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Please refer to essay part I as an introduction to this essay. Due to the incredibly
low mark I received in part I ,as well as the selection of the Land Ethic as my
primary theory of adjudication, certain revisions have been made to part II. I will
shift focus from the specific organisms that subsist in the soil environment to the
actual soil ecosystem itself. Please note: due to the failing mark referred to
above, this essay is longer than the prescribed 15 pages in the interests of
Throughout the last 1000 years or so western culture can be said to have been in a
continuous struggle between the individual and the society as a whole. Initially our
society was a sort of primitive communal system, slowly it changed and evolved into
more diverse and complex structures. The individual very slowly began to become a
more atomistic basis. It is in part to Karl Marx that we owe the exposition of this
the ultimate communal Utopian finale. This process we call a dialectic: where a
The process is never ending, the synthesis from the last cycle becomes the new
thesis and its opposite arises to become the antithesis and a new synthesis occurs.
In this essay I give a name to these elements of the dialectic and explore how they
can shape our ethical world. The thesis is communalism, societal integrity and
momentary equilibrium with either the whole or the individual as dominant, but the
continues the give and take of individual versus the whole becomes more intricate.
The land ethic represents the communal aspect of this struggle, while rights
theorists like Regan represent the atomistic tendencies. Neither aspect of this
productivity resulting from the technology. Unfortunately what this thing we call
terms of tomorrow.
..., it is now generally accepted that such productivity gains in the agricultural
sector of Canada and other developed countries have occurred at the expense of
trends that cause increased production at the price mentioned above include:
agriculture.
4. Growing reliance on debt financing which has left many farmers vulnerable
Following the above list of trends in Smither's work is a list of practices that are
Farmers use tilling of the soil primarily to control weeds and for incorporation of
pesticides and fertilizers into the soil. The impact that this sort of tillage has on
the soil is to loosen the soil and remove organic matter (ground cover) from its
surface, thereby increasing the wind and water erosion that occurs.
(Smithers p8).
The cropping systems that farmers use are characterized by "continuous corn"
which involve no or almost no return of organic matter to the soil. The impact of
continuous cropping on the soil is reduced ground cover and as a result increased
A further impact of the above farming methods is the pollution of bodies of water.
Or more specific to Southwestern Ontario the pollution of the great lakes by both
(among other effluents). Further investigation of the pollution of the great lakes
would broaden the scope of this paper beyond the levels assigned. Although it is
beyond the scope of this assignment it is still important to make note that the
adverse effect of the above farming methods are not limited strictly to the
ecosystem of the soil.
The result of soil erosion has been reduced viability of the soil to support its
normal contingent of the food web in two major capacities. First, loss of the soils
the ecological cycle, and second the soils loss of important nutrients such as
phosphorous.
Soil erosion results in the damage or destruction of the soil ecosystem. The soil
ecosystem is a very important part of the global ecosystem in fact the global
Alan Wild in, Soils and the Environment: An Introduction, calls life zones:
forest: all the world's tropical forests constitute a life zone and all the life zones
(grasslands, other forests, tundra, oceans etc.) form the global ecosystem (Wild
p5).
Wild further continues to describe how soil is the basis of each life zone, providing
a medium for nutrients and water in one way or another for all plants, animals, and
insects that exist in this ecosystem. The plants eject oxygen as a waste
and nutrients provided by the plants. If a number or even a few of these "life
zones" are destroyed or even weakened the overall global ecosystem also will be
An objection to the above might be: the loss of soil to erosion is not a major
problem to the ecosystem as of yet and will not be a problem for a long time if
ever, after all, it is a natural process. In answer to this objection: marginal lands
(as defined above) are severely damaged in respect of loss of ability to maintain
the ecosystem which is dependent on it right now. And it is clear that even in non-
marginal lands soil erosion will eventually deplete the land completely of soil. The
organic matter, the answer is that the soil can not replenish itself. Organic matter
is not being returned to the soil in most lands due to current cropping and tilling
agricultural and scientific community that soil erosion is occurring at a much faster
but human induced erosion takes place at a much greater rate than natural
processes can replenish.
