Browse by Month
|
|
|
Mar
|
|
Apr
|
May
|
Jun
|
|
Jul
|
Aug
|
Sep
|
|
Oct
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
Ethics and sustainability: what makes sustainability a good thing
15 February 2011, 12:00 - 13:30
Ethics and sustainability: what makes sustainability a good thing
In this talk Dr Dower argues that there is nothing valuable in sustainability unless what is (to be) sustained is of value. Much of the contestability of the concept of sustainability resides in different views about what is of value, both about what is worth pursuing and having and about the acceptable ways in which these things are pursued and maintained. Ethics comes into answering these questions about ends and means; for instance, is it human interests that matter or the interests of other living things? Is it the well-being of humans in my community or the world? What ethical constraints operate (e.g. justice, fairness, not harming) to limit what we or our group (town, area, country, association, business company) wish to sustain as valuable to us? Sustainability discourse sometimes functions as part of our goals, but more often functions as part of the ethical side-constraints on other goals. Arguably, the ethical side-constraints must be cosmopolitan (all human beings matter), future-oriented (future generations matter), and bio-centric (policies take into account the impact of actions on non-human life as well).