Building an Environmental Philosophy

In this work, Godlovitch explores aspects of the value of nature other than as a resource to satisfy our material interests. A recurring theme is that nature's non-instrumental value thus conceived must be understood as involving a distinctively inextricable complex of both aesthetic and moral considerations. This distinguishes such value from the sorts typified by the moral worth of human beings and the aesthetic worth of cultural artifacts. He asks such questions as: Is there any relation between an aesthetic appreciation of nature and the reasonably well-established traditions of aesthetics of art and culture? Can an aesthetics of nature play any practical role in environmental protection? Godlovitch argues that we are encouraged, if not compelled, toward a conception of value in its own right whether we try to forge either a natural aesthetic or an environmental ethic.