NDLI: Ethical Theory and the Problem of Inconsequentialism: Why Environmental Ethicists Should be Virtue-Oriented Ethicists

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Sandler, Ronald
Copyright Year	2009
Abstract	Many environmental problems are longitudinal collective action problems. They arise from the cumulative unintended effects of a vast amount of seemingly insignificant decisions and actions by individuals who are unknown to each other and distant from each other. Such problems are likely to be effectively addressed only by an enormous number of individuals each making a nearly insignificant contribution to resolving them. However, when a person’s making such a contribution appears to require sacrifice or costs, the problem of inconsequentialism arises: given that a person’s contribution, although needed (albeit not necessary), is nearly inconsequential to addressing the problem and may require some cost from the standpoint of the person’s own life, why should the person make the effort, particularly when it is uncertain (or even unlikely) whether others will do so? In this article I argue that justifications for making the effort to respond to longitudinal collective action environmental problems are, on the whole, particularly well supported by virtue-oriented normative theories, on which character traits are evaluated as virtues and vices consequentially or teleologically and actions are evaluated in terms of virtues and vices. If ethical theories are to be assessed on their theoretical and practical adequacy, and if providing a compelling response to the problem of inconsequentialism is an instance of such adequacy, then this is a reason for preferring virtue-oriented ethical theory over non-virtue-oriented ethical theories, such as Kantian, act utilitarian, and global utilitarian theories.
Starting Page	167
Ending Page	183
Page Count	17
File Format	PDF
ISSN	11877863
Journal	Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
Volume Number	23
Issue Number	1-2
e-ISSN	1573322X
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2009-08-07
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Virtue-oriented ethics Utilitarianism Kantian ethics Global environmental problems Plant Sciences Theory of Medicine/Bioethics Agricultural Economics Evolutionary Biology Ethics
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Environmental Chemistry History Agricultural and Biological Sciences

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