Chapter 2
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- blind experiments
- Those in which those carrying out the experiment don't know until after data has been gathered and analyzed which was the experimental treatment and which was the control
- deductive reasoning
- Deriving testable preditions about specific cases from general principles
- instrumental value
- Value or worth of objects that satisfy the needs and wants of moral agents. Objects that can be used as a means to some desirable end.
- nihilists
- Those who believe the world has no meaning or purpose other than a dark, cruel, unceasing struggle for power and existence
- scientific theory
- An explanation supported by many tests and accepted by a general consensus of scientists
- parsimony
- If two explanations appear equally plausible, choose the simpler one
- environmental justice
- A recognition that access to a clean, healthy environment is a fundamental right of all human beings
- LULUs
- Locally Unwanted Land Uses such as toxic waste dumps, incinerators, smelters, airports, freeways, and other sources of environmental, economic, or social degradation
- morals
- A set of ethical principles that guide our actions and relationships
- environmental racism
- Decisions that restrict certain people or groups of people to polluted or degraded environments on the basis of race
- controlled studies
- Those in which comparisons are made between experimental and control populations that are identical (as far as possible) in every factor except the one variable being studied
- inherent value
- Ethical values or rights that exist as an intrinsic or essential characteristic of a particular thing or class of things simply by the fact of their existence
- stewardship
- A philosophy that holds that humans have a unique responsibility to manage, care for, and improve nature
- double-blind design
- One in which neither the experimenter or the subjects know until after data has been gathered and anlalyzed which was the experimental treatment and which was the control
- inductive reasoning
- Inferring general principles from specific examples
- relativists
- Those who believe moral principles are always dependent on the particular situation
- ecofeminism
- A pluralistic, nonhierarchical, relationship-oriented philosophy that suggests how humans could reconceive themselves and their relationships to nature in nondominating ways as an alternative to patriarchal systems of domination
- paradigms
- A model that provides a framework for interpreting observations
- environmental ethics
- A search for moral values and ethical principles in human relations with the natural world
- anthropocentrism
- the belief that humans hold a special place in nature; being centered primarily on humans and human affairs
- biocentrism
- the belief that all creatures have rights and values; being centered on nature rather than humans
- utilitarians
- Those who hold that an action is right that produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people
- toxic colonialism
- Shipping toxic wastes to a weaker or poorer nation
- moral subjects
- Beings that are not capable of distinguishing between right or wrong or that are not able to act on moral principles and yet are capable of being wronged by others
- moral extensionism
- Expansion of our understanding of inherent value or rights to persons, organisms, or things that might not be considered worthy of value or rights under some ethical philosophies
- reproducibility
- Making an observation or obtaining a particular result more than once
- values
- An estimation of the worth of things; a set of ethical beliefs and preferences that determine our sense of right or wrong
- universalists
- Those who believe that some fundamental ethical principles are universal and unchanging. In this vision, these principles are valid regardless of the context or situation
- moral agents
- Beings capable of making distinctions between right and wrong and acting accordingly. Those whom we hold responsible for their actions.
- hypothesis
- A provisional explanation that can be tested scientifically
- significant numbers
- Meaningful numbers whose accuracy can be verified
- science
- systematized knowledge derived from observation, study, etc.