Human Responsibility for the World and Its Future - Essay Example

According to Leopold, land ethic stands on four premises which include ecology, holism, health and affirmation which are all important to the moral philosophy of understanding human responsibilities and the future (Partridge). The ecology premise argues that the ecosystem is a systemic whole of which human beings form part of it while the holism premise states that the whole informs the parts and the responsibility of mankind can best be understood from the perspective of the whole. The health premise states that a healthy life community is desirable as well as common sense in every person which enable them know the intuitively compelling notion that health is desirable in any given society that has responsible humans. Under the land ethic, the health of an ecosystem must be of interest to human beings as the personal health of humans is inextricably tied to the health of a particular ecosystem that they must work towards protecting for mutual benefit (Knight and Riedel 2002, p.126). Therefore, it is the responsibility of the human beings to take care of the ecosystem if we are well aware of its benefits as living for it shows our appreciation of the fact that we make a living out of it. As a responsibility for the future, human beings must find sentiments that are valid and motivate them to cherish the earth for its own sake and the future of other human beings. The affirmation premise is based on the fact that nature itself evokes desirable sentiments of affirmation, love and well-being and in order to promote these sentiments and protect their source, Leopold argues that there is need to preserve the beauty of the biotic community. In Leopold’s land ethic, the existence of an ecological conscience affects the conviction of an individual responsibility for the health of the land which is its capacity for self-renewal and the human responsibility for conservation is his effort to understand and preserve the particular capacity. As cultural beings, human beings are social and cultural beings and are inescapably oriented to the future but live and produce futures in a socially and culturally distinct manner which may change over time (Adams 2012, p.2). Therefore, a question may be asked on what the responsibility for the future entails and whether it is possible to be responsible to the future that we create and whether we should be responsible for future generations. Human beings must always be responsible for their actions as part of the larger community and be responsible to every other human being which means that responsibilities cover both actions and social positions within the society (Nováky 2007, p.101). Therefore, the common principles of responsibility includes the fact that it is bound in time and space and tied to individuals as well as the fact that it only subsists within the lifetime of a particular individual. Responsibility to the future stems from the fact that any activity that human beings carry out has got an implication for the future and this affects our decisions and how those that are yet to be born will be brought up on the land. The future is continually being shaped by human responsibility and action and therefore, states plan their social and economic security for development (Platt 1971, p.33). Today the world is being organized in terms of technological power and proper planning in order that human beings are able to carry out their responsibilities for the future in a diligent manner. Globalization has had the effect of making the human rights and their violations more complex in the recent times and has affirmed the shared responsibilities of all humans within nations to protect the fundamental human rights. The future of man has now been at stake and it is important that human beings find a way of assuming responsibility. Responsibility in human beings come through freedom as only a being who is able to make decisions that can be deemed to be free can be responsible (Roberts 2010, p. 277). In order to make decisions that are free, a human being must already be responsible and answerable for any acts that he commits and this explains why a person can be accused either rightly or wrongly for not taking responsibilities when making a decision. This implies that responsibility is conjoined to freedom and each derives from one another. For instance, Immanuel Kant argues that freedom is the principle that makes us be aware of the moral law and moral law is the principle that makes us to be free beings which means that we realize our freedom by assuming our moral responsibilities. This argument may pose a problem, as often when we make free decisions, there are times we reject our responsibilities. Human beings are usually called to be responsible even before they are aware of the responsibilities and this explains why some human beings are usually deemed to be irresponsible and require ethical research and teaching to remedy the situation. Human beings are currently in a society where they are not aware of the future but appreciate that through their decisions, they will be required to shape the future. The talk about human responsibility for the future shows clearly this ignorance and is partly to blame for some acts of irresponsibility by human beings. The usual thought of to be responsible is to be responsible for the future and being accountable of one’s actions even when they were foreseen. Therefore responsibility for the future implies a