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Book part
Publication date: 27 December 2013

Mandatory non-anthropocentrism: The political unrealism of making metaethical demands in environmental ethics

Jason Dockstader

This chapter argues that environmental ethicists commit a serious error when they require that people hold a moral realist metaethical belief in the intrinsic value of…

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Abstract

Purpose

This chapter argues that environmental ethicists commit a serious error when they require that people hold a moral realist metaethical belief in the intrinsic value of non-human living things and non-living natural things in order to be able to behave in an ethically acceptable manner toward the environment.

Methodology

Environmental ethics regard this position as the mandatory non-anthropocentrism one must first hold in order to be in a proper moral relationship to the environment. The main reason for seeing this requirement as an error is that it is politically unrealistic insofar most people most of the time behave in political contexts on the basis of instrumental and not intrinsic reasons. To claim that people can behave in a morally acceptable manner toward the environment if and only if they first believe in its intrinsic value is not only politically unrealistic, but also actually false.

Findings

The chapter looks at recent studies measuring the behavior of political and moral philosophers which shows that they do not behave in any markedly way better than non-moral philosophers. Ethicists, whom one can assume believe in some form or another of the mind-independent reality of moral properties, are not more morally well-behaved for holding such a belief.

Implications

Ethicists, especially environmental ethicists, are in no position to require of us to believe in the intrinsic value of the environment in order to behave in more beneficial ways toward it.

Details

Environmental Philosophy: The Art of Life in a World of Limits
Type: Book
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S2051-5030(2013)0000013011
ISBN: 978-1-78350-137-3

Keywords

  • Anthropocentrism
  • intrinsic
  • environment
  • realism
  • politics
  • metaethics

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Article
Publication date: 12 June 2019

Posthumanism and tourism

Erik Cohen

This study aims to raises the question of the potential impact of posthumanism, a stream in contemporary postmodernist philosophy, on current tourism practices and tourism…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to raises the question of the potential impact of posthumanism, a stream in contemporary postmodernist philosophy, on current tourism practices and tourism studies. The author discusses its denial of some basic positions of enlightenment humanism: human exceptionalism, anthropocentrism and transcendentalism. The author then seeks to infer the implications of posthumanist thought for the basic concepts and categorical distinctions on which modern tourism and modernist tourist studies are based.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper raises the question of the potential impact of posthumanism, a stream in contemporary postmodernist philosophy, on current tourism practices and tourism studies. The author discusses its denial of some basic positions of Enlightenment humanism: human exceptionalism, anthropocentrism and transcendentalism. The author then seeks to infer the implications of posthumanist thought for the basic concepts and categorical distinctions on which modern tourism and modernist tourist studies are based. This paper raises the question of the potential impact of posthumanism, a stream in contemporary postmodernist philosophy, on current tourism practices and tourism studies. The author discusses its denial of some basic positions of Enlightenment humanism: human exceptionalism, anthropocentrism and transcendentalism. The author then seeks to infer the implications of posthumanist thought for the basic concepts and categorical distinctions on which modern tourism and modernist tourist studies are based. The author then discusses some inconsistencies in posthumanist philosophy, which stand in the way of its applicability to touristic practices, and end up with an appraisal of the significance of posthumanism for tourism studies.

Findings

The author pays specific attention to the implications of the effort of posthumanism to erase the human-animal divide for tourist-animal interaction, and of the possible impact of the adoption of posthumanist practices on the tourist industry and the ecological balance of wilderness areas. The author then discusses some inconsistencies in posthumanist philosophy, which stand in the way of its applicability to touristic practices, and end up with a brief appraisal of the significance of posthumanism for tourism studies.

Originality/value

This is the first attempt to confront tourism studies with the radical implications of posthumanist thought. It will hopefully open a new line of discourse in the field.

Details

Tourism Review, vol. 74 no. 3
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-06-2018-0089
ISSN: 1660-5373

Keywords

  • Anthropocentrism
  • Posthumanism

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Book part
Publication date: 11 November 2019

Edible Humans: Undermining the Human in The Walking Dead and Other Zombie Television

Kelly Doyle

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Man-Eating Monsters
Type: Book
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78769-527-620191007
ISBN: 978-1-78769-528-3

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Book part
Publication date: 11 November 2019

Eaten in Jurassic World: Antihumanism and Popular Culture

Dina Khapaeva

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Man-Eating Monsters
Type: Book
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78769-527-620191002
ISBN: 978-1-78769-528-3

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Article
Publication date: 1 March 1994

Hunt versus Anderson: Round 16

Donncha Kavanagh

Argues that the philosophical debate in marketing, led by Shelby Huntand Paul Anderson, is no longer providing new insights and issymptomatic of the anthropocentrism of…

