Environmental ethics: An overview

Attfield, Robin 2026. Environmental ethics: An overview. [Online]. Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470015902.a0029874

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Abstract

Environmental ethics is the study of normative dilemmas and principles relating to human interactions with the natural environment. It comprises an increasingly significant field of applied ethics, crucial for guiding individuals, corporations and governments in shaping the principles affecting their lifestyles, their actions and their policies across the entire range of environmental issues. Debates include theories of normative ethics and of meta-ethics, and the adequacy of individualist, holist and eco-feminist stances. It is characteristically concerned with the good of future generations and of non-human species as well as that of contemporary human beings. Its scope includes the interpretation and application of the precautionary principle and of policies of sustainable development, grounds and policies for biodiversity preservation, and the nature and basis of obligations to assist adaptation to global warming and to mitigate anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, which are widely recognised to constitute one of the principal sources of global warming.

Item Type:	Online Content
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Global Humanities Schools > English, Communication and Philosophy
Publisher:	Encyclopedia of Life Sciences
Last Modified:	20 Oct 2026 10:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/190322

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