Date
9-2016
Department
College of Arts and Sciences
Degree
Master of Arts in Philosophical Studies (MA)
Chair
Edward Martin
Keywords
environmental ethics, Natural Law Theory, Thomas Aquinas, Virtue Ethics
Disciplines
Applied Ethics | Philosophy
Recommended Citation
Green, William Merle, "Toward a Thomistic Environmental Ethic: How Aquinas's Metaethic Provides the Groundwork for an Environmentally and Zoologically Responsible Moral System" (2016). Masters Theses. 472.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/472
Abstract
While the trend in contemporary discussions of environmental ethics is often to dispense with traditional anthropocentric conceptions of morality in favor of more biologically and ecologically inclusive perspectives, I will argue that Natural Law Theory and Virtue Ethics, both integral components of the moral philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, provide the groundwork for an ecologically and zoologically responsible ethic. Thus, utilizing the core of Aquinas’s ethical system, I will attempt to construct a robust moral framework that is Thomistic in every important sense while at the same time satisfies the sufficiency conditions for a successful environmental code of conduct.
