Preface

1. The Environment: A Global Perspective

PART I. THEORY

2. What Is Ethics?

3. Ethical Relativism: Who’s to Judge What’s Right and Wrong?

4. Egoism, Self-Interest, and Altruism

5. Classical Ethical Theories and the Problem of Future Generations

6. The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis

7. Animal Rights: Sentience as Significant

8. Does Nature Have Objective Value?

9. Ecocentric Holism: The Land Ethic

10. Contemporary Environmental Philosophy: Biocentric Egalitarianism

PART II. APPLICATION

11. Population: General Considerations

12. Population and World Hunger

13. Air Pollution, the Greenhouse Effect, and the Ozone Depletion

14. Water Pollution, Pesticides, and Hazardous Waste

15. Energy: The Ethics of Power

16. Preservation of Wilderness and Species

17. Economics, Ethics, and the Environment

18. The Challenge of the Future: From Dysfunctional to Sustainable Society

Glossary

Index