The density of human population combined with the development of powerful and largely unconstrained technology has given us the problems of the anthropocene and the serious possibility of self-caused extinction. Dale Jamieson More Quotes by Dale Jamieson More Quotes From Dale Jamieson The Consequentialist trinity is typically regarded in this way: Bentham is crude, Mill's writings are full of howlers and inconsistencies, and Sidgwick was too smart to fully embrace Consequentialism. All of these great traditions in moral philosophy express strands of our moral consciousness and they should all be treated as research programs rather than as fully determinate views that can be leveled by a counterexample or by a clever argument. Dale Jamieson smartcleverphilosophy Kantians are saddled with absolutist views, Aristotelians are accused of vagueness, and there is almost no horror to which Consequentialists are innocent of, according to some critics. While all these families of views have been victimized in these ways, Consequentialists have gotten the worst of it. I think this may have something to do with the fact that Kant and Aristotle are acknowledged to be great philosophers, and we tend to read the greats sympathetically, while Consequentialism is a family of views not rooted in the work of a single great man to whom this kind of deference is owed. Dale Jamieson viewsmenthinking A common rhetorical strategy of politicians and others is to frame their opponents' views in the worst possible light, tacitly suggesting that all versions of the view must be committed to some particularly deplorable conclusion. Philosophers are not immune to this way of arguing. Dale Jamieson rhetorical-strategieslightviews Philosophers are often actively disinterested in what happens between the cup and the lips (after all, that's "non-ideal theory"). Dale Jamieson philosopherlipscups Philosophers tend to radically underestimate the distance between abstract principles (such as "reduce suffering") and what it might actually mean for people to act on them. Dale Jamieson distancemeanpeople Philosophers (and probably most intellectuals) are more interested in pursuing what they see as the logical implications of their theories than they are in paying attention to the shlumpy diversity of defensible values that people actually have, and then trying to figure out how these might be negotiated in the life of an agent or community. Dale Jamieson diversitycommunitypeople I worry that even well-intentioned attempts to "improve nature" (say by reducing suffering) will make things worse even in their own terms. Dale Jamieson reducingsufferingworry You can't imagine anything like nature as we know it without predators. Dale Jamieson predatorimagineknows Some philosophers have begun writing sympathetically about predator elimination as a way of reducing animal suffering. From an environmental perspective this is somewhere between naïve and potentially disastrous. Dale Jamieson perspectivewritinganimal Increasingly both environmentalists and animal ethicists recognize the enormous destruction caused by animal agriculture. Dale Jamieson agriculturedestructionanimal The idea that we would raise billions of sentient animals, treat them horribly, pollute our waterways with their waste, compromise the effectiveness of our antibiotics so that they grow faster, and then slaughter them with little regard to their suffering so that we can feed off their corpses, will seem to most people unthinkably cruel and barbarous - sort of in the way that we think of medieval punishments, or Europeans today think of the death penalty. Dale Jamieson punishmentanimalthinking I think that by the middle of this century people will still be eating meat (though less), and their meat will mostly be produced in factories through synthetic processes, cell cultures, and so on. Dale Jamieson cellspeoplethinking Attitudes are changing very quickly. Dale Jamieson attitude Environmental philosophy just is philosophy full stop. It only sprung up as distinct subfield because mainstream philosophy was ignoring some of the most important philosophical challenges of our time. Dale Jamieson sprung-upphilosophicalphilosophy If you look globally you see a patchwork of jurisdictions (nations, states, provinces, cities) that have taken aggressive action on climate change, and a patchwork of jurisdictions that have not. These various policies reflect the politics of each jurisdiction and the values of its citizens. Dale Jamieson citizenstakencities
