TA 5/2008 (113. vuosikerta)

Human Nature and Morality: Toward a Relational View of Moral Agents by Environmental Ethics —Environmental ethics has endeavoured to justify as a universal claim that nature as individual nonhumans and as organisms and wholes has normative significance for human moral agents. An argument has been made for nature’s status as a moral object by extending the moral domain. Sticking to the philosophical framework of modern ethics, however, implies the presuppositions of exclusively humanist ethics. In this article, I consider the criticism against the modernist presuppositions of human moral agency. In modern ethics, a moral agent is seen as exceptional, capable of using her individual reason and free will independently from both her material and social determinants. This is much criticized by both constructionists and naturalists – from very different perspectives. Many environmental ethicists also argue for socially, culturally and materially embodied and embedded human moral agency – and sometimes (especially in the case of eco-feminists) they seem to combine elements from both constructionism and evolutionary naturalism. My argument is that from the viewpoint of their common target of criticism, they may serve to re-conceptualize a moral agency for ethics that attempts neither to remain modernist nor to become postmodernist. They may serve in search of a relational account of moral agency.

In Times of Transition: Human Visions and Conceptions of Morality — The article illustrates how an analysis based on the transition between modernity and late modernity can yield new insights on environmentalism, ecotheology and environmental ethics. Given as examples are the visions of Pentti Linkola and Seppo Kjellberg regarding the value of humanity and nature and their mutual relationship.

The Panentheist Conception of God as an Eco-theological Discovery — In panentheism, God is understood to be dynamically present both in and beyond His creation. It has been claimed that panentheism is better equipped than classical theism to respond to the theological, philosophical and ethical challenges of modern times. The focus of this article is on what the panentheist conception of God has to give to eco-theology. Ecological effectiveness is connected to a readiness to approach a comprehensive conception of reality. With this shift, the panentheist conception of God will enable us to return to an experience of nature as something sacred and worthy of respect.