Towards a Systemic Ethic In search of an Ethical Basis for Sustainability and Precaution

Environmental issues and questions of sustainability and precaution have come into focus in agriculture, and in society in general, in recent decades. There are, however, many different meanings of sustainability and precaution, and there is no evident connection between these new normative concepts and the traditional moral theories. This paper seeks an ethical basis for sustainability and precaution – a common framework that can serve as a means of resolving the conceptual ambiguities of the new normative concepts and as a means of resolving conflicts between new and traditional moral concepts and theories. The method employed is to analyse the past and possible future extension of ethics and establish an inclusive framework of ethical extension. The extension of ethics is driven by the increased awareness of several, not unrelated aspects, such as the similarities between man and other living beings and their common ecological relations, the increasing human influence on natural systems and processes, and the limits of human knowledge and control. In accordance, the analysis is characterised by a systemic approach, and the established framework forms the basis for what we call a systemic ethic. I. THE MEANING OF SUSTAINABILITY AND PRECAUTION There is an increasing focus on environmental and global issues in society and this is reflected in the widespread use of concepts such as sustainability and the precautionary principle. These concepts, on the other hand, pose a challenge to ethical theory. Ethical conduct is an ancient theme in human thought, but sustainability and precaution are quite new normative concepts connected with the rapid scientific and technological development and the growing environmental concern in the recent decades. In fact, the field of environmental ethics is only a few decades old. As late as in 1979, Goodpaster & Sayre noted that: Few philosophers have systematically addressed the difficult problems associated with applying ethical theory to social and environmental issues. ... at a time in history when [human] behavior is increasingly consequential for human life and for life in general. The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the moral basis for sustainability and precaution by way of a systemic approach to ethics. The concrete context of the paper is considerations on sustainability and precaution in agricultural research – in particular research in organic agriculture, which demonstrates an alternative agricultural practice and opens up for new perspectives on nature. But the scope of the investigation is not