change in the normal thinking and taking into consideration that human beings must be answerable for the consequences that exceed what we can foresee with utmost precision. Accordingly, the principle of responsibility that is required of human beings is acting in a way that the consequences of our acts will be that there is existence of humanity even in the future on a habitable earth (Duckworth and Moore 2010, p.17). When we talk about the human responsibility for the world and its future, we may want to ask ourselves to what extent humans take responsibility for the future, the main forces that shape the future and on what factors we should concentrate on when making decisions that concern the future. There are universal responsibilities of human beings and they do not take into consideration whether a person is in a particular jurisdiction or other facets of life such as religion, ethnicity, race, sex or nationality amongst other factors. It is inherently conceptualized in order to compliment the philosophical idea of human rights but is not really well-established within the philosophical tradition (Ricouer 2000, p.11). The tentative UNESCO Plan for Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that; human beings are in a constant process of seeking the meaning of things and try to live accordingly and these are dependent on responsible choices. Therefore, the UN 1948 "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" recognizes the dignity that is inherent in all human beings and the inalienable rights of every human being, implies, and presupposes certain obligations on the part of the human being. This Declaration therefore gives a standard commitment that all men should abide by the authentic autonomy of every individual as required of him by the community and stresses the dignity of the human being, the equality of all human beings, and the interdependence of all conscious human beings. These can be founded through education and teaching as well as strengthened and promoted through measures that are progressive at the national and the international level. The rights of humans are therefore spelt out in articles, which include amongst others the humane treatment of humans, standing above the ethical dictates of good and evil and acting towards each other in the spirit of brotherhood. No human being is allowed to kill or injure the other and is entitled to unconditional protection and that conflicts can only be solved through dialogue and not violence. It also affirms the right to own property, proper use of economic and political power and the general respect for the wellbeing of any human being in all their undertakings. Therefore, human beings have one responsibility to realize their aspirations through living with a sense of universal responsibility that identifies them with the earth and the surrounding communities. This is because human beings are citizens of one world that links both the local and global citizen and respects the sanctity of human life. Therefore, every human being shares the responsibility for the present and future well-being of the human species and the larger living world of human beings and other creations in a specified community (UNESCO, n.d). When we discuss the ethical implications of human responsibilities, we refer to the necessary minimum of common values, standards and the basic attitudes, which in short refer to the consensus that relates to values that cannot be, revoked (Wurtzel 2006, p.116). These include standards and moral attitudes that are affirmed by all human beings irrespective of their dogmatic differences or orientations or ideologies held highly by the particular society. Any human being who is interested in ensuring that human beings and their rights also appreciates the fact that their consciousness must be changed in terms of the human obligations. These need to be seen from a future point of view while at the same time looking at the challenges that may be found I terms of establishing a world ethic for human beings. Efforts to establish a world ethic for human beings has received international backing through certain instruments that have endeavoured to reconcile the human rights as compared to the human responsibilities (Kung, 2005). One such good effort was the Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities which was designed to underpin, reinforce and supplement the rights that are inherent to human beings by virtue of being humans from an ethical perspective. This means that there is need for a common basic human ethic as there can be no order in the world without a world ethic. The Declaration of Human Responsibilities therefore reinforces the Declaration of Human Rights from an ethical angle as it takes the full acceptance of the dignity of human beings and their solidarity with one another. This calls for the readiness of men to act justly in order to promote human rights and the rule of law as all human rights are by definition directly bound by a responsibility to observe them. The above discussion therefore puts in place the notion that there can be no rights without responsibilities and all human beings are ethically bound to be responsible in order to enjoy the rights. Therefore, if a person proclaims his human rights, he should be prepared to accompany it with responsibilities as they are mutually sustaining and operational. However, at times, we live in a world where human beings at times insist on rights without any responsibilities partly attributed