What exactly is man's responsibility to the environment? When deliberating on whether to take an action that benefits human beings but harms nature or natural organisms, what kind of moral calculus must be undertaken to reach a decision? These are the questions that lie at the heart of the field of environmental ethics. The answer depends greatly on the ethical constructs used to deliberate on the topic. For example, some people hold an anthropocentric view of ethics, believing that the well being of humans takes precedence over all other considerations. Others attempt to create a moral construct based on utilitarian or psychological constructs, arguing that the interests of all conscious beings should be taken into consideration when making ethical decisions concerning the environment. Others still argue that all life has an intrinsic value and must be protected and considered when making decisions. This paper will explore all of the considerations surrounding the field of environmental ethics. We will explore ethics generally, the concept of the environment and man's place in relation to other organisms, and then move on to the various environmental ethical constructs that have been advanced. In the end, we will see that a pragmatic approach that recognizes the relative intrinsic value of organisms and considers their inter-relatedness is the best method.
Before we begin exploring environmental ethics, we must first consider ethics generally. Ethics are inextricably linked to morality. A simple way to conceive of the relationship between morality and ethics is that morality refers to whether an action is right or wrong, while ethics are the standards or code of action that are used to judge whether something is morally palatable. For example, abortion may be moral or immoral depending on one's morals, but ethics explain how that decision regarding the act's morality was taken. Ethics are used to "criticize, defend, ...