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Ecology
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Eco-Ethics:
A
New
Foundation
for
Morality
by
Stephen
Wing
A
century
ago,
right
here
on
Earth,
our
great-grandparents
lived
in
another
world
most
of
us
can
barely
imagine:
an
alternate
dimension
of
reality
that
was
rigidly
structured
into
moral
absolutes
like
“right”
and
“wrong.”
In
those
days,
morality
was
enforced
not
so
much
by
armed
police
as
by
a
cosmology
that
promised
fabulous
rewards
and
fearsome
punishments
after
death
in
return
for
“good”
or
“bad”
deeds.
All
of
Western
Civilization
lived
in
fear
of
God's
judgement,
besieged
by
Satan's
temptations.
Heaven
and
Hell
were
more
real
in
people's
imaginations
than
the
places
we
collectively
go
in
the
dark
of
the
movie
theater
today.
Two
rival
siblings,
Christianity
and
Islam,
reigned
over
much
of
the
world
for
a
millennium.
Even
those
who
didn't
share
their
“consensus
reality”
learned
to
play
by
their
rules,
or
risk
the
consequences.
Human
punishments
mimicked
the
imagined
tortures
of
the
afterlife.
To
the
conscious
person,
and
many
a
smart
kid,
this
reward/punishment
scenario
seems
like
primitive
brainwashing,
with
little
relation
to
spirituality.
Besides,
the
makers
of
history
rarely
followed
any
rules;
kings
and
aristocrats
used
“morality”
mostly
to
keep
the
peasants
in
line.
Nevertheless,
down
to
the
present
day,
many
people's
movements
for
social
reform
are
still
rooted
in
this
religious
heritage
of
personal
accountability
and
moral
absolutes.
The 20th century brought a mingling of cultures, the rise of science, humanism, democracy, and a more personal spiritual search. An Age of Moral Relativity was born. Traditionalists everywhere decried the erosion of respect for their rules and taboos as people put every moral value to the scientific test of trial and error, making their own rules and their own history for a change.
Human
rights,
feminism,
self-help,
multiculturalism,
and
grassroots
social
change
are
part
of
their
legacy.
So
are
epidemic
addiction,
divorce,
overconsumption,
environmental
destruction...
But
as
the
21st
century
begins,
on
balance,
the
list
of
do's
and
don'ts
bequeathed
to
us
by
the
collision
of
ethical
traditions
seems
basically
sound.
As
a
society,
as
a
community
of
religions
and
races
and
subcultures,
as
common
people
of
good
will,
we
still
frown
on
murder,
unconsensual
sex,
bullying,
discrimination,
theft,
etc.
The
vast
majority
of
humans
differ
only
over
the
details.
Ecology
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