From Environmental Ethics to Sustainability Ethics

Contemporary environmental ethics is confronted with a dual dilemma, namely the tension between theoretical and practical considerations. In response, scholars have pursued a variety of avenues, with the practice-oriented approach emerging as the dominant trend. The practice of environmental ethics can be analyzed according to two paradigms: the applied ethics paradigm and the practical ethics paradigm. Both paradigms suggest the possibility of a certain kind of sustainability ethics, namely the development of traditional environmental ethics into a public, applied sustainability ethics. In other words, the advancement of traditional environmental ethics, which is theoretically superior, into a form of public and applied sustainability ethics may prove an effective means of addressing the current challenges facing environmental ethics.