Philosophy caf? #21 was convened on 20 July 2005 at 8.10pm with 16 participants. Our “launch pad” for the night was a newspaper article about how tuskless elephants are emerging as a response to poachers killing off elephants for their ivory tusks.
The immediate suggestion arising from this discovery is that nature is responding to the situation by selecting for tuskless elephants, thus obviating the need for man to campaign against the ivory trade—in an effort to protect the elephant as a specie. By extension then, the question arises whether we humans need to become environmentalists at all, or can we just assume that nature will somehow manage to find new equilibriums and carry on.
An initial “brainstorm” raised the following further points: Man killed the dodo bird; Pollution is not sustainable; There’s value in biodiversity; Environmentalism is a school of thought, and no school of thought is necessary; Environmentalists have an agenda.
The lively discussion that ensued covered many and varied aspects of the environmentalism issue, including its economics, the difference between developed and developing countries, its practical difficulties etc. Underlying the discussion, however, was the tacit assumption that we humans do need to be concerned about the environment.
When pressed to explain exactly why we humans should be so concerned, the general consensus was that failing to be environmentally responsible would endanger the continued existence of the human specie itself—an anthropocentric justification. However, it was also briefly suggested that nature should be protected for the beauty it provides, that man is part of the environment and hence obliged to protect it.
Two participants raised a critical counterexample. If, just suppose, it is possible for the human race to survive on a barren planet, will there still be a need to be environmentally responsible? It was also noted that just such a scenario would obtain should man ever establish a moon or Mars colony. However, the late hour precluded further discussion on this.
The session ended at 10.15pm.
Posted by philocafesg
at 5:11 PM JST