Pursuing ecological virtue: A critical analysis of the environmental virtue ethics models of Ronald Sandler, Louke van Wensveen, and Philip Cafaro

This dissertation's introductory chapter will begin with a statement of the thesis and a preliminary outline. A defense of the need for a dissertation on Environmental Virtue Ethics will follow highlighting the growth of environmental ethics as a social issue and its importance to Christian ethics. After providing some limitations and defining some key terms, sections covering the research methodology and availability of sources will follow. The next section, which is very important to the overall goal of the project, will examine a historically biblical approach to virtue ethics with the goal of presenting a framework by which the selected authors can be examined. Finally, this introductory chapter will conclude with a detailed history of the Environmental Virtue Ethics movement. Special attention will be paid to the early paradigmatic figures of the movement, the role of the periodical Environmental Ethics, and contemporary work in the in the area of Environmental Virtue Ethics.;Chapter two will critically analyze the work of Ronald Sandler to determine the unique and specific contribution that he has made to EVE. This chapter will demonstrate and evaluate the premises upon which Sandler's "Virtue-Oriented Approach" to Environmental Virtue Ethics is founded.;Louke van Wensveen¹ is credited for producing the first book-length presentation on the topic of EVE. Her relevance to the topic at hand is magnified because she professes to write from a Christian point of view. Therefore, the focus of chapter three will be to critically analyze the contribution that she has made to this sub-section of environmental ethics by presenting and evaluating the foundations of her Christian worldview.;Chapter four will concentrate on the work of Philip Cafaro who is easily the most prolific writer in the field of EVE and arguably the most influential. First, Cafaro's ontology will be analyzed and it will be demonstrated that his moral norms are grounded in both human nature and personal experience. Additionally, special attention will be paid to his understanding of "ethical goodness" and the inherent worth of every human being. The second part of this chapter will evaluate the means by which Cafaro acquires his moral norms, namely, by means/end analysis and narrative.;Chapter five will provide a unique contribution to the field of EVE by suggesting a preliminary framework for a distinctively Christian environmental virtue ethic. This chapter will begin with a short introduction followed by the presentation of six premises which are reflective of several of the most important points of departure in the current EVE discussions.;This dissertation will conclude with a restatement of the thesis as well as a summary of the entire argument. The work will end with a proposition of potential areas for continued research in the area of EVE. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).;¹Louke van Wensveen has also written under the name Louke van Wensveen Siker. She will be referred to alternatively as both throughout this dissertation. The designation will be determined by the applicable work being referenced.