A Study On The Call Of The Wild From The Perspective Of Environmental Ethics

The issue concerning the relationship between humans and animals has been long-standing.Among all human relationships with nature,the one with animals is the most intimate.Thus,humans often take into account the relationship between humans and animals.Jack London is one of the most remarkable American writers,and his famous novel,The Call of the Wild,tells a story that a dog named Buck returns from the civilized Southland to the wild Northland in the conflict with humans.This thesis intends to make an analysis of The Call of the Wild from the perspective of environmental ethics.The thesis questions and criticizes the traditional ethics of anthropocentrism,and affirms intrinsic value of animals.At the same time,it explores different human duties to animals in the conflict between the civilized Southland and the wild Northland set by London.The thesis tends to pursue the harmony between humans and animals through the analysis of the relationship between them in the novel.This thesis consists of four chapters besides the introduction and the conclusion.The introduction has an overview of Jack London and his novel,The Call of the Wild,and the literature review on this novel both at home and abroad.Chapter One is the theoretical foundation of the thesis,giving a brief introduction to the theory—Holmes Rolston's environmental ethics.Chapter Two reveals the value of Buck from two aspects,instrumental value and intrinsic value,emphasizing the objectivity of Buck's value.Since value generates duty,the discussion of human duties is based on the premise of affirming the objectivity of value.Animal value,especially intrinsic value,gives important guidance on human duties to animals.Chapter Three explores different human duties to Buck both in the civilized Southland and in the wild Northland.Human culture comes into being in the long history of human beings and often has the positive counteraction on human thought and human behavior.The interaction between nature and culture deeply influences human beings' the contemplation of their duties to animals.In The Call of the Wild,London sets the story in the conflict between the Southland and the Northland,that is,the conflict between culture and nature,to explore different human duties.Two principles put forward by Rolston give guidance to human duties to animals,one is the homologous principle in human culture,that is,not causing more sufferings in human culture than they would have endured in wild nature,and the other is the appreciation principle in wild nature,that is,only appreciating the natural behaviors of animals in wild nature and not interrupting the course of wild nature.The discussion of human duties paves the way for rethinking of the relationship between humans and animals.Chapter Four specifies the ideal mode of coexistence of humans and animals.As humans live in the planet and coexist with all other life forms,they will inevitably confront with ethical contemplation posited by the coexistence.In The Call of the Wild,Buck has been in conflict with humans in his return to wild nature,which shows London's awareness of human-animal relationship.London describes two more ideal human-animal relationships(human-Buck relationships)in the novel to show his positive attitude to human's respect for animals.At the same time,Buck's return to wild nature indicates that each individual has its own place of satisfactory fitness in nature,“niche”.And “niche” is where it really belongs.Humans are adapted for the human niche,that is,“culture,” while animals are adapted for their niche,that is,“wild nature.” This is the thematic implication of Buck's return to wild nature at the end of the novel.The conclusion of this thesis points out that every individual in nature is intrinsically valuable and,therefore,worthy of human respect and the best fitness for animals lies in wild nature,not in human culture.Humans,as a part of nature,should shoulder duties actively to respect every individual in nature and the whole ecosystem.Only in this way can our blue planet be full of vitality in the future.