Department of Philosophy

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Co-evolutionary relationships between environmental ethics and environmental assessment
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2002-04) Burns, Michael Edmund Reid; Hattingh, J. P.; Canter, L. W.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Philosophy.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The dissertation traces the development of environmental assessment and environmental ethics as these disciplines have evolved independently in response to the global environmental crisis. The aim is to determine the extent to which they can promote the integration of the dissociated objective and subjective spheres of human valuation of the environment. This is a necessary condition, it is argued, for arresting the pathology in the human-environment relationship. The study concludes that both disciplines were initially trapped in narrow, monistic approaches, which rendered them largely ineffective. However, their evolutionary advancement, and a common grounding in a radical conceptualization of sustainable development, greatly enhances their usefulness in environmental decisionmaking.