An ethics of biodiversity: Moral theology, ecology, and environmentalism

Coined only twenty years ago, the word 'biodiversity' has become an organizing principle for many thinkers and activists. For most who study and use the concept, it not only describes the variety of nature, but also implies a normative assertion that this variety is valuable and must be preserved in the face of expanding human development. This dissertation therefore analyzes biodiversity as both a characteristic of the natural world and an organizing concept among ecologists, environmentalists, and ethicists.; A work of moral theology, this study begins by articulating and defending a naturalistic methodology, thinking theologically with a careful focus on the reality of God's creation. I draw on the work of James Gustafson in particular to argue that the discipline of moral theology should take the natural world seriously and engage in rigorous and careful interdisciplinary dialogue, exemplified here by a careful study of ecological science. I argue that ecological theory about the scales and levels of research attention has particularly important implications for the ways ethicists understand moral arguments.; This dissertation is directed not only at professional ethicists, but also at environmentalists. The value of biodiversity is assumed, but so is a need for more careful and deliberate moral argumentation on its behalf. As a contribution to this project, I introduce four ethical questions concerning the reality, value, styles of reasoning, and scalar level of arguments about biodiversity. To demonstrate the usefulness of these questions, the Endangered Species Act and the claim that biodiversity is sacred are discussed in detail. From those analyses emerges an argument about the importance of balancing political-legal and morally formative efforts in environmentalist work.; The dissertation struggles to make these simultaneously ethical and environmentalist arguments, reflecting a firm commitment to a thoughtful and complex environmentalism in conversation with a meaningful and applied moral theology.