ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that human and ecological worlds are ontologically complex, conflicted, unpredictable and continually in flux. If ecological relationships are complex, unpredictable and in constant upheaval, then many traditional ethical approaches to the future will not work. By challenging ethical myths about the ordered nature of being, Schweitzer allows people to recognise the complexity, uncertainty and mystery of ecological processes and allows people to attend gently to what may appear as disorder. Facing the future ethically involves a process of constant attention, learning, debate, adjustment and expectation that people's actions will have unintended consequences, and that people live in an uncontrollable system. There is a growing body of ecological theory which recognises that ecosystems are not only extremely complex, interactive systems are described, but that they are also self-modifying. In terms of ecological and social upheaval, contemporary human societies face multiple complicated or wicked problems and, as a result, are facing complex and uncertain possible futures.
