Minority Research Of Ecological Ethics

Ecological ethics has aroused great concerns of people nowadays with the aggravation of ecological environment and ecological crisis. In China, ecological ethics appeared as early as in the records of the Pre-Qin Period while such ideas of the ethnic peoples can be traced back to the food-foraging and hunting eras with the lowest productivity. With the time passing by, the ecological ethics of the ethnic peoples have been constantly enriched and have become an integral part of the ethnic traditional culture.Ethnic regions, the green screen and bio-diversity treasure in China's border areas, are the important factors of ecological stability and play an important part in the ecological construction of the country. However, exploitations of the ethnic regions over the recent past, though conducive to the promotion of regional economy and the elevation of people's living standard, have undermined the roles of the ethnic ecological ethics, endangered the local ecological environment, and thus brought about ecological crisis. These serious problems have become a great barrier to the further development of the ethnic regions and have exerted negative effects in other parts of China. It is therefore urgent to reconsider people's misconducts exclusively for economic promotion and to take good advantage of the ideas and measures of environmental protection formed in the history by the ethnic peoples.This dissertation is to reveal the forms of the traditional ecological ethics of the ethnic peoples and to excavate the ecological ethic ideas embedded in their nature view, religions, ways of production and living, customs, and common laws. It intends to conduct a comprehensive investigation on the traditional ecological ethics of the ethnic peoples so as to provide theoretical foundations for reasonable exploitations and sustainable development in ethnic regions via explorations of their ideas of the relationship between man and nature.The dissertation consists of the Introduction and five Chapters of the main body. The Introduction contains the study background, the present situations of the research, and definitions of the basic concepts.Chapter I Ideas of Nature and Ecological Ethics of the Ethnic PeoplesThis Chapter starts with the view of nature conceived in the myth of Creation of the ethnic peoples, and analyzes the attitudes of the ethnic peoples toward the universe in pre-religion time. Through concrete representations of nature and conjectures of the origins of the universe and human beings, a conclusion is made that human being, gods, and animals share the same origin and ancestor, hence the nature view of heaven and humans integrated into one. The research reveals the subjective-objective relations in the ethnic ecological ethics.Chapter II Ecological Ethics of the Ethnic Peoples in Their Spiritual CultureThis Chapter discusses the ecological ethics embedded in the spiritual culture, covering primitive religions, artificial regions, and festival customs of the ethnic peoples. It touches on the ecological ethics implied in the activities such as nature worship, animal and plant worship and totem worship in primitive religions, which conveys a group consciousness of obedience to the nature and the harmonious coexistence between man and nature. Moreover, it explores the ecological ethics of Taoism, Buddhism and Islamism disseminated in the ethnic regions, and the ecological ethics in religious and agricultural festivals of these regions.Chapter III Ecological Ethics of the Ethnic Peoples in Their Material CultureThis Chapter studies the ecological ethics in the productive activities like fishery, husbandry, and farming of the ethnic peoples and concludes that the ethnic ecological ethics have taken on the features of adaptability, stability and practicality. Moreover, it focuses on the food and drinkingculture and residential culture to examine the ecological ethics in the livelihood of the ethnic peoples and discusses their ecological ethics in water source protection, generalization of food source and the selection of residence.Chapter IV Ecological Ethics of the Ethnic Peoples in Their Institutional CultureThis Chapter analyzes the ecological ethics conceived in the ethnic institutional culture covering taboo, common law and behavioral customs, and studies the continuation of ecological ethics by institutional culture as well as the ecological law enforcement system. Taboos play the role of adjusting the relationship between man and nature via the effect "being apt to the fortunate and escaping from the bad", driving people to maintain a harmonious relationship with the awesome nature. Village regulations that constitute the common law protect the natural resources like forests, grassland, water, and wild animals. Customs in marriage and funeral somehow regulate people's behavior and activities. The ethnic institutional culture, characterized by its confinement and enforcement, has been passed down in oral or written forms and has become a safeguard integrated in the ecological law enforcement system.Chapter V Examination of the Ethnic Ecological Ethics from a Modern PerspectiveThis Chapter compares the ethnic ecological ethics with the traditional Chinese ethics, analyzes the basic features, historical value, present situation and problems of the ethnic ecological ethics, and points out the great significance of the traditional ethnic ecological ethics to the construction of modern ecological ethics and harmonious communities in ethnic regions...