The Chair of Environmental Ethics arises from the interest in addressing environmental problems with an inclusive and open approach. It is an initiative to promote research and educational activity in areas that concern the ethical and moral values associated with environmental conservation.
We believe that environmental problems have been, on many occasions, addressed in a compartmentalized way, ignoring important sectors of society, as well as relevant aspects of culture and the human condition. Reductionist approaches do not facilitate a comprehensive consideration of the environment, made up of a physical and biological environment, but also a social, economic, and cultural one, which we cannot lose sight of.
Environmental problems currently have a planetary and multidisciplinary dimension. They require a deep reflection on the true relationship of man with nature, and this reflection must be done from very different angles: governments, companies, NGOs, civil society, religious groups, universities, and research centers, among others. Although it would be utopian to intend to cover all these areas from a single initiative, we have tried from the beginning that the chair should be a meeting forum between these agents, which serves to develop a comprehensive approach to the relationships allying people and the natural environment.
More specifically, the aims of the chair can be summarized in two lines of work:
- Promote research and education on the ethical and moral roots of environmental conservation, including both philosophical and theological aspects.
- Stimulate interdisciplinary reflection on the implications of these ethical postulates, mainly in personal commitment to the conservation of nature.
