Foundations of Ethics - Essay Example

Foundations of Ethics Foundations of Ethics Gao seeks to construct an environmental ethics theory based on environmental aesthetics. Additionally, he aims to promote and advocate for environmentally sustainable lifestyles, practices and policies. Gao examines the aesthetic admiration of nature and philosophical comprehension from a Chinese philosophical tradition. This has an impact on the public’s attitude towards nature (Gao, 2012). Gao focuses on the relationships between the environment and ethics. This supports my argument about importance of ethics in environmental management. China has a lengthy history of civilization that has always kept the Chinese population in close contact with their nature. The Chinese civilization focused on agriculture. Taoism and Confucianism acted as the two main schools of thoughts and Chinese philosophy. The interaction of Chinese civilization with nature has led its people to gain an appreciation and admiration towards nature (Gao, 2012). The Chinese culture highly value nature. The valuing of nature in this culture results from emotional influences. Chinese art such as gardening, landscape painting and poetry has a close relationship with nature. This shows that the pursuit of nature with harmony is a constant event and effort in Chinese cultural practice and philosophy. The Chinese culture views nature as a self-generating process of reproduction and production of life. The Chinese economy heavily relies on manufacturing and exporting, which leads to immense environmental degradation. Additionally, China has made huge investments in the exploitation of natural resources in Asia and African countries. This also leads to massive environmental degradation because of overexploitation. The interactions of Chinese societies with nature are influenced by the concept of chi that plays a crucial role in Chinese philosophy. The concepts of chi and empathy immensely influence the Chinese appreciation of nature. Chinese philosophy views nature as an organic system that is continuously self-generating. The concept of chi is essential in the ethical interaction and appreciation of nature. Chi contains both spiritual and material meaning (Gao, 2012). Cheng Chung-Ying states that chi contains epistemological, metaphysical and scientific theory and aesthetic dimension (Cheng, 1986, 356). Chi has characteristic features that are closely interconnected. These features are creativity, emptiness and continuity. Continuity means that chi is the basic component that makes everything. Therefore, all spaces and things are interpenetrated, unified and interconnected. For instance, human beings, as components of nature, organically interconnect with trees, mountains, animals, spaces and rivers (Gao, 2012). The concept of chi and Chinese philosophy indicate that it is unethical for human beings to interrupt the interconnectivity of these components. Chinese societies use the idea of chi in traditional environmental analysis. Chi leads to the generation of a universal sympathetic resonance among the universe. The resonance and interpenetration of space and things result from the characteristic of emptiness. Therefore, things in nature are inter-reliant instead of being commonly exclusive (Gao, 2012). Additionally, the vacuity of chi can influence things because they are not self-contained. Chi has creativity, which means that chi is always in a process of movement that reproduces and produces life. Chi has inexhaustible powers that make it transit the self-generating transformation and movement. Chi manifests Tao, which occurs as a combination of beauty, truth and good (Gao, 2012). This is representative of ethics. In order to embrace all the characters of chi and appreciate nature, it is essential for humans to cultivate humanity. Additionally, humans should enlarge their mind in order to develop a moral nature characterized by innate capabilities of being sensitive to other life forms. This will help humans to embrace all things in caring ways. This will give humans an ability to identify with everything. In terms of the fully developed moral nature, humans can develop intellectual intuition that will enable them to understand the reality of the world. The appropriate appreciation of nature must associate the moral capacity of humans to acknowledge the reality of nature. This means that it is essential to separate humans from nature. Ethical environmental management is because nobody should impose his fantasy on nature. Therefore, the ethical understanding and management of nature requires a willing recognition and acknowledgement of the reality of other elements present in nature (Gao, 2012). This represents moral capacity instead of an intellectual capacity in ethical environmental management. In order for humans to appreciate nature, they must have the relevant sensory experiences with the elements of nature. It is vital to put the elements in their historical and cultural context, which means that the elements require interpretation in their own terms (Saito, 2006). This placement of nature avoids incorrect and mistaken evaluations of natural elements. These exercises may lead to amusement, excitement and education merit, but they are inappropriate for cognitive and moral understanding of nature. Humans need to see nature as a challenge to overcome their perspectives (Saito, 2006). The ethical function of nature is to eliminate the prejudice and scales that prevent humans from seeing and perfecting the powers to perceive. Therefore, the elements of nature are means for entering into other forms of participation and relationships. Appreciating nature helps humans cultivate a moral capacity for recognizing and comprehending other realities through sympathetic imagination. Superficial perception of nature using sensory experiences leads humans to impose their fantasies, ideas and notions on nature. For instance, humans think that they appreciate nature through hunting and keeping animal trophies. These western notions of appreciation have led to speculations that wild places will acquire additional value as they become scarce. As a result, humans have begun to think of wilderness as an ineluctable human need. Aldo Leopold notes that humans impose on nature by killing animals and cutting down trees because they think that they are reducing the population of these elements in order to make nature manageable (Leopold, 1966). This creates a notion that animals must die in order for humans to live. In my opinion, it is unethical for humans to think that they can manage nature, yet they do not understand the elements of nature and their interdependencies. Conclusion Ethical environmental management requires deep comprehension of nature and the interdependencies between natural elements. Humans as components of nature are dependent on the trees, rivers and mountains found in nature. Ethical environmental management requires the use of the concept of chi and sympathetic imagination. Chinese ethical appreciation of nature immensely contributes to environmental management. This ethical appreciation is based on the concept of chi that results from thousands of years of Chinese civilization. The concept of chi indicates that nature is creative, empty and continuous. The concept of chi is crucial in environmental analysis because it leads to a generation of universal sympathetic resonance. Therefore, humans can understand that the elements of nature are interdependent rather than mutually exclusive. References Cheng, C. (1986). “On The Environmental Ethics of the Tao and the Ch’i.” Environmental Ethics 8 (1986):351–370. Gao, S. (2012). The Beauty of Nature as a Foundation for Environmental Ethics: China and the West. University Of North Texas. Leopold, A. (1966). A Sand County Almanac: With Essays on Conservation from Round River. New York: Oxford University Press. Saito, Y. (2006). Appreciating Nature On Its Own Terms. Environmental Ethics. Vol. 20. Page 135-150. Read More