Lecture Series

Konrad Ott
on
Discourse  Ethics as a Framework for Intercultural Environmental Philosophy

Environmental ethics is a branch of applied ethics which has been established in western countries for three decades. Environmental ethics is rooted in some general ideas about morals and in ontological assumptions about nature. It has several implications for concepts as ‘sustainability’, ‘biodiversity’, ‘environmental justice’ and related practical and political issues. One crucial problem is how to conceive of environmental ethics without western biases and make room for intercultural dialogue on man-nature relationship. Discourse ethics might provide a solution to this problem. Fruitful intercultural cooperation in the field of nature conservation could stem from such approach.

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Konrad Ott holds the Chair for Environmental Ethics at the University of Greifswald, Germany. This chair is integrated in the study programme ‘landscape ecology and nature conservation’ at the Department of Biology. Prof Ott has performed scientific policy counselling as a member of the German Environmental Advisory Council.