THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE PROJECT

ONLINE CONSULTATION

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Ethics and cultural interpretations of principles

From: Kim MacLean
Affiliation: current: UNBC, previous: technical assistant to sustainable forestry research
Remote Name: pg-uni-slts-02.unbc.ca
Time: 21:34:06 +0100

Comments

Some Social scientists describe and articulate opinions and practices of people to show a deeper structure underlying what we experience as customs, traditions and ideologies (descriptive ethics). Based on the awareness of this ‘deeper structure’ we try to make moral judgements that go beyond individual desire to encompass standards of considerable group importance (normative ethics). A principle gives a relative weight to moral considerations so that they must be judged before being chosen for application on a problem or decision. Common principles of normative ethics include human welfare, equal consideration and equitable participation, distributive justice and stewardship (as mentioned in the 13th guideline for this conference). Between human cultures there are different interpretations of common principles. For example in Canada it may be argued that First Nations are grounded more in the principle of being care takers of the land while non First Nation Canadians relate to the land more so for profit and wealth creation – keeping in mind that both cultures have individuals that operate from the mixing of these principles. Also within Canada we have an ever greater cultural diversity acting upon other interpretations of these common principles of normative ethics. As stated in the 8th guideline, stakeholders should be involved in decision making but I think that it would be interesting to give cultural examples of environmental degradation as a consequence of with holding the application of the precautionary principle. Perhaps to generate a list of consequences from experience and history from different cultures that now reside within Canada – so that Canadians have a reminder of the global knowledge accessible to them and the opportunities for inter-cultural conversation and learning. Any thoughts?