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Argues that the philosophical debate in marketing, led by Shelby Hunt and Paul Anderson, is no longer providing new insights and is symptomatic of the anthropocentrism of the social sciences. This anthropocentrism has had consequent implications for meta‐theoretical frameworks that describe the field and has limited the breadth of philosophical discussion in marketing. Also argues that this discussion should now move beyond the subject‐object debate and identifies writers who have variously tried to transcend the paradigm. Argues that the debate should move from epistemological to ontological and metaphysical issues and that marketing′s philosophical discussion should also be broadened to include debate on aesthetics, theology and technology.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 28 no. 3
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/03090569410057272
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

  • Consumers
  • Marketing
  • Philosophy

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Article
Publication date: 30 December 2020

Environmental ethics, religious taboos and the Osun-Osogbo grove, Nigeria

Yemi Adewoyin, Ekene Michael Mokwenye and Ndidiamaka Vivian Ugwu

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) identifies building and development, a major corollary of population growth and urbanization…

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Abstract

Purpose

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) identifies building and development, a major corollary of population growth and urbanization, as the number one primary threat to the conservation of heritage sites worldwide. With efforts at conserving these sites focussing on anthropocentrism and ecocentrism, this study introduces and examines the role of the traditional African religion as a conservation strategy using the Osun-Osogbo grove in Nigeria as a case study.

Design/methodology/approach

Satellite imageries of the grove and surrounding areas were analysed for land-use and land cover change using Geographic Information Systems (GISs). A review of documentary evidence and key-informant interviews were also carried out on the state of the grove and how religious beliefs impact same.

Findings

Results showed that between 1986 and 2017, vegetal covers decreased by 77.1% while built-up areas grew by 342.4%. Despite the phenomenal rate of urbanization in the study area, the grove remained largely intact and even recorded a marginal increase in its vegetal cover and plant species. Qualitative data revealed that the fear of the religious taboos associated with the resident goddess of the grove, rather than a moral responsibility to the environment, was responsible for these outcomes.

Originality/value

The application of remote sensing and GIS in a transdisciplinary study of cultural heritage makes the work novel and contributes to the methodological approaches for such studies. The findings also show the potency of religion in environmental and cultural conservation.

Details

Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHMSD-01-2020-0019
ISSN: 2044-1266

Keywords

  • World heritage sites
  • Environmental ethics
  • African traditional religion
  • Osun-Osogbo grove
  • Osun goddess
  • Population and urbanization

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Article
Publication date: 3 December 2020

Effects of managers' environmental attitudes on waste management practices in small hotels in Accra

Ishmael Mensah and Emmanuel Twumasi Ampofo

Drawing on the upper echelons theory, the study examines the effects of environmental attitudes of hotel managers on the waste management practices of small hotels in the…

Open Access
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Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on the upper echelons theory, the study examines the effects of environmental attitudes of hotel managers on the waste management practices of small hotels in the context of a developing country.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey involving 246 managers of small hotels in the Accra Metropolitan Area was undertaken using a questionnaire that was based on the Waste Management Hierarchy and the revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scales.

Findings

Results of the study showed that environmental attitudes of managers significantly influence the waste management practices of hotels, specifically, the anti-anthropocentricism, anti-exceptionalism, eco-crisis and balance-of-nature dimensions of the NEP scale. The study also found that all the environmental attitude dimensions had more significant effects on the waste disposal option because usually in developing countries, small hotels by their nature are more predisposed to undertaking this option.

Research limitations/implications

Future studies should use longitudinal data to make causal inferences and consider the use of a rigorous statistical test such as common latent factor analysis.

Practical implications

Waste management problems in small hotels require softer sustainability strategies geared towards creating environmental awareness and inculcating the right environmental values in hotel managers in order to change the way managers view the environment.

Originality/value

Results of the study indicate that in the context of small hotels in developing countries, managers with eco-centric attitudes are more likely to engage in less expensive waste management practices rather than the most environmentally-friendly options.

Details

International Hospitality Review, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IHR-08-2020-0032
ISSN: 2516-8142

Keywords

  • Waste management
  • Environmental attitude
  • Upper echelons theory
  • Small hotels

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Article
Publication date: 21 June 2013

Conceptual understanding of sustainability in the Australian property sector

Sara J. Wilkinson

The built environment is responsible for around half of total greenhouse gas emissions and the majority of emissions are produced during building lifecycles. As such the…

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Abstract

Purpose

The built environment is responsible for around half of total greenhouse gas emissions and the majority of emissions are produced during building lifecycles. As such the property sector has considerable potential to reduce lifecycle emissions and can contribute in mitigating global warming. However our existing conceptual understanding of sustainability is variable to the point of being disjointed and ambiguous and this could imply our efforts to realise reductions may not reach their potential. This paper seeks to address these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting a qualitative paradigm, this study used published information on property company websites regarding sustainability in a content analysis to address the questions: What is the conceptual understanding of sustainability within the ten leading Australian property firms? and What is the implication of this level of conceptual understanding with regards to delivering sustainability?

