Research On Environment Virtue And Education

Serious ecological crisis is one of big problems in China. The Ideological and moral educators have to work on improving the situation by their research work and moral education. This dissertation is researching on the virtues between human and nature.It is a classic educational approach to tell story of some excellent moral model. Here comes a group of excellent people such as Suonandajie, Liangcongjie, Zhangzhengxiang, and Yangshanzhou. As the moral models, they have the different spirit from the traditional moral models such as Baozheng,Hairui,Leifeng, Jiaoyulu,NormanBethuneand Huangj iguang.Because their moral characters and virtues are environmental but not interpersonal.Then the questions arise:What kind of virtue it would be? What is the meaning of the virtue? What can other people learn from them? In my opinion, it can be named as Environmental Virtue.Research on Environmental Virtue, my dissertation will ask and answer five questions in turn:"Is the environmental virtue necessary?"——"what are the resources of the environmental virtue research?"——"Whether environmental virtue is possible?"——"what are the content of environmental virtue?"——"how can we practice the environmental virtue?" The dissertation contains five sections:Section1:There are two approaches employed by the environmental ethics to demonstrate that human has moral duty to nature:one is to value nature by the ability of conscience, the rights and intrinsic value. The purpose is to show that the nature has moral status. Another is to limit the human's actions by the environmental ethics rules. Combine the two approaches then it shows that the nature is moral and the human is immoral. It doesn't work due to the absence of human or the human is environmentally immoral for the environment protection. So protecting environment should be based on human and human's virtue.Section2:In the western culture tradition, Aristotle's ethics is the classic theory of virtue. In his nature philosophy, nature means everything acts naturally, including human. The arete means it is the good and things act well, the virtue is also means human act good and naturally. Nature and virtue both means act naturally. In Chinese traditional culture, the basic idea is the unit of virtue of human and nature. There are several ideas such as "houdezaiwu"(to carry the outer things with a breadth character),"renminaiwu"(to love all the people and animals)," changshanjiuwu"(skillful at saving things and not cast away any things),"minbaowuyu"(people are my brothers and all things are my kinds) are the resource of environmental virtue research.Section3:the revival of virtue ethics is an important thing for ethics and it should focus on the relation of virtue and nature. The metaphysic theory of virtue ethics can be the foundation of environmental virtue. First, human is beings socially and naturally, the environmental virtue is reflect of human's naturally being. Second, the community is the environment in which people can self-realize and virtue--culture. As an extended community from blood relation community, political community, human live in an ecological community will help them to culture their environmental virtues.Section4:By four approaches such as extending interpersonal virtue, seeking agent-benefit virtue, confirming human flourishing and excellence virtues and checking the character of green people, environmental ethics show that there are hundreds of environmental virtues. Ronald Sandler and Louke van Weensween have provided two types of environmental typology. My dissertation tries to construct another new circle system of environmental virtues in Chinese culture. The virtue of harmonies and unit is the core circle,then around it is the circle with four basic virtues:respect,integrity, benevolence and frugality. The third extended circle includes more others virtues related to the four basic virtues.Section5:Many programs have been engaged in China in recent year and more and more people know the importance to protect environment.But there are less people would like to attend the environmental program or do it in daily life automatically. Beacause the idea of environmental moral education comes from normative ethics. The character of normative ethics is to limit people's action from outside instead of to encourage people to protect environment by the inner impetus. The ideal of environmental virtue education is exactly to encourage people enjoy naturally and happy life and to reach self-realize.There two approaches to cultivate environmental virtues:one is to teach people the local ecological knowledge and foster the emotion between human and their habitant; another approach is to enjoy the low carbon life and against the consumerism.