T02. 道德考量(moral consideration)：倫理與科學 Part I 倫理與科學 T02. 道德考量(moral consideration)：倫理與科學 鄭先祐 (Ayo) 教授 國立臺南大學 環境 與生態學院 生態科學與技術學系

鄭先祐 (Ayo) 教授 國立臺南大學 環境 與生態學院 生態科學與技術學系 環境倫理學 鄭先祐 (Ayo) 教授 國立臺南大學 環境 與生態學院 生態科學與技術學系

環境倫理學 Part I 倫理與科學 Part II 倫理推定(presumptions)的建構與驗證 T00. 簡介：環境倫理與哲學 T01. 道德哲學(moral philosophy)：理性與感性 T02. 道德考量(moral consideration)：倫理與科學 T03. 倫理與經濟：公有財 (The Common Good) Part II 倫理推定(presumptions)的建構與驗證 T04. 責任 (duty)：自然和未來世代 T05. 品性 (character)：生態美德 T06. 關係 (relationships)：同理心與正直 T07. 權利 (rights)：人類與動物 T08. 後果 (consequences)：預測未來 Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

環境倫理學 Part III 自然學習 (Learning from Nature) T09. 生活：可持續消費 T10. 環境政策：政府、機構和NGOs T11. 健康環境：空氣與水 T12. 農業：土地與食物 T13. 公有地：適應式管理 T14. 城鄉生態學：綠色建構 T15. 氣候變遷：全球溫化 Ayo Env. Ethics 2011

T02. 道德考量 (moral consideration)：倫理與科學 2.1 What we know and can’t know 2.2 An evolving theory of evolution 2.3 Ecosystems and emergent properties 2.4 Ascribing value to Nature. Questions Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

T02. 道德考量 (moral consideration)：倫理與科學 In 1972 an essay titled “Should trees have standing? – Towards legal rights for natural objects” triggered a fierce debate among lawyers and moral philosophers about ascribing moral consideration to nature. It has long been accepted in ethics and law that standing is given only to persons and their institutions. Thus, a duty to care for a forest is really a duty to care for private property or for public land including the trees on it. The natural world exists for human happiness. Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

Sentient animals Jeremy Bentham (1789) defines happiness as pleasure and the absence of pain and argues that animal suffering should be considered in predicting what actions will yield the most pleasure. A leading contemporary utilitarian, Peter Singer, also includes sentient animals in our moral community. The self-organizing nature of organisms and ecosystems has parallels with human autonomy. Understanding of evolution and ecology is relevant for doing environmental ethics. Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

2.1 What we know and can’t know It is often claimed that science stands mute on questions of values. This claim is certainly incorrect. For what we value depends on what we believe, and what we believe is strong influenced by science. What we believe about the world depends on what we know. Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

Sense-making Our brains construct our perceptions. Perception is not a process of passive absorption, but of active construction. The human brain has complex feedback systems that filter and interpret sensory experience, and these systems are affected by our experience. Your understanding of reality is constructed in large part according to your expectations and beliefs, which are based on all your past experiences. Our perceptions affect what we experience. 經驗欠缺知識是淺的，知識欠缺經驗則是空的。 Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

2.1 What we know and can’t know Science is what we know, and what we know is only what our observations tell us. It is unscientific to ask what is really out there. Whatever we know, we know only from within the entangled relationships that constitute our sense of reality. Our observations cannot fully disclose (揭露) reality. Our knowledge only approximates reality. Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

2.1 What we know and can’t know These scientific insights have three critical implications for ethics 1. we are the environmental crisis 2. we are the only solution to the environmental crisis. 3. we are responsible for realizing the moral potentiality of nature. Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

Scientific uncertainty Scientists aren’t any time soon going to give politicians some magic answer. Policy makers for a long, long time are going to have to deal with a situation where it’s not clear what the costs and benefits are, where lots of people disagree about them, and they can’t wait until everything is resolved. Robert J. Lampert (2003) Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

2.2 An evolving theory of evolution Charles Darwin, 物種原始論：天擇(Natural selection), 適者生存 (the survival of the fittest) Social Darwinism (社會達爾文主義) continues to cast a shadow over environmental ethics 基因的發現 Expression of genetic information depends on the environment Experience itself can modify the expression of genes Phenotypic plasticity (可塑性) Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

2.2 An evolving theory of evolution Brain plasticity (可塑性) Neuro-plasticity Our minds can change our brains. Individual vs. group selection Selfish(自私的) vs. altruistic(利他的) genes Complex systems of communication are present among animals. Bees dance Learning ability (學習能力) of chimpanzees Culture (文化) of primates Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

2.2 An evolving theory of evolution Organisms evolve and change the environment that selects them. Organisms coevolve as well as eat one another and compete. Humans (and many other organisms) learn, communicate and choose. Mammals change their brains and humans change their minds. Neutralism (中性論)、Entropy (火商) Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

2.3 Ecosystems and emergent properties Ecology now seeks to describe the integrity of an ecosystem. Many relationships within the environment are mutually beneficial, or symbiotic. Ecosystems Ecosystems are everywhere. The ecosystem is delimited by the climate, altitude, water and soil characteristics, and other physical conditions of the environment. Be defined as the collection of biotic and abiotic components and processes. Nutrients cycles and Energy flow (a functional unit) Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

