Books about the relationship between man and nature, about the influence of man on the world around us, about environmental disasters and about what awaits us all if we do not stop in our destruction.
PART 1. 12 books.
1. R. Bradbury "The Martian Chronicles"
Do you want to conquer Mars, this strange, changeable world inhabited by mysterious, elusive inhabitants and not so kind to humans? Go for it. But just get ready to fully drink the cup of regrets and longing - longing for the green planet Earth, where your heart will forever remain.
2. V. Astafiev "Tsar Fish"
A moral and philosophical story about man’s responsibility for all living things around him, about his difficult and painful desire for peace and harmony in nature and in his own soul.
3. R. Bradbury "All Summer in One Day"
School on Venus. The sun appears here only once every seven years, and the rest of the time it rains. All the children, the heroes of the story, are nine years old and almost none of them remember what the sun is like. Except Margot. After all, she flew here only five years ago, from Earth, from sunny Ohio. For this, the rest of her classmates do not like her and avoid her. And then the very day came when the sun was supposed to appear over the planet flooded with water for just an hour, the very day that everyone had been waiting for...
4. A. de Saint-Exupery "The Little Prince"
The most famous work Antoine de Saint-Exupery with the author's drawings. A wise and “humane” fairy tale-parable, which simply and heartfeltly talks about the most important things: about friendship and love, about duty and loyalty, about beauty and intolerance to evil.
“We all come from childhood,” reminds great Frenchman and introduces us to the most mysterious and touching hero of world literature.
- There is such a thing hard rule. Get up in the morning, wash your face, put yourself in order - and immediately put your planet in order.
- You are forever responsible for everyone you tamed.
5. N. Nekrasov “Grandfather Mazai and the Hares”
"Malye Vezhi" is a small village near Kostroma where the character N.A. lives. Nekrasov's grandfather Mazai. Every spring, meltwater turns this region into “Venice”. It is especially difficult for small forest animals at this time. Old Mazai, while sailing on a boat for firewood, saw bunnies in trouble. The hunter took pity on them and began to collect the animals into his boat, thereby saving them from death. This simple story teaches young reader love for nature, kindness and humanity. For reading to adults and children.
6. Ch. Aitmatov “The Scaffold”
Book of a famous Soviet writer- a novel-warning, touching on acute moral problems modernity. The author explores gains and losses modern man in his spiritual life, in relation to the Motherland, people, other people, nature, evaluates him moral qualities in their development, historical relationships and real life tests.
The fate of the heroes is inextricably linked with the history of the wolf family, and everyone has their own scaffold.
7. J. Giono “The Man Who Planted Trees”
About the Man who sowed hope and reaped happiness. He turned the barren desert into the promised land: day after day, year after year. Ten thousand trees was just the beginning. As a result, ten thousand people owed their happiness to him.
8. J. Herriot "Of all creatures - great and small"
With love and humor, the author, a veterinarian by profession, talks about domestic animals and their relationships with humans.
9. J. Darrell “Three tickets to Adventure”
Gerald Durrell is an excellent naturalist writer, famous traveler, owner of a unique gift of storytelling and subtle humor. His books help millions of children and adults around the world take a fresh look at the world of wildlife and feel like an integral part of it. In this story, Gerald Durrell shares with readers his impressions of a fascinating expedition to South America. You will learn how a sloth spends its time every day, what accompanies the birth of baby toads with pockets, and also in what cases porcupines stage real boxing matches. You will introduce yourself unique opportunity make sure that the work of a zoo rescuer can be hard, exhausting and even dangerous, but never boring!
10. B. Vasiliev “Don’t shoot white swans”
Even summary"Don't shoot white swans" can produce indelible impression on the reader. The author uses images that “catch” the audience, holding their attention for a long time, forcing them to follow the course of the story and empathize with the characters.
Living and inanimate nature. If for the Polushkin family the life of a puppy and an ant is precious, then the other heroes of the novel do not consider either animals or insects to be living beings.
