Land Ethic 4: Intrinsic Value Arguments

Next we come to the topic of intrinsic value. It is here that the Land Ethic truly makes its case. Intrinsic value arguments are made under many different names and assumptions, from the deterministic ‘biophilia’ of E.O. Wilson, to Naess’s ‘Deep Ecology’, and to Callicott and Gorke’s ‘Holism’. The common ground they share is the belief that humankind is a small part of a larger world, a dispensable part, and that life would go on fine without humans around. The first of eight points to the deep ecology platform is that, “the flourishing of human and non-human life on Earth has intrinsic value. The value of non-human life forms is independent of the usefulness these may have for narrow human purposes.” Arne Naess, Ecology, Community and Lifestyle, Cambridge, 1989, CUP, p.29 In developing the idea of a land ethic Leopold had much more than the economic value of nature to humans in mind. He used instrumental arguments since they are generally common ground for all people. He used economic rationale to support the stances he took, but more often than not he writes of the sacrifices required to have a true land ethic, and the main thrust of his essays are for the development of a relationship with the land, a valuing of it for what it is, not simply for what it can provide. He writes that, “It is inconceivable to me that an ethical relation to land can exist without love, respect, and admiration for land, and a high regard for its value. By value I of course mean something far broader than mere economic value; I mean value in the philosophical sense.” ( Leopold,223) “We can be ethical only in relation to something we can see, feel, understand, love, or otherwise have faith in.” (Leopold, 214) Clearly Leopold thought that the land ethic must grow out of a ‘love’ for the natural world.

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Land Ethic 3: Utilitarian Arguments

Utilitarian arguments for the development of environmental ethics make much of the statistics and about the state of the world, but they take the moral sphere and extend it beyond anthropocentrism to all sentient creatures. Very simply put, utilitarianism equates happiness with goodness, but since happiness is so subjective and difficult to measure their focus ends up falling on the alleviation of suffering. Peter Singer is a modern ethicist who has written extensively on the world-view. His ethic extends to all sentient creatures, anything that increases happiness or pleasure is ‘right’, anything that causes suffering is ‘wrong’. This is good so far as it goes. What sane person would actively desire another’s needless pain or suffering that is not for the greater good? Weaknesses in the utilitarian arguments become obvious when extended to the environment. Singer uses a wooded valley with hydropower potential as an example or case study of why ethics are important. Flooding the valley would cause the displacement and subsequent death, therefore suffering, of many sentient creatures. He does not address why the death and suffering imposed by a dam is worse than that imposed by mother nature as a rule of her regular workings. Also, using this logic, if over the long term it could be shown that a greater amount of ‘happiness’ would result from the construction than the ‘suffering’ it would cause, then there would be a moral imperative to build the dam.

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Land Ethic 2: Instrumental Arguments

Faced with the huge, daunting ecological challenges our technological society has created, what is an appropriate Christian response?  More specifically, do the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg justify developing an intimate relationship with the land that supports us a la “The Land Ethic” so eloquently envisioned by Aldo Leopold?      Starting at the most external level is the economic set of arguments used to promote a land ethic.  They are called instrumental arguments because they value nature’s use to mankind as a source of products such as coal, wood, food – a source of all basic necessities.  Nature (land) is seen as having instrumental value to man as a means of meeting his needs, both material and aesthetic.  The instrumental arguments used suppose that human life is good and that future human life is desirable.  Therefore it is wrong to imperil human life by irreparably damaging the natural world that supports it. The philosopher Holmes Rolston points out that this is “an ethic that is secondarily ecological”. (Rolston, 13, Wild)  He goes on to show that the laws of health are non-moral but we break them to our own detriment.  Therefore most people impose an “antecedent moral ought,” which in the case of health is “you ought not harm yourself”.  By extension then you, “ought to preserve human life” is the antecedent moral ought to the “moral imperative” of conservation and preservation of land. (Rolston, 13-16, Wild)

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Land Ethic 1: Introduction

Land Ethic is posted in a series of six sections. This essay was published previously in New Philosophy (Jan-June 2005). - Editor.

See next sections: 2: Instrumental Arguments; 3: Utilitarian Arguments; 4: Intrinsic Value Arguments; 5: Theological Arguments; 6: New Church Arguments

We live in a time of unprecedented change in the natural world. Ecologists tell us that we are currently experiencing the sixth mass extinction in the history of the world, but with one key exception. The current crisis differs from the previous five in that it is human induced. Acid rain, soil erosion, global warming, suburbanization, and over or conspicuous consumption are just a few of the problems facing us at the turn of the millennium. It would not be difficult to add many other items to this list, but it is beyond the scope of this paper to address the actual manifestations of ecological degradation in any detail, or for that matter even attempt to evaluate the veracity of the facts surrounding these environmental problems. Rather, this paper is premised on the belief that while there may be some discrepancies or even distortions in the way scientific research is used and presented, the total effect of mankind's current modus operandi is having a deleterious effect on the natural world. The earth's stocks of resources, natural capital – genetic, hydrologic, mineralogic, atmospheric, etc. – are being consumed or overburdened far faster than they can replenish.

Faced with the huge, daunting ecological challenges our technological society has created, what is an appropriate Christian response? More specifically, do the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg justify developing an intimate relationship with the land that supports us a la “The Land Ethic” so eloquently envisioned by Aldo Leopold?

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Feeling Complete

Janine draws on practical examples and passages from the Word to illustrate her quest for peacefulness. She paints an all-to-familiar picture of the obsessive energy of trying to get everything right before the peace and enjoyment in life can be experienced. Is she trying too hard? Is she not trying hard enough? Janine asks herself, she asks the Lord in His Word and the reader is challenged to look at the same questions.

These days I have a thought lodged in the back of my head that goes like this: “Have I experienced this (fill-in-the-blank) enough to feel totally satisfied?” Or maybe it sounds like: “Have my needs been met enough for me to move on from this and meet other people's needs now?” Let me fill this in with some examples. I am out for a walk and I have a fear that if I don't walk long enough I will feel a little cheated of personal time, so as I walk I think, “Is this far enough yet so that I can let it go? Did I get all the exercise I need so I can move on to something else?” In another example, I am eating a meal and I don't want to stop until I feel totally satisfied. I don't want to overeat either, but I just don't want to leave the table at all hungry, because if I do, my mind will be half distracted by feeling hungry instead of having a feeling of completion about the meal and a willingness to move onto the next thing.

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A Parable for the Future

Its difficult to summarize what Dylan does in this piece. You should probably just read it. The whole thing has the tone of challenge and asks New Church people to expand their thinking, to not assume that they are entitled, and to expect the manifestation of the Lord's presence on earth to keep evolving and out pacing any of our own expectations. He also promises us a sequel.

The world is still evolving.

I think those of us steeped in the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg tend to lose sight of that. We're understandably focused on the 18th century, that great event some two-hundred and fifty years ago when Heaven bent down and touched the Earth for only the second or third time in its multi-billion year life span; that brief embrace that left us with a tangible impression of the beautiful, spiritual reality perched just beneath our time-and-space mammalian existence. And yes, it deserves such focus. Cryptic only in its girth and intellectual rigor, a careful study of the Writings promises its readers a consistent, comprehensive blue print of the Lord's intentions for the human race. It fills in historical and theological gaps that the Christian world has fought with for millennia. It offers hope, and a plan of action. Freed from dogmatic constriction and endlessly interpretable parables, the Writings also feel true. And we have them now. Awesome.

And we've had them now for two-hundred and fifty years.

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