Consequentialism and Environmental Ethics

This volume works to connect issues in environmental ethics with the best work in contemporary normative theory. Environmental issues challenge contemporary ethical theorists to account for topics that traditional ethical theories do not address to any significant extent. This book articulates and evaluates consequentialist responses to that challenge. Contributors provide a thorough and well-rounded analysis of the benefits and limitations of the consequentialist perspective in addressing environmental issues. In particular, the contributors use consequentialist theory to address central questions in environmental ethics, such as questions about what kinds of things have value; about decision-making in light of the long-term, intergenerational nature of environmental issues; and about the role that a state’s being natural should play in ethical deliberation.

Introduction: Consequentialism and Environmental Ethics Avram Hiller and Leonard Kahn Part I: Environmental Value and Its Structure 1. The Bearers of Value in Environmental Ethics Katie McShane 2. Can Biocentric Consequentialism Meet Pluralist Challenges? Robin Attfield 3. System Consequentialism Avram Hiller 4. Indirect, Multidimensional Consequentialism Alan Carter 5. Why Leave Nature Alone? Ben Bradley Part II: Consequentialism and Environmental Decision-making 6. On Some Limitations of Consequentialism in the Sphere of Environmental Ethics Alan Holland 7. Evaluative Uncertainty, Environmental Ethics, and Consequentialism Krister Bykvist 8. Future Generations and Resource Shares Allen Habib 9. Can We Remediate Wrongs? Benjamin Hale 10. Moral Bookkeeping, Consequentialism, and Carbon Offsets Julia Driver 11. John Stuart Mill's Green Liberalism and Ecofeminism Wendy Donner

Avram Hiller is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Portland State University, USA Ramona Ilea is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Pacific University, USA Leonard Kahn is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University, New Orleans, USA