Reassessment Of The Value Of Nature And A Poetic Habitation

Holmes Rolston (1933—) is a famous contemporary environmental ethicist who is still active in the academic field.Rolston's ideas, which are not unfamiliar to the Chinese academic circle, are, to a certain extent, enlightening to the development of environmental ethics in China.Environmental ethics has a history of only half a century. Generally, we regard the time before 1960s as the sprouting age of western environmental ethics, when there appeared, along with the worsening of environment, a kind of ethical view that advocated caring for the Nature and respecting life. But, with the rapid development of the world economy, in a world in which utilitarianism and pragmatism are dominating in real life, environmental ethics was not widely accepted by the society and far from being popular. From 1960s to 1980s was a time when western environmental ethics developed vigorously. This was reflected in the fact, firstly, that concerns for the environment resulted in an enormous variety of disciplines which focused on environmental issues and, secondly, there appeared various schools of ethical views with those radical ones prevailing. After 1990s, the development of environmental ethics seemed to be losing its momentum. But this does not mean that the theory has come to a dead end, but that it was obviously reoriented. The practical meaning of environmental ethics was strengthened, and radical environmentalism, the limitation of which was exposed, began to give way to the concern for social and ecological problems. The domestication of environmental ethic was receiving unprecedented attention and ecological justice became the core of environmental ethic.Rolston's environmental ethics emerged and matured in a time when western environmental ethics developed vigorously, or we can say that the emergence of his environmental ethical idea was a symbol of the thriving development of western environmental ethics. Some people in the academic circle classified his idea as ecological collectivism and others regarded his as a representative of the western radical environmentalists. Actually, these are all conclusions of Rolston's ideas.Rolston is a scholar familiar to the Chinese environmental ethical circle. On the one hand, the development of environmental ethics in China is characterized by importing from the outside, that is, environmental ethics in China began its development by introducing relevant foreign books and articles in 1980s, when western environmental ethics was developing vigorously. As an active environmental ethicist at that time, Rolston's ideas received their due attention, with his works being translated and published within China and his ideas being introduced to Chinese reader by works written by Chinese scholars. On the other hand, Rolston himself maintains a good interactive and cooperative relationship with Chinese scholars. He once went to China to give lectures and do field research. And he received Chinese scholars in his country. All these may suggest whether a research on Rolston's environmental ethics is necessary.To follow suit is indeed a taboo in academic research. But a research on Rolston's ideas does not necessarily mean copying other's ideas. On the one hand, though Rolton's ideas have been widely introduced in China, they have not been researched on systematically. An introduction only presents objectively the idea of one person, while a research should demonstrate the thoughts and intentions of the researcher. Instead of presenting the knowledge, a research should interpret the idea of the thinker with a clear purpose. On the other hand, a kind of thought should be place in a certain historical and cultural context to understand its value and significance. Therefore, as far as Rolston's ideas are concerned, we should not be satisfied with a list of his views separately and individually but analyze and understand them against a certain cultural background.The above considerations constitute the basis of the structure, contents, and argument of this dissertation. The main tasks of this dissertation are as follows:Firstly, to capture the historical, social and cultural conditions of the development of Rolston's environmental ethics in the evolution of western environmental ethics and, on the basis of this, to place his ideas in a general position.Secondly, to analyze and grasp comprehensively Rolston's environmental ethical ideas. It should be admitted that Rolston is one of the few who established a strict system of ethical thoughts in the history of western environmental ethics. He takes the reassessment of the value of Nature as the theoretical basis and logical starting point and has had many original analysis into and reflection over the value of Nature. He explores the practical aspect of environmental ethics on the basic ethical principle of "following the Great Nature". He holds that the human kind should live a life in harmony with the Nature with a purpose of "a poetic habitation". In addition, he discusses many other theoretical problems, such as the validity of environmental ethics and the combination oriental culture with environmental ethical ideas and so on. In sum, Rolston's ideas are very rich, and to sort out fully and meticulously and to interpret these ideas are among the major tasks of this dissertation.Thirdly, the emergence of any kind of thought has its historical, cultural and social background and a condition to support its work. The research on Rolston's ideas should not be confined to the ideas themselves and should include a more important question: To what extent can western environmental ethics, including Rolston's, be applied to the environmental protection in China? In establishing a system of thoughts and a system of discourse which are typical of China and can take environmental ethics as a special approach to the understanding of the world practically and rationally, what can and should we learn from Rolston.