A Study On The Defense And Development Of The Land Ethic By J. Baird Callicott

J.Baird Callicott is the defender and interpreter of Leopold’s land ethics.As the core figure of ecological philosophy,he made the most in-depth and comprehensive analysis of land ethics from a new perspective.Callicott’s defense and development of land ethics are mainly affected by two aspects: on the one hand,because of the attention of ecological environment,the current ecological crisis needs a feasible ecological ethics;On the other hand,when studying the issue of ecological ethics,he first came into contact with Leopold’s “A Sand County Almanac ”,which was deeply inspired by the "land Ethics" in his works,defended and developed it,and was committed to perfecting and incorporating the land ethics into the tradition of western ethics,so that his theory can be accepted by the philosophical circle.Callicott’s research on land ethics first summarizes the theoretical construction and the theoretical problems and dilemmas.The evolution of land ethics is described in the form of a story,and the concept of land community is explained in detail,so that human beings can fulfill their corresponding responsibilities and obligations.Land ethics puts forward a new moral code of ecological ethics and expands the obligation of land community.However,the construction of land ethics has also caused a series of theoretical problems and difficulties,especially in the aspects of deontology,naturalism and holism,which has been questioned and criticized by many scholars.In terms of obligation theory,it does not give priority to human values and interests,resulting in the inability to make the best choice when obligations are diversified;In terms of naturalism,it directly deduces "should" from "yes",without making a corresponding distinction between the two,resulting in the naturalistic fallacy;In terms of holism,it puts the goodness of the community in the highest position and ignores individualism,which is mistaken for "environmental fascism".As a representative of holism,Callicott defended and developed it.Aiming at the theoretical dilemma in land ethics,he explored the correctness of Leopold’s moral development and process,and opened the possibility of people using various ecological ethics to realize mathematical logic operation;Aiming at the problem of deontology,this paper puts forward the Sop-1 and Sop-2 principle to solve the priority problem of moral responsibility.Aiming at the fallacy of naturalism,Callicott resorted to Darwin Hume’s theory of emotion to solve it;Aiming at the dilemma of holism,this paper constructs a "concentric circle" theoretical model to combine the Sop-1 and Sop-2 principle,which not only adheres to ecological holism,but also avoids environmental fascism.In the process of defense,it not only solves the theoretical problems and difficulties of land ethics to a certain extent,but also promotes the innovation and development of land ethics,and finally forms the ethical holism of three-level opposition among humanitarianism,humanistic moralism and land ethics.Callicott’s defense and development of land ethics provides a more mature and reasonable trend for the philosophy of ecological ethics,and provides a new research method.On the one hand,the defense and development of land ethics is a great innovation in the field of ethics,and creates a new standard for ecological ethics,which has good theoretical significance;On the other hand,the defense and development of land ethics has promoted the transformation of human life ideology.People realize that they are no longer the conqueror of nature,but just one of them.They should reasonably limit their behavior,which is also conducive to alleviating the ecological crisis and dealing with the relationship between human and nature,which has brought practical significance.