生命世界的組成架構 -- 是無法切割的。 -- 非「of、by、for」某個學科 Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

Doing environmental ethics Ecosystems sustain symbiotic and predatory relationships among organisms. Ecosystem processes are complex, self-organizing, diverse and resilient. The emergent properties of an ecosystem are irreplaceable. The consequences of damaging ecosystems are not easy to predict. 生命力量 (Gaia hypothesis) 時間與空間的研究 Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

生命力量 假若35億年前地球上並沒有生命出現，且至今亦都一直沒有生命存在，地球目前的環境將會是如何？沒有生命存在的地球，其大氣中充滿二氧化碳(98％)，而缺乏氧氣；其地表的平均溫度可高達290℃(表1)。 沒有生命存在的地球與金星相似，但與有生命的地球之差距有如天壤之別(表1)。 Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

§ 地球的生命力量 （Gaia 假說） Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

圖8. 生物學的時間與空間的範圍。中間方形區是指「生物個体」的生物學。時間量度以年為單位；空間則以公尺為單位。基本資料取自Kohn (1989), p.1096。 Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

2.4 Ascribing value to nature Science cannot verify that nature has a purpose, nor can scientific reasoning determine whether the natural world has intrinsic worth. Yet, scientific knowledge is relevant for addressing these questions by moral reasoning. Nature generated diversity Evolution is an emergent process Organisms and ecosystems are self-organizing Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

1. Nature generates diversity The biosphere is profoundly generative, somehow fundamentally always creative. Randomness is a diversity generator. Randomness guarantees the trial-and-error exploration of the potentialities of the system. If the result has value (as human beings, we certainly think that we have value), it seems reasonable to ascribe value to the natural means that have led to the valued result. Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

2. Evolution is an emergent process All organisms (parts) are emergent aspects of the self-organizing process of life (whole), and that the proper way to understand the parts is to examine their embedded relations to the whole. Evolution generates not only organisms but diverse and complex ecosystems. Ecosystems are in some respects more to be admired than any of their component organisms because they are generated, continue to support, and integrate tens of thousands of member organisms. The ecosystem is as wonderful as anything it contains. Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

3. Organisms and ecosystems are self-organizing Life is self-organizing at all levels. Far more complex than any computer or robot. Every organism has a good-of-its-kind, it defends its own kind as a good kind. A bacterium maintains its identity. All life has intrinsic value for itself. Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

Nature has objective value Is nature without value until there are humans to value it? Not if we understand the act of ascribing value as recognizing value, rather than creating value. We attribute value to our lives because we reason that human life has worth. Valuing is the subjective recognition of objective value. If our (subjective) valuing of nature is reasonable, then nature has (objective) value. Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

Nature has objective value Understanding that human beings have evolved and rely on the earth’s ecosystems makes it clear that human life is only part of the generative process we call nature. If there are good reasons for ascribing intrinsic worth to nature, then we have a duty toward nature, as it is, to act with care. The evolutionary and ecological processes that led to human life– and thus to consciousness, knowledge, and ethics– have objective value not only after humans exist, but in the millennia of natural history that generated a profusion of organisms and ecosystems. Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

Questions What is brain plasticity? Why is this natural fact significant for ethics? Identify an ecosystem “emergent property”? How might we value this property? Give two reasons for asserting that nature has intrinsic value. Why is this moral presumption significant for environmental ethics? Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

Ayo NUTN website: http://myweb.nutn.edu.tw/~hycheng/ 問題與討論 Ayo NUTN website: http://myweb.nutn.edu.tw/~hycheng/

 生態學的發展史 (一) Social ecology + Cultural ecology 1970s Conservation + Landscape + Restoration(復育) 1960s Ecology 才逐漸被認為是重要的「科學」。 1950s 各自發展屬於自己領域的「人類生態學」。 1940s 1930s 1920s 生態學的理論基礎 1910s Animal Ecology + Human Ecology (人類生態學) 1900s Ecology 成為「生物學」中三大部之一。 1866 Haeckel, Ernst : 第一個使用 Ecology Social ecology + Cultural ecology  Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

生態科學的發展史 (二) 2000s Business Ecology + Information Ecology + Knowledge Ecology + 大學系所(doctoral degree) 1990s Journal of Industrial Ecology + Eco-efficiency (生態效率) 1980s Eco-Industrial park + Deep Ecology + Spiritual Ecology + Radical ecology + Eco-ethics 1970s Industrial Ecology + Conservation + Landscape + Restoration (復育) + EIA (環評) 1960s Ecology 才逐漸被認為是重要的「科學」。 Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011

學術發展：智價革命 生態科學與技術的發展 人類生態學：自然與人文的對話、互動與整合 復育生態學：都會區生活圈的物種復育 事業生態學：事業生態價值化 工業生態學：工業生態程序化 生物模擬(Bio-mimicry)：向自然學習 Ayo Do Env. Ethics 2011