ABSTRACT
This chapter considers a few of the practical ramifications of the adoption of the ecological perspective urged. The ecological models show that the detritus of one organism is a resource for another, and Vaste' from one whole system is in turn a resource for another. Ecological humanism is, like any other general position on ethics and human nature, not open to conclusive proof or disproof. The chapter explains certain truth in holism. In metaphysical terms, this truth involves the recognition of supervenient characteristics as significant, as part of the story of what a thing is. The supervenience, however, involves the dynamics of the particular item and its nesting within a larger environment of action. Using modest insights from scientific ecology, the chapter shows that an interesting moral perspective can be developed that denies extreme claims about the plasticity of human nature. It presents various developments of the eco-humanist perspective, which takes account of the ecological setting for human projects.