- Dying out living beauty. Only zoos will soon remain.
11. E. Season-Thompson "Stories about Animals"
“Poor, beautiful animal! For a long time we were enemies: I was the pursuer, you were the victim. But now everything has changed. We look into each other's eyes, we are children of the same mother - nature. We can't talk, but we can understand each other without words. Now I understand you as I never understood you before. And I'm sure you understood me too. Your life is in my hands, but you are no longer afraid of me. I was told about one deer who, when he was surrounded by dogs, rushed to the hunter and sought his protection, and the hunter saved him. So I pursued you for many days, and now you can stand before me without fear. My hand will never rise to kill you. We are brothers, beautiful creation, only I am older and stronger than you. And if my strength could always protect you, you would never know danger.
Go, roam the wooded hills without fear - never again will I pursue you. The more I learn about life, the closer you become to me, and I cannot look at you as prey, as a tasty piece of meat.
Walk calmly, without fear. You and I will never meet. Goodbye!"
12. Y. Kazakov “Arcturus - the hound dog”
I have seen many loyal dogs, submissive, capricious, proud, stoic, sneaky, indifferent, crafty and empty dogs. Arcturus was not like any of them. His feeling for his master was extraordinary and sublime. He loved him passionately and poetically, perhaps more life. But he was chaste and rarely allowed himself to open up to the end.
Life has always moved inexorably forward, developed and evolved. As a result, a man appeared, a creature more perfect than anything that was and is. Man is the crown of nature. It would seem that he should be grateful to his mother nature for giving him life and all the conditions for existence. But what more people adapted and developed, the less he thought about the consequences of his activities regarding nature. The issue of the relationship between nature and humanity has always been important. But in lately it has become global and an insoluble problem requiring urgent consideration.
Of course, it is important to consider the problem of the relationship between man and nature with different sides. After all, economics, politics and the life of every person have an impact great influence on the state of nature as a whole. But if we look at the root and look deeper, we will understand that it is impossible to establish relationships between nature and man on a massive scale. You can't just pick it up and cancel it human activity, which has a bad impact on nature. This issue needs to be resolved individually, so that everyone can understand the essence of the problem, and most importantly, that it is part of its elimination.
Of course, man was created for development. He is far superior to all living beings. Man is the king of nature. But it is foolish to start from these beliefs. People make the most of natural resources without giving anything in return. Society is progressing, new technologies are appearing and this is good. But this has never happened before crisis state nature. Why? We all know that man is greedy. He is so caught up in his wealth and achievements that he has forgotten about the consequences. People take everything from nature, but give nothing back, and if they give it away, it is only chemical waste.
Today there are still tribes that deify nature. They present her with gifts and perform various rituals so that nature will be lenient towards them. Of course, such an attitude to the philosophical question of the relationship between society and nature is a utopia. These tribes will sooner or later die out from disease or starvation. But the essence of their attitude to life is true. These people are not spoiled by the gifts of life. They are grateful for what they have. Perhaps this is due to the fact that progress has not reached them. If we lived in the same conditions, we would be the same. However, they would also die with them.
Reply to philosophical question about the relationship between man and nature lives within us. Every person understands how to solve this problem, but no one wants to take on this matter. And all because it is long, expensive and unprofitable. If we do not eliminate the threat of disaster now, then it will be too late. Our progress will destroy us. You need to start small, start with yourself.
Reverence
Arguments for the essay
Chekhov A.P. "Thick and Thin" Chekhov's story "The Thick and the Thin" tells us about the meeting of two old friends, former classmates, the fat and the thin. While they know nothing about each other, they show themselves as people: “The friends kissed each other three times and fixed their eyes full of tears on each other.” But as soon as they exchanged “personal data,” an impassable social boundary immediately appeared between them. So a friendly meeting turns into a meeting of two unequal ranks.
