ABSTRACT
The Ecological Conscience is the arresting title of a representative environmental anthology. Perhaps the paramount law in ecological theory is that of homeostasis. The claim that morality is a derivative of the holistic character of the ecosystem proves more radical, for the ecological perspective penetrates not only the secondary but also the primary qualities of the ethic. The ecological revolution may be of a similar order; it is undeniably at work reilluminating the world. The former, in the indicative, marks the realm of science and history. The latter, including always an imperative, marks the realm of ethics. Species regularly enter and exit nature’s theater; perhaps natural selection tests species for their capacity to coexist with man. Orogenic and erosional forces have produced perpetual environmental flux; man may well transform his environment. Environmental science has been resurveying the post-Darwinian natural jungle and has increasingly set its conflicts within a dynamic web of life.
