terms, we should try to convince them that there is a better alternative waiting to be achieved. But then, I always was an optimist!
Paul Newman
Bibliography
Anderson, R. (1998), Mid-course correction: Towards a sustainable
enterprise: The Interface model,
Clatworthy, J. (1997) Good God - Green Theology and the Value of Creation, Charlbury, Jon Carpenter
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Goldsmith, E. & Goldsmith, Z. (eds.) (2000) 'The Cosmic Covenant', in The Ecologist, volume 30, No 1, January/February 2000, London, Ecosystems
Harrison, C. & Burgess, J. (1994) 'Social constructions of nature: a case study of conflicts over the development of Rainham Marshes' in Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, NS 19 pp. 291-310 1994 ISSN: 0020-2754
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Matthews, J. (1992) The Celtic Shaman - A Handbook, Shaftesbury, Element Books
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Woods, R. (1999) 'The Seven Bowls of Wrath' in Ecotheology, Issue 7,
July 1999,
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