Abstract
From this point the main theoretical focus shifts from a justification of prima facie moral principles, including principles of social or distributive justice, and a basic understanding of conservation and of the common good, to a practical morality involved more closely with on-going problems of conservation. This chapter concentrates on the administration of conservation from a moral standpoint, though still concerned largely with theoretical questions in their application to practical problems. The next chapter is more concerned with the complexities in practice which obstruct moral solutions to conservation problems. Together, the two chapters serve to show both how wide the gap is between moral principles and the practice of conservation, and how difficult it is in practice to have a single-minded moral perspective on conservation which contributes to the common good.
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Notes
For certain aspects of legal rights see J. Raz, ‘On the Nature of Rights’, Mind, vol. xcIIi, no. 370 (April 1984) pp. 194–214.
Cf. F. A. Nigro and L. G. Nigro, Modern Public Administration 5th edn (New York: Harper and Row, 1980) p.81. The authors refer to Watergate, quoting Senator Erwin’s comment that certain persons loyal to the Nixon administration ‘resorted to evil means to promote what they considered to be a good end’.
In Britain there are statutory declarations of 150 National Nature Reserves whose purpose is to conserve key areas representing characteristic ecosystems. As well as the key areas there has been a notification of some 3500 Sites of Special Scientific Interest. See D. Ratcliffe, A Nature Conservation Review, The Nature Conservancy Council (Cambridge University Press, 1977) p. 1.
A comment by Elizabeth i, who added that ‘hardly a faithful or virtuous man may be found’. Quoted from J. Nichols, The Progress… of Queen Elizabeth (1823) vol. Ill, p. 552.
From J. Hurstfield, Freedom, Corruption and Government in Elizabethan England (London: Jonathan Cape, 1973) p. 137.
In The Prince Machiavelli wrote: ‘A prince who wishes to do great things must learn to deceive.’ (See the edition by J. Plamenatz, London, Collins, 1972, p. 231.) He explained that even cruelty, murder, deception and betrayal may be necessary to establish order and to maintain it. Taken out of context Michiavelli has been used through the centuries to suit a variety of purposes. See Felix Raab, The English Face of Machiavelli. A Changing Interpretation 1500–1700 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1964), for the changing attitudes to Machiavelli, from abuse in Elizabethan times as an atheist, to acceptance after 1642 as a critic of kings and of de facto power. For an Elizabethan translation of The Prince see the edition, with introduction by H. Craig, published by the North Carolina Press (1944).
For comment on the disparate interpretations of Machiavelli, See M. Fleisher, Machiavelli and the Nature of Political Thought (New York: Atheneum, 1972) pp. 114–47.
Pressure groups have been variously defined. E. g. G. C. Moodie and G. Studdart-Kennedy, Opinions, Publics and Pressure Groups (London: Allen and Unwin, 1970) p. 60: ‘By “pressure group” we mean, simply, any organized group which attempts to influence government decisions without seeking itself to exercise the formal powers of government’ (in this way distinguishing them from political parties or conspiratorial groups).
See A. C. Fisher, J. V. Krutilla and C. J. Cicchetti, ‘Alternative Uses of Natural Environments’, in J. V. Krutilla (ed.), Natural Environments. Studies in Theoretical and Applied Analysis (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972).
J. R. M. Cobo, ‘The Tlatelolco Treaty: an Update’, International Atomic Energy Agency Bulletin, vol. 26, no. 3 (Sept 1984) p. 25. The author commented (p. 26) on the increasing number of countries in the world aspiring to become nuclear powers. The Tlatelolco Treaty is a treaty for the prohibition of nuclear weapons in Latin America, with twenty-six signatories, effective from April 1969.
J. Austin, The Province of Jurisprudence Determined ed. H. A. L. Hart (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1954) p. 126. See the editor’s introduction for the reference to the Natural Law Theorists. In Bentham’s own time there were repeated observations of the gap between the law and morality: e. g. J. Dymond, Essays on the Principles of Morality p. 245.
H. A. L. Hart discusses ‘Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals’ in R. M. Dworkin (ed.), The Philosophy of Law (Oxford University Press, 1977) pp. 17–37. R. M. Dworkin replies to Hart in ‘Is Law a System of Rules?’, ibid., pp. 38–65, pointing out that the higher courts in both USA and England sometimes reject established rules of law.
Apart from treaties, other sources of international law are simply international custom, or practices accepted as law among states; and certain general principles of law accepted in common by ‘civilized nations’. See M. Akehurst, A Modern Introduction to International Law, 4th edn (London: Allen and Unwin, 1982).
G. Delcoigne et al. ‘Arms-Control Treaties: Review and Revision’, International Atomic Energy Agency Bulletin, vol. 26, no. 3 (Sept 1984) p. 37. Various attempts have been made to argue that international law is legally binding: e. g. I. Detter, Law-Making by International Organizations (Stockholm: Norstedt, 1965) pp. 322ff.
See also I. Brownlie, Principles of Public International Law (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973) pp. 1–2, for the contrast between statutes and the ‘rules of general application’ under international law. One of the greatest legal obstacles in international law is in the consistent failure of states to waive their respective claims to national sovereignty.
See G. Von Glahn, Law Among Nations. An Introduction to Public International Law, 3rd edn (New York: Macmillan, 1976) p. 726.
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© 1987 Leslie Melville Brown
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Brown, L. (1987). Conservation, Administration and the Common Good. In: Conservation and Practical Morality. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08527-9_3
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