Aldo Leopold's, "Land Ethic", has a great wealth of ideas to provide in response to
The process of altering the pyramid for human occupation releases stored energy
and this often gives rise, during the pioneering period, to a deceptive exuberance
of plant and animal life, both wild and tame. These releases of biotic capital tend
The fact that we are currently not experiencing anything we could call a major
catastrophe from erosion of soil does not suggest that there is no problem. In the
above quotation Leopold implies that the abundance we often associate with
opening new frontiers or breaking 'virginal' land is really energy released from the
This energy release thereby dampens the ecosystems vitality and longevity.
period", it is also an excellent explanation of why we have not yet observed any
major repercussions from our abuse of the ecosystem even this far removed from
This "stored energy", as Leopold calls it, is still being exploited by humans it is
extracted like an increasingly powerful pump by present technologies like
fertilizers and pesticides. This improvement of the pump would not be so bad if it
were not for the complete neglect of the well. Since this stored energy humans
are pumping from the land is not being replaced, eventually the well will run dry.
above that well is currently running dry and we need a way to address this problem
(Leopold p81). Leopold provides even more convincing information to the debate
Perhaps the most important of these is the new evidence that poundage or tonnage
is no measure of the food-value of farm crops; the products of fertile soil may be
The ethical theory I have chosen to apply to the above situation is Aldo Leopold's
"the Land Ethic" in People, Penguins, and Plastic Trees, edited by Donald VanDeveer
The reasons I have for choosing a holistic theory over an atomistic theory are
simple. The particular situation which I am investigating in this essay requires a
moral theory of a holistic nature to determine the answer to the two main
questions: who has moral standing, and how does one adjudicate amongst those with
moral standing. By its very nature an atomistic ethical theory can only reasonably
Entities that are not considered individuals: are not considered alive, or conscious,
any way. Some atomistic theories could be readily modified to establish moral
duties towards non-living entities, but none are available that demonstrate
It is true that with some time and great effort entities which are not currently
for the present entities like rivers, mountains, and soil are not individuals and very
few people if anybody have tried to define them as such. Furthermore, none of
the atomistic theories on the reading list of this course attempt to redefine non-
comprehensive enough to give real value to non-living entities are the holistic
theories, and because they are ideally suited to this purpose they are also ideal for
the absence of a hierarchal ordering of the entities with moral standing. Any
ethical theory that has a moral hierarchy suffers by definition from a certain lack
criterion for moral standing which establishes a hierarchy that is not in some form
as placing all members of the biotic community on an equal moral standing. This
Firstly, the hierarchy that atomistic theories establish of individual over communal
interests. Secondly, the hierarchy that holistic theories establish of the interests
of the whole over the interests of the individual. Both hierarchies are equally
morally irrelevant and this is perhaps the source of the unending struggle between
the two disciplines. Neither school of thought has an adequate foot hold over the
other, they both have fundamental assumptions which are unfounded, and yet they
this course, had mainly to do with the relative complexity of his theory. Another
and complexity of the various source materials. Arne Neass' Deep Ecology was
reflection of the relative newness of his theory but this format was not very
and tied together with a thesis then it would be much better communicated and
understood.
Without a single directing thesis statement Deep ecology does not appear in a
holistic format, only its various parts can be understood without knowledge of its
totality. It is quite ironic that the theory which is most reputed to deal ethically
grouping of parts.
Eco-feminism as an ethical theory appears to be even more new than Deep Ecology,
and the length of the article on the course reading list reflects this. The article
adjudication amongst those with moral standing. The above is also reflected in the
course does not in itself make these theories less valuable, it does make this essay
assignment more difficult to deal with. Since the central theme of this assignment
of adjudication, it seems inappropriate to select a theory which does not deal with
these questions. Not only do these theories not directly deal with the above two
questions but they may purposefully avoid or side-step them in the interests of
Unfortunately I can not fathom any good reason for ignoring moral standing and
the adjudication process within an ethical theory. The above omissive aspect of
Social ecology and Eco-feminism is negative in that application of such an ethic will
done to one part of it affects all parts. In this theory Leopold establishes that
,"the soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land." should be included
in our moral circle not just individuals with certain characteristics (Leopold p74).
Leopold continues with his elaboration of his theory by concluding that humans are
In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo Sapiens from conqueror of the
land-community to plain member and citizen of it (Leopold p74)
"most members of the land community have no economic value" (Leopold p76).
What happens with an economic based conservation system is that aspects of the
ecosystem that are considered valuable are preserved and protected, while other
members of the ecosystem which are not considered valuable are destroyed out of
hand. There is no consideration that those aspects of the environment which are
valued are dependent on those which are considered valueless. In short without
ethical theories like the land ethic, concepts like the interconnectedness of all
beings are overlooked for more convenient views or in this case atomistic views.
Leopold's land ethic requires that we expand our moral community to the land.
