论生态系统的道德地位:对卡恩—约翰逊之争的审视

Moral Status of Ecosystem: An Examination of Cahen-Johnson Debate

大致说来,环境伦理学中存在个体主义和整体主义两种进路。虽然环境伦理学家一致认为,道德共同体的范围必须扩大,道德关怀的对象绝不能仅限于人类,但在道德共同体的边界问题上,他们展开了激烈争论。就生态系统而言,个体主义进路的支持者会否认它具有道德地位,而整体主义进路的支持者则可能为其道德地位加以辩护。为了加深对这一问题的理解,我们需要厘清"生态系统"和"道德地位"这两个核心概念的含义,具体说来,前者指的是共同栖居在一定区域中的所有生物与其环境之间由于不断进行物质循环和能量流动过程而形成的统一整体;后者指的是某实体或其利益因自身的缘故而有某种程度的道德重要性,以至于该实体可以被错误地对待。在澄清概念的基础上,我们对卡恩—约翰逊之争展开批判性审视。卡恩通过"目标定向论证"指出,生态系统不具有道德地位。而约翰逊则对该论证提出外在的和内在的批评,进而指出生态系统具有道德地位。对卡恩—约翰逊之争的审视表明,该问题仍然是一个开放的问题,尚有若干科学和哲学问题值得深入研究。例如,卡恩关于"目标"之目的论解释的可接受性、自然选择的层次或基本单位、把生态系统充分个体化的可能性、区分生态系统的生物成分和非生物成分的必要性、对生态系统的不同要素进行排序的必要性等问题。

Generally speaking, there are two approaches to environmental ethics, that is, the individualist approachand the holist approach. Though it is agreed among environmental ethicists that the boundary of moral communitymust be extended, and that the object of moral concern should not be confined to human beings, yet the boundarydispute hasn??t been resolved. As far as ecosystem is concerned, advocates of the individualist approach deny itsmoral status, while supporters of the holist approach are likely to argue for its moral status. In order to deepen ourunderstanding of this very issue, we must clarify the connotations of“ecosystem”and“moral status”at first.Specifically speaking, the former refers to the community of living organisms in conjunction with the environment,interacting as a system via matter cycling and energy flow, while the latter refers to the moral significance of someentity or of its interests for the entity's own sake, and the entity may be improperly treated. On the basis ofconceptual clarification, a critical examination of the Cahen?Johnson debate is made. Cahen holds that ecosystem hasno moral status through his argument of goal?directedness. While Johnson, by making both external and internalcriticisms of Cahen??s argument, maintains that ecosystem does have moral status. The examination of the Cahen-Johnson debate shows that this problem remains open and some scientific and philosophical issues worth furtherinvestigating, e.g. the acceptability of Cahen??s teleological account of“goal”, the level and basic unit of naturalselection, the possibility of fully individuating ecosystem, the necessity of distinguishing the living and nonlivingcomponents of ecosystem and the necessity of ordering the different components of ecosystem.