DesJardin Chapter 8

I was glad to see that the holistic ethics of Aldo Leopold were discussed at greater length in our last reading (chapter 8). Being somewhat convinced that I’m not either in the anthropocentric or non-anthropocentric camps I feel this chapter would be quite significant in my understanding of my ethical stance. In breaking down Leopolds ethical holism, Desjardins seems to progress through the perspective of Leopold’s Holism. He cites the very popular quote in his description of this ethics: “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends to do otherwise” (DesJardin, 186).  To me, initially the rule seemed to be quite sound in it’s logic, but I found my notion to quickly change. DesJardin lays out exactly how deep Leopold was thought to hold this ethic and how he found it “reasonable to adapt ethical holism in regards to ecological communities.” It seemed to be the most practical means of making decisions about resource management, “an adequate understanding of ecology can come only from holistic…explanations” and the metaphysical claim that the earth can be regarded as a living thing.

Many struggled with two particular concepts of this interpretation: how such properties as integrity, stability, and beauty” can be given to characterize ecosystems and “how (can) ecological facts support ethical conclusions?” (DesJardins, 185) The second concern in particular I struggled with as well, having been so involved with the sciences in college that there certainly has been difficulty bridging is and ought, although Jon Moline’s response that Leopold’s approach was more of an indirect holism has made it easier to reconcile these two.