Land in this case is not merely ground or soil but includes all beings and aspects of
the land as a collective whole: including soil, bodies of water, plants, and animals.
Furthermore Leopold states that the land ethic places humans beside the other
parts of the moral community not above. The traditional hierarchy that our
society has so long taken as a given is no longer an option. The traditional role of
In human history, we have learned (I hope) that the conqueror role is eventually
knows, ex cathedra, just what makes the community clock tick, and just what and
who is valuable, and what and who is worthless, in community life. It always turns
out that he knows neither, and this is why his conquests eventually defeat
the biotic community. The description of which establishes that historical events
in which humans have been considered the only important actors are really only one
of the many important actors. Perhaps humans could even be considered the least
important actors when compared as a single group to the entire biotic community.
His examples include the settlement of the Mississippi Valley and the Kentucky
blue-grass drama. In both of these cases Leopold establishes that humans have
been among the least important actors in determining the outcome (Leopold p75).
Moral standing according to the land ethic then is based solely on membership
within the global ecosystem. Rivers, soil, plants, and animals as members of this
A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of
One "certain" aspect of the "stability" of the biotic system that we know of,
Leopold asserts, is the evolution of the system from lesser to greater complexity
also. Although Leopold chose not to include it in his definitive statement quoted
above, it is nonetheless a very important aspect of both the integrity and stability
might be appropriate to amend his above formula to exclude beauty and replace it
with diversity for the purposes of clarity and validity. I am not saying that beauty
is unimportant, but any good philosopher knows that beauty is impossible to define
and such ill-defined terms add nothing but complications to what could otherwise
be an ironclad theory.
To apply Leopold's theory to the specific situation investigated here: first I must
decide who has moral standing, and second how to adjudicate amongst those with
moral standing. Moral standing under the land ethic is attributed to the land and
all features of it. Therefore the farmers, the soil, any nearby bodies of water,
and all of the organisms which live in or on the soil (plants, animals, and
farmers as moral agents must consider all of the above as moral patients.
The formula for adjudication is in the paragraph quoted above. The tillage and
cropping practices perpetrated by the farmers clearly fall in the "tends otherwise"
category. Both of the above practices contribute to soil erosion and pollution of
clearly detract from the diversity, stability, integrity and beauty of the land.
Clearly Leopold's ethic shows that these farmers are not only contravening his
ethic by both their tilling and cropping methods, but that they should also practice
The discontent that labels itself 'organic farming,'..., is [nevertheless] biotic in its
direction, particularly in its insistence on the importance of soil flora and fauna
(Leopold p81).
In this case to recognize the importance of soil flora and fauna means to use
natural fertilization and pest control. Artificial fertilizer and pesticides (and
more details on flora and fauna of the soil see Alan Wild ch 1-4).
In this study I have made little mention of the organism which subsist on the soil,
this is due partly to the lack of information provided in source materials but also
because of the lack of necessity, given my chosen theory the land ethic. Given the
fact that the soil is the base of most terrestrial food chains it is not necessary to
indirectly (by being higher on the food chain). If the health of the soil itself is
dependent on the soil (higher in the food chain) will suffer in health also. All of
the individual organisms within each group will not necessarily suffer, but the
diversity and stability of each group will surely suffer as a result of a less diverse
On the other hand if my chosen theory was Singer's rights based ethic it would be
necessary to determine which beings, who are subjects of a life, are damaged by
these farming practices. With Leopold's land ethic I need not consider the
ethic the individual is morally neutral, only the species or the community are
considered to have moral standing. The individuals are only important in that they
collectively represent the community/species.
Penguins, and Plastic Trees, edited by Donald VanDeveer and Christine Pierce,
draws his readers into discussion of the community versus the individual, as
this proposition, is the idea that the good of the biotic community is the ultimate
Callicott's interpretation is much like my own, in fact to Callicott the above "moral
where the good of the biotic community is at stake (Callicott p188). This
circumstances, is the object of attack for Tom Regan in his article, "The Rights
View", contained within the same source book as Callicott's article. In his article
Regan describes an example of how this moral imperative can lead to a moral
quandary:
If,..., the situation we faced was either to kill a rare wildflower or a (plentiful)
human being, and if the wildflower, as a "team member," would contribute more to
"the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community" than the human, then
presumably we would not be doing wrong if we killed the human and saved the
Regan has a good point here, nothing in Leopold theory establishes killing
being a little unfair here, only Callicott mentions killing specifically as a mode of
preserving the biotic community. What exactly Leopold had in mind is of course
Leopold he does get at the heart of the issue in displaying how the land ethic is
contrary to individualistic rights. The primary flaw of the land ethic is its utter
disregard for the individual. In a culture and society where atomistic based rights
are fundamental, the land ethic must fight an uphill battle to gain acceptance. This
battle between communal and individual interests could hardly be said to be new.