Moral degradation, baseness
Arguments for the essay
A.P. Chekhov "Gooseberry" Another example of spiritual degradation can be Nikolai Ivanovich from Chekhov’s story “Gooseberry”. In pursuit of the dream of buying his own estate, he forgets about internal development. All his actions, all his thoughts were subordinated to this material goal. As a result, a kind and meek man sank, turning into an arrogant and self-confident “master”. L. N. Tolstoy “War and Peace” The great Russian writer L.N. Tolstoy, in his novel “War and Peace,” wrote more than once about the moral qualities of man. So, for example, for Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya and her son main goal in life - the arrangement of one’s material well-being. And for this, Anna Mikhailovna does not disdain either humiliating begging or the use of brute force (the scene with the mosaic briefcase).
Moral Strength
Arguments for the essay
A. Solzhenitsyn “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” Alyoshka, the hero of A. Solzhenitsyn’s story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,” is just an example spiritual person. He went to prison because of his faith, but did not abandon it; on the contrary, this young man defended his truth and tried to convey it to other prisoners. Not a single day passed without reading the Gospel, copied into an ordinary notebook.
What kind of life can be called spiritual?
Arguments for the essay
E. Zamyatin, “We” I would like to mention the heroes of E. Zamyatin’s novel “We”. “Numbers,” as the author calls them, lived in a mathematically ideal state, their life rhythm was honed to perfection. Each “number” is essentially a mathematician. But everything was limited to the mind: the heroes had no soul. They did not feel the need to strive for high things, were not interested in the beauty of the world fenced off by city walls, it was a scarecrow. Can such a life be called spiritual?
The ineradicability of the desire for development and science
Arguments for the essay
A.S. Griboyedov "Woe from Wit" Russian playwright, poet and diplomat A.S. Griboyedov in his work “Woe from Wit” poses the problem of the mind and learning. In the monologue "Who are the judges?" Chatsky asserts the right of young people to engage in science and art: “A mind hungry for knowledge will focus on science; Or in his soul God himself will arouse a fervor for creative, high and beautiful arts...” Even such harmless activities in Famusov’s world cause fear. Famusov acts to protect society, and how loving father, and as a major official. In any case, he is frightened by this line of mind young man. He is trying to “reason” and “instruct the truth.” But, having received a blow, Chatsky, suffering, experiencing a personal drama, defended his right to be himself. The thirst for science and human development is ineradicable. I.S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons" The central image of the novel by the wonderful writer I.S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons" - Bazarov. The hero is engaged in science, medicine, strives for useful activity but challenges eternal laws life, being, rejects love, art, which constitute an essential human need. “Nihilism,” according to Turgenev, challenges the eternal values of the spirit and the natural needs of life. This is seen as the hero’s fault, the reason for his inevitable death.
Love for nature
Arguments for the essay
S. Yesenin “Go away, my dear Rus'” One of the central themes of the lyrics of the brightest poet of the 20th century S. Yesenin is the nature of his native land. In the poem “Go you, Rus', my dear,” the poet abandons paradise for the sake of his homeland, its flock is higher than eternal bliss, which, judging by other lyrics, he finds only on Russian soil. Thus, feelings of patriotism and love for nature are closely intertwined. The very awareness of their gradual weakening is the first step towards a natural, real peace that enriches the soul and body.
