The Ethics of Environmental Holism and the Democratic State: Are they in Conflict?
Laura Westra Environmental Values 2(1993): 125-136. doi: 10.3197/096327193776679954 Environmental holism, with its demands for universality, appears to undermine the democratic rights of individuals, and of nation states within the international community. But these rights may better be viewed as means towards justice or other goods, rather than as ends in themselves. Where basic survival issues are involved, environmental ‘triage’ may be morally essential, and some checks on ‘populist’ democratic politics inevitable.