to false developments connected with the individuals. Instead of the well-entrenched notion of human rights that all humans strive for, there at times exist uncultured claims on human rights that do not consider the true intention of the human rights (Kung, 2005). Despite the UN Declaration of Human Rights, there are serious violations of human rights due to the absence of the political and moral will on the part of those charged with the responsibilities for implementing them (Buchanan 2013, p.277). In order to realize the human responsibilities, it is important that there is an ethical impulse and a motivation to accept the responsibilities that are important for the realization and upholding of human rights. Through the Declaration of Responsibilities, the world is proclaimed to be public with some norms for individual and collective behaviour that are applicable to all human beings. It however does not aim at the codification of the responsibilities but calls for all human beings to voluntarily take responsibility which means it is both morally and legally binding. It should also be noted that the human rights and responsibilities do not have restrictions on each other for the society but instead supplement the role played by each other for the benefit of the society at large. From the argument by Leopold on land ethic, the land simply increases the confines and the boundaries of a particular community, to include everything collectively and this defines the relationship between people and the nature as presented. This means that individuals are directed by ethics in order to cooperate with each other for the mutual benefit of everyone within the earth. He argued that land is a community and is the basic concept of ecology and should be loved and respected as an extension of the ethics and the recognition implies that the individuals play a key role in the protection and preservation of health in the expanded definition of a community. The land ethic will therefore reflect the existence of an ecological conscience which reflects on the conviction of individual responsibility for the land and a connection to it and this is due to the fact that human beings can only be ethical only to something that they are able to see, feel, love or understand and have absolute faith on. Human responsibility for the future may mean a lot for different persons in different parts of the world and depending on the circumstances, however, there is agreement that responsibility refers to being responsible to people, for their actions and the actions that affect the people in a particular society. It is about holding the people or a group of human beings accountable to their actions and how they affect the people around them. Responsibility is deemed as an obligation that demonstrates the readiness of an individual to bear the consequences of his actions whether it is to the personal self or to another person. The responsibility for the future is therefore a complex multi-faceted way of thinking and line of social actions that incorporates human thoughts as well as the ethical implications that may come especially in the discussion of human rights and human responsibility. Thus, discussions on the human responsibilities for the future should be oriented in knowing the responsibility of an individual as differentiated with that of the society in line with the future desires of human beings. In conclusion, it is important to point out that the concept of responsibility keeps on changing as the roles of human beings change and this may be challenged from time to time. Uncertainty and disagreements about this concept may lead to disputes as each human being is usually expected to hold the other accountable for his actions. In a modern society like the one we live in, there is need for human beings to embrace compromise and proper judgment in order to be seen to be properly responsible for the future generations. It is no wonder that responsibility is no longer thought of as a social or political question, but one that emanates from an individual and the individual musty be aware of the consequences of being irresponsible. References Adam, B. (January 2012). Responsibility to Future Generations – A Schumacher Institute Challenge Paper. Available at: http://www.schumacherinstitute.org.uk/downloadable/BAdam%20Challenge%20-%20Responsibility%20to%20Future.pdf Buchanan, A. E. (2013). The heart of human rights. Oxford : Oxford University Press, Duckworth, H. A., & Moore, R. A. (2010). Social responsibility: failure mode effects and analysis. Boca Raton, FL, CRC Press/Taylor & Francis. Nováky, E. (2007). Responsibility for the Future. Journal of Futures Studies.12, 101-109 KnighT, R. L., & Riedel, S. (2002). Aldo Leopold and the ecological conscience. Oxford, Oxford University Press Kung, H. (April 2005). Global Ethic and Human Responsibilities. Santa Clara University. Available at: Partridge, E. (1993). The Philosophical Foundations of Aldo Leopold’s “Land Ethic”. University of California, Riverside. Available at: http://gadfly.igc.org/papers/leopold.htm Platt, J. (1971). How men can shape their future. Elsevier. Available at: Ricouer, P. (2000). The Just. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. Roberts, M. (2010). Responsibility and practical freedom. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. UNESCO (n.d). The Earth Charter. Available at: Wurtzel, A. E. (2006). Trends in contemporary ethical issues. New York, Nova Science Publishers. Read More