INDIVIDUALITY, HUMAN AND NATURAL COMMUNITIES, AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF ETHICS

An ecologically informed view of ethics focuses upon individuals consi dered in relation to the communities within which they live. Such a vi ew holds that ethics is rooted in the fundamental relationships charac terizing particular types of communities. From this perspective, the d ifferent communities of the polity, family, and ecosystem superficiall y appear to have very different ethical systems. In fact, however, all are characterized by respect for community members. Respect is the fu ndamental ethical insight. This view suggests a way of harmonizing mod ern society's relationship with the natural world and of bringing ethi cal theory into closer harmony with humankind's most timeless insights .