Philosophy 220The Moral Significance of the More than Human World:

Consumerism

Wenz, “Environmental Virtues”

Wenz begins by noting that from a virtue ethical standpoint, there doesn’t appear to be any conflict between anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric moral standpoints. For both, the traditional virtues produce agents whose actions

are consistent with human and non-human flourishing.

However, our economic system’s reliance on consumerism is inconsistent with these virtues, inasmuch as it presumes a range of dispositions inconsistent with virtue (vices).

Thus, virtue ethics of either anthropocentric or non-anthropocentric varieties support the conclusion that consumerism is immoral. The fact that these perspectives support and enhance each

other is the ‘synergy’ of the title.

What is Consumerism?Consumerism is not the same as consumption.

Consumption is an ineliminable part of life, as all living things need to consume energy to sustain themselves.

Consumerism: “the ideology that society should maximize consumption, pursue consumption without limit” (632).

This is the ideology that dominates much of global economic policy. It is also an ideology that pervades much of our thinking about ourselves and the world.

Consumerism and the More than Human World

A non-anthropocentric moral standpoint is committed to the DMS of the more than human world.

As Wenz demonstrates (631c1-2), consumerism causes significant degradation of the more than human world.Global warmingPollution, resource use, species extinction

Thus, from a non-anthropocentric moral standpoint, consumerism is immoral.

Consumerism and Anthropocentrism

For the anthropocentric moral view, human beings are the primary bearers of moral value.

Wenz demonstrates that consumerism harms human beings apart from any collateral damage that might be done to the natural world. His argument here proceeds in two stages: he first discusses

how consumerism harms poor people in the third world (632-35),

He then considers how consumerism harms “industrial people” in the developed world as well (635-37).

The harm done to both these groups by a consumption-driven lifestyle, leads to the conclusion that from the anthropocentric standpoint, consumerism is wrong.

What about Virtue?Up to this point, much of the focus has been on the

consequences for nature and for humans of the rampant consumerism which dominates our form of life.

However, Wenz’s claim to a synergy between anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric moral views is ultimately tied to a common virtue ethical perspective.

To close the loop, Wenz focuses our attention on the vices that consumerism encourages and the virtues that are common to both A and non-A views.

The VicesConsumerism is rooted in what for ancient Greek

virtue ethicists was a unifying vice: outdoing.Consumerism, in its call for endless progress,

encourages us all to grab a much of the good stuff as possible, to see ourselves as competing against each other, “The Person with the Most Toys Wins”

More specific vices that this ‘master vice’ encourage include: greed, avarice, gluttony, envy, pride, intemperance, selfishness and indifference.

The VirtuesBy contrast, both anthropocentric and non-

anthropocentric virtue ethical perspectives typically articulate a set of virtues (habits or dispositions to act), that are at odds with the goals and practices of consumerism.

These virtues include: frugality, appreciation, temperance, self-development, dedication, generosity, benevolence.

Though these virtues may be essentially human capacities, to the extent that they are consistent with the good of the more than human world, they receive non-anthropocentric support.

A Philosophical ConclusionThough much of the energy of Wenz’s analysis is

dedicated to the critique of consumerism, the primary philosophical accomplishment of the essay is to bridge the gap between anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric moral views.

Though in the context of the question of the moral status of the more than human world, this gap looms large, Wenz argues that in particular cases (like the critique of consumerism) they overlap significantly and can be mutually reinforcing.