The inextricable connection between man and nature
Arguments for the essay
M.Yu. Lermontov "Hero of Our Time" The close emotional connection between man and nature can be traced in Lermontov’s story “A Hero of Our Time.” The events in the life of the main character, Grigory Pechorin, are accompanied by changes in the state of nature in accordance with changes in his mood. Thus, considering the duel scene, the gradation of the states of the surrounding world and Pechorin’s feelings is obvious. If before the duel the sky seems to him “fresh and blue” and the sun “brightly shining,” then after the duel, looking at Grushnitsky’s corpse, celestial body it seemed “dull” to Gregory, and the rays “did not warm him.” Nature is not only the experiences of the heroes, but is also one of the characters. The thunderstorm becomes the reason for a long meeting between Pechorin and Vera, and in one of the diary entries preceding the meeting with Princess Mary, Grigory notes that “the air of Kislovodsk is conducive to love.” With such an allegory, Lermontov not only more deeply and fully reflects the internal state of the heroes, but also denotes his own, the author’s presence by introducing nature as a character. E. Zamyatin “We” Addressing classical literature, I would like to give an example of E. Zamyatin’s dystopian novel “We”. Refusing the natural beginning, the inhabitants of the United State become numbers, whose lives are determined by the framework of the Tablet of Hours. Beauty native nature replaced by perfectly proportioned glass structures, and love is only possible with a pink card. The main character, D-503, is doomed to mathematically verified happiness, which is found, however, after the removal of fantasy. It seems to me that with such an allegory Zamyatin was trying to express the inextricability of the connection between nature and man.
Nature is not a temple, but a workshop, and man is a worker in it
Arguments for the essay
I. S. Turgenev, “Fathers and Sons” People forget that nature is their native and only home, which requires careful treatment, which is confirmed in the novel by I. S. Turgenev “Fathers and Sons.” The main character, Evgeny Bazarov, is known for his categorical position: “Nature is not a temple, but a workshop, and man is a worker in it.” This is exactly how the Author sees a “new” person in him: he is indifferent to the values accumulated by previous generations, lives in the present and uses everything he needs, without thinking about what consequences this may lead to. I. Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons” raises the current topic of the relationship between nature and man. Bazarov, rejecting any aesthetic pleasure in nature, perceives it as a workshop, and man as a worker. Arkady, Bazarov's friend, on the contrary, treats her with all the admiration inherent in a young soul. In the novel, each hero is tested by nature. Communication with the outside world helps Arkady heal mental wounds, for him this unity is natural and pleasant. Bazarov, on the contrary, does not seek contact with her - when Bazarov was feeling bad, he “went into the forest and broke branches.” She does not give him the desired peace of mind or peace of mind. Thus, Turgenev emphasizes the need for a fruitful and two-way dialogue with nature.
Callous and callous attitude towards people
Arguments for the essay
"Matryonin's Dvor" by Solzhenitsyn. The closed model of the world in the novel by E.I. Zamyatin "We".- The appearance and principles of the United State. - Narrator, number D - 503, and his spiritual illness. - “The Resistance of Human Nature.” In dystopias, the world based on the same premises is presented through the eyes of its inhabitant, an ordinary citizen, from the inside, in order to trace and show the feelings of a person undergoing the laws of an ideal state. The conflict between the individual and the totalitarian system becomes driving force any dystopia, allowing one to recognize dystopian features in works that are very different at first glance... The society depicted in the novel has achieved material perfection and stopped in its development, plunging into a state of spiritual and social entropy.
Man and nature
Arguments for the essay
Sholokhov "Quiet Don". Turgenev "Bezhin Meadow". Nature coincides with the feelings of the heroes. M. Bulgakov. "Fatal Eggs" Professor Persikov accidentally breeds giant reptiles instead of large chickens that threaten civilization. M. Bulgakov. "Heart of a Dog" Professor Preobrazhensky transplants part of a human brain into the dog Sharik, turning a completely cute dog into the disgusting Polygraph Polygraphovich Sharikov. You cannot mindlessly interfere with nature! M. Prishvin. "Pantry of the Sun"
Man and knowledge.
Arguments for the essay
Shukshin "Weird"- an absent-minded person may seem ill-mannered. And what prompts him to do strange things are positive, selfish motives. The weirdo reflects on problems that concern humanity at all times: what is the meaning of life? What is good and evil? Who is “right, who is smarter” in this life? And with all his actions he proves that he is right, and not those who think... Goncharov. Oblomov's image. This is the image of a person who only wanted. He wanted to change his life, he wanted to rebuild the life of the estate, he wanted to raise children... But he did not have the strength to make these desires come true