Evolving ecological ethics

I construct a theoretical framework for an ecological ethic that takes evolution as its starting point. I present a developmental conception of nature that includes humans, and that abolishes nature/culture dualism. I emphasize that organisms and environments evolve complementarily, therefore the entity warranting moral consideration is an organism-in-its-environment. I argue that intrinsic value and subjectivity have evolved within nature, and that organisms are teleological beings that possess a good-of-their-own. I contend that what is consciously good with moral agents has its evolutionary origin in what is unconsciously good, because human morality has developed within nature, thus overcoming the naturalistic fallacy. I argue that a rational morality is ecological. Finally, I show that an ecological ethic that is practiced through a contextual ethic of care, and informed by diverse epistemologies, has left-libertarian political implications. Thus my central thesis is that humans can evolve an ecological ethic that is just and sustainable.