Environmental Values Environmental Values
Environmental Values 17(2008): 331-351. doi: 10.3197/096327108X343112
ABSTRACT
Recently, natural scientists have begun to support an interpretive turn in ecology. Yet the ethical implications of interpreting nature have not been sufficiently addressed. In this essay, I use different interpretations of nature to make three distinct but related points relevant to forestry: (1) ecological narratives should be evaluated on the basis of ethical norms, (2) the choice of which interpretations of nature and ethical norms to use in environmental policy should be conducted by a process of public deliberation, and (3) scientific narratives should be denied a priori privilege over non-scientific interpretations of nature for policy purposes.
KEYWORDS
Forestry, ethics, scientific norms, interpretation, responsibility
REFERENCES to other articles in Environmental Values:
The Boulder and the Sphere: Subjectivity and Implicit Values in Biology. Peter Alpert
Re-Thinking Nature: Towards an Eco-Pluralism. Patrick Curry
The Liberation of Humanity and Nature Eric Katz
Cabbages and Kings: The Ethics and Aesthetics of New Forestry Alan G. MacQuillan
Environmental Philosophy and the Public Interest: A Pragmatic Reconciliation. Ben A. Minteer
Pragmatism, Adaptive Management, and Sustainability. Bryan G. Norton
The Silence of Nature. Steven Vogel
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