Findings

There are distinct differences between the conceptual understanding of sustainability within the firms, indicating a different worldview exists across these firms. It is probable that this information is published without a conscious decision to represent a technocentric or ecocentric worldview, and as such it reflects the lack of breadth and depth of understanding in the current discourse regarding sustainable development in some property firms. Some elements of the sustainability discourse are omitted from their conceptual understanding. Academics have a responsibility and an opportunity to widen the discourse so that current and future generations are able to make informed decisions in respect of the degree of sustainability it is necessary to adopt.

Research limitations/implications

The limitation of a content analysis approach is that there is no opportunity to explore the underlying reasons for what is found. Thus the researcher is unable to ascertain whether omissions regarding the discourse of sustainability issues are conscious or sub‐conscious.

Originality/value

There is now a growing body of work around property and sustainability. Most of this work is focused on ways in which to implement sustainability or how sustainability is being integrated in the built environment. Little work is centred on the fundamentals of sustainability and understanding of the principles and how this impacts on the degree of sustainability practiced by those firms. The underlying hypothesis is that a weak conceptual understanding will only ever deliver weak sustainability at best. Weak sustainability is insufficient to avert the project climate change outcomes forecast by the United Nations.

Details

Property Management, vol. 31 no. 3
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/02637471311321496
ISSN: 0263-7472

Keywords

  • Sustainability
  • Australia
  • Property

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Article
Publication date: 12 January 2021

Critical creatures: children as pioneers of posthuman pedagogies

Karin Gunnarsson Dinker

This paper addresses two main questions: What is taught about animal ethics in primary school and how. Are these messages challenged by the students and, in that case, how…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper addresses two main questions: What is taught about animal ethics in primary school and how. Are these messages challenged by the students and, in that case, how and why? This is discussed in the light of Critical Animal Pedagogies.

Design/methodology/approach

The findings drawn upon in this paper are from a critical human-animal ethnographic study carried out in three Swedish primary schools between 2012 and 2017 using a case study approach of interviews, observation and intervention.

Findings

This paper suggests that children's subtle ways of resisting and negotiating their own space in the face of adultism, which is the power adults exercise over children, are an ongoing struggle which can both destabilize anthropocentrism and open up space for new pedagogical practice.

Originality/value

This paper explores the implications of and possibilities for teaching and learning given the positions of human children and non-human animals intersect, foremost exploring the agency of children in the school environment.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-10-2020-0464
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

  • Agriculture
  • Activism
  • Children's agency
  • Animal rights
  • Authority power

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Book part
Publication date: 17 June 2020

Reading the Bible as Waters Rise: Ecological Interpretation of Scripture

Emily Colgan

In his renowned article published in 1967, Lynn White Jr argues that a causal relationship exists between Christianity (grounded in the Bible) and the contemporary…

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Abstract

In his renowned article published in 1967, Lynn White Jr argues that a causal relationship exists between Christianity (grounded in the Bible) and the contemporary ecological crisis. ‘Western’ Christianity, insists White, is the world's most anthropocentric religion, and it is this anthropocentrism that underlies human harm of the environment. The ecological crisis, he argues, is a religious crisis. But White also suggests that since the roots of the ecological crisis are largely religious, the remedy must also be (broadly) religious. With White's words in mind, this chapter outlines a strategy for Christian communities to read the Bible in such a way that it might contribute to the emergence of an ecological sensibility that is appropriate to the environmental concerns of climate crisis in the twenty-first century. It then offers a brief ecological reading of Genesis 1 and 2, exploring how such an interpretation might provide faith communities with a foundation for re-conceiving the relationship between God, Earth and humanity. This chapter argues that, set alongside the ever-increasing scientific discoveries that point towards interdependence and the continuity of all life, the Bible has the potential to act as a powerful resource for Christian communities in the ongoing endeavour to alleviate environmental degradation.

Details

Science, Faith and the Climate Crisis
Type: Book
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83982-984-020201010
ISBN: 978-1-83982-987-1

Keywords

  • Ecological interpretation
  • Earth Bible Team
  • genesis
  • creation narratives
  • Lynn White Jr
  • ecological hermeneutics

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