Much of the conflicts of our society are steeped in the age-old historical and on-
going battle between the rights of the individual and the rights or integrity of
freedom of movement: these individual rights have been impinged on, restricted,
and completely revoked by the governing bodies of western societies over and over
again in the interests of society as a whole. The individuals of a society can not all
individuals, and between the society and the individual, in the interests of society
Is it possible that the value of the whole is more than the some of its parts
(Callicott p190)? Alternatively, is it possible that the value of all of the parts
equal the sum of the whole? Consider how throughout the last 800 years of
western societal evolution, we have synthesized a legal and moral system which
satisfies both individual and communal needs. The dialectic between the thesis
have interacted in such a way as to yield the synthesis our present societal
structure. If we can have a stable society with the dualist ethical dialectic
species on the globe (Homo Sapiens) and all parts of the global ecosystem and the
synthesis might look very much like todays western society. The individuals in this
far-off synthesis would be species like humans, maple trees and zebra-mussels and
the community of this synthesis would be the world and all that it contains. The
dialectical process has already begun atomistic theorists like Regan and Singer are
bulldog) and Arne Naess. Perhaps theorists like Taylor will become more common,
theories which combine the individuals interests with the interests of beings who
are not considered individuals into one ethical theory. Eventually Regan's
ethic, one that made the case that individual inanimate natural objects (e.g., this
redwood) have inherent value and a basic moral right to treatment respectful of
Regan makes a good case in his article for rights based environmental theories,
they are serious contenders with holistic theories for adequate ethical value of
and soils though? Some rights theorist might try to transform our view of
inanimate objects like rivers and soil by concentrating on the organic component of
these features of nature. For example a river and indeed any body of water is
atoms for every one oxygen, there always exists a living element. The oceans could
upon one another. The water is dependent on the plankton to perpetrate itself as
plankton emits oxygen as a waste product, while the plankton are dependent on the
There are fundamental problems with this sort of analysis, how can something
which is not considered alive be involved in a process which requires two or more
living entities (i.e. symbiosis)? Despite these fundamental problems some rights
would not likely be as good as an ethical theory based on holism would be, nor would
really stretch a theory to its limits. If it is true that our goal is to contain all that
relevant and justifiable ethic that we can live with, we must do all we can to attain
this goal and to attain it as soon as possible (given current ecological crises). To
reach this goal we should be efficient and reasonable. To be both efficient and
reasonable we must use tools which can plausibly achieve these goals in an efficient
and reasonable way. It does not make sense to use atomistic theories, like rights
based theories, to establish moral value for entities that can not be considered
individuals in any reasonable way (eg. rivers, mountains, soil). It makes even less
sense to use a holistic theory to establish the moral standing of individuals (this
goal might actually be impossible to attain). In a perfect society the solution could
be for both groups of theorists to work in their respective realms with frequent
interaction, eventually coming up with ethics that are clear and understandable and
applicable in a symbiotic format. Once this is accomplished the most difficult task
would be to combine the theories so that there is a balance between the individual
In the real world however atomistic and holistic theorists will battle ad nauseam
for supremacy over the ethical realm. Things will become accomplished, a
synthesis will eventually emerge. Perhaps the dialectic will live up to its name and
the synthesis will be extremely complex and intricate, almost alive with the
interaction of ideas. Perhaps the dialectic of individual and community will bring us
a synthesis on scale with natural evolution, starting out "low and squat" and link
after link synthesis after synthesis the "height and complexity" will increase
(Leopold p78). Our society would become broader and more diverse eventually
including the entire earth under its moral umbrella, finally attaining justice and
As I have shown in this essay neither the atomistic not the holistic ethical
theories can answer all of our questions and fulfill all our needs. Perhaps with time
the dialectical process will approach both qualitatively and quantitatively the
complexity of thought that which nature has attained in sheer complexity of form,
we will feel more a part of, and at once become more accepting of nature. In this
we will truly and finally break free from our conqueror role with nature that
WORKS CITED
VanDeveer, D. and Pierce, C. People, Penguins, and Plastic Trees. Oxford: Oxford
Press, 1989.