Thursday, June 6, 2019

Pragmatism and the Environment Essay Example for Free

Pragmatism and the Environment EssayThe environment is at stake. The earth we live in is a democracy of slow deaththat the world is dying everyday just as the human body loses body cells every minute. Every native resource of the world is continu every last(predicate)y abused without thought of the consequences. In a way, human beings are that of a virus, a systemic biological specie that consumes an abundant and relatively near part, destroys it, moves on to another area, and leaves the consumed, worthless, and decimated. However, human experience teaches us that we cannot always deny the rude(a) law because as intelligible beings capable of understanding, we have the natural talent to adapt to any environment given and finding ways and means to survive. As such, the development of the human race is not possible if not for our natural inclination of adaptability, protection of species, and survival. In the essay Pragmatism and Environmental Thought by Kelly Parker (1996), she mentions what we must not try to do is not to master the natural world, but to cultivate meaningful lives within various environments. This coincides with the natural law of adaptability, in which human beings choose not defy standards as outlined by nature but to harness it and provide necessary means of survival. Pragmatic Knowledge and Environmental Issues Pragmatism heavily relies on factual understanding preferably than the complete belief in the innate ideas of the human mind. William James, John Dewey, Charles Pierce, among other founders of American pragmatism during the start of the century, argued that there are no innate beliefs in which knowledge is ground.This means that knowledge is not innately transposed upon the human mind. Rather, experience confirms this baseless knowledge through factual and concrete understandingthat an political theory is only accepted as true if it is to be found practical in application. Human experience is then the basis of such prac ticality and its truthfulness is defined through practical solutions. The environment is not detached from the pragmatist or any other being. The environment is part of the experience, that there is a symbiotic relationship amidst the two biological systems as well as other deportment systems.Parker (1996) emphasized this point in her essay environment, in the most basic sense, is the sphere of influence where experience occurs, where my life and the lives of others arise and take place (p. 29). Every circle must have definite bounds in which it interacts and from that interaction is where experience revolves. finished these experiences, there have been developments in the field concerning the environment, especially on ethics. The development of environmental ethics is based on the pragmatic movement.More specifically, the interaction between the two different world views of nature leads to the eventual development of these ethics. These ethics later be rise moral standards for people until they become a norm of backup for most. Based from these practical experiences, these social norms transform into methods of newer forms of social responsibility and enhance environmental awareness such as new laws and legislations concerning the environment, grassroots activism, among others. The Ethical/ spheric Problem As inferred by the pragmatic view, pragmatisms role with the environment is to a greater extent on application rather than theorization.In a more worldwide perspective, human beings have the natural tendency to abuse their surrounding and not to take into account their own actions against different bionomic systems around them. This coincides with the public debate on moral pluralism and anthropocentrism. Moral pluralism specifies no single moral principle or everyplace-arching theory of what is right can be appropriately employ in all ethically problematic solutions (Parker, 1996, p. 31). There is no ultimate and essential set of moral laws gover ning every scenario of moral problems.Because of the subjectivity of experience, it cannot be applied to any moral problem because of the lack of objectivity. In relation to environmental cases, there are different moral standards (i. e. , culture, geographical location) that must be interpreted into account in order for a set of moral/environmental laws to be applied. These different subjective inquiries on what should be protected, allowed, or banned come into a moral dilemmawhether it would be practical or not. Moral pluralism is also related to the problem of anthropocentrismthe prioritization of values for human beings.Human life is placed on greater importance rather than other outside factors. In her article, Parker (1996) further explains this line of reasoning Again, this is not to say that human whimsy is the measure of all things, only that humans are in fact the measurers. This must be a factor in all our deliberation in all environmental issues. We can and should speak on others behalf when appropriate, but we cannot speak from their experience (p. 2). The essay proposes that we create standards and laws by speaking for ourselves and for the things that we want to protect based on our own experiences and judgment.For instance, the advocates of endangered species or an ecological subsystem represent their party to other human being. It is through the advocates that these creatures are represented in the debate over human need. The Global Challenge With the looming threat of global warming, greenhouse gas, and other ecological concerns, what we should do is concentrate more on right action and proper representation of all the numerous aspects of the environment. We have already identified several problems that cause environmental distress recently and from these problems, there should be a readying of steps to quickly counteract these issues.If left ignored or continually debated upon without any concrete formulas of implementation, these problem s will continue to grow until they become uncontrollable. The proper need of identifying these problems will help in creating different strategies as well as formulating legal actions that will help protect and preserve environmental issues. The factual and general perspective is the world is dying and it continues to deteriorate as the number of human population increases. The matter of proper action comes into play through the environmental advocacies all around the world that supports of revitalizing planet earth.However, there remains the fact that human beings generally view the environment as something that can be planted, created, destroyed, and recreated again. This rhythm method of birth control implies that even with human intervention, the natural law of nature will still take its place. Society, especially today, should select to adapt and live harmoniously with the environment in order to create a symbiotic relationship between the two. We also have to address the apa thy of humans towards its environment.We should remove from the human mindset that the ecological system that we live in is not infinite and it will soon vanish if we are to let our actions not reflected upon. By examining our actions, we may come to a realization that everything that we do may affect the environment in ways that we might not even know. Removing this unconscious reinforcement may well be one of the keys in solving our environmental problem. The depletion of our natural resources, the unnatural effects of greenhouses gases and the growing number of human population are just a hardly a(prenominal) of many environmental issues that should be given importance.Although these problems are already experiencing drastic developments for the last six years, we already have the initiative and the technology to somehow fall its steady increase and may eventually, although not essentially eradicate, balance the gap between human state of living and the environment. Living with an ecological system, we must learn how to balance our actions and lifestyles in order to build a beneficial relationship. In this way, everybody wins.ReferenceParker, K. (1996) Pragmatism and Environmental Thought. In A. Light E. Katz (Eds. ) Environmental Pragmatism. London and mod York Routledge (21-37).

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