<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Given the reality of socially-caused, planetary-scaled, environmental change, how – if at all – should our ethical concepts change? It has been a hallmark of environmental literature in recent years to insist that they should or even must. It will be argued that, yes, our ethical concepts should change by exploring the changes needed for <italic>the</italic> core ethical concept of goodness. Goodness, it will be argued, must change to reflect a change in priority from personal intentions to the right relation between an agent and the collective to which he/she belongs. This relation, which is called herein <italic>the civic relation</italic>, centers on taking responsibility for the <italic>structure</italic> which produces unintentional, aggregate effects at the level of planetary ecology. Examples include a fossil fuel-based infrastructure, isolationist nationalism that undercuts international climate agreements to decarbonize energy, and the lack of a political forum to respect the rights of future generations. More generally, goodness according to the civic relation must express an <italic>anthroponomic orientation</italic> to life – a sustained, life-long attempt to build the practice of the collective self-regulation of humankind as a whole. Of the many consequences of this meta-ethical change in goodness, one is that it addresses the banality of evil today.</p></abstract>

Given the reality of socially-caused, planetary-scaled, environmental change, how – if at all – should our ethical concepts change? It has been a hallmark of environmental literature in recent years to insist that they should or even must. It will be argued that, yes, our ethical concepts should change by exploring the changes needed for the core ethical concept of goodness. Goodness, it will be argued, must change to reflect a change in priority from personal intentions to the right relation between an agent and the collective to which he/she belongs. This relation, which is called herein the civic relation, centers on taking responsibility for the structure which produces unintentional, aggregate effects at the level of planetary ecology. Examples include a fossil fuel-based infrastructure, isolationist nationalism that undercuts international climate agreements to decarbonize energy, and the lack of a political forum to respect the rights of future generations. More generally, goodness according to the civic relation must express an anthroponomic orientation to life – a sustained, life-long attempt to build the practice of the collective self-regulation of humankind as a whole. Of the many consequences of this meta-ethical change in goodness, one is that it addresses the banality of evil today.

“Goodness itself must change” – Anthroponomy in an age of socially-caused, planetary environmental change

Ethics & Bioethics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Given the reality of socially-caused, planetary-scaled, environmental change, how – if at all – should our ethical concepts change? It has been a hallmark of...

“Goodness itself must change” – Anthroponomy in an age of socially-caused, planetary environmental change

Published Online: Dec 28, 2016

Page range: 187 - 202

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ebce-2016-0020

Keywords
anthroponomy, meta-ethics, climate change, goodness, banality of evil, civic relation

© 2016 Jeremy David Bendik-Keymer, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

“Goodness itself must change” – Anthroponomy in an age of socially-caused, planetary environmental change

Published Online: Dec 28, 2016

Page range: 187 - 202

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ebce-2016-0020

Keywordsanthroponomy, meta-ethics, climate change, goodness, banality of evil, civic relation

© 2016 Jeremy David Bendik-Keymer, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
anthroponomy, meta-ethics, climate change, goodness, banality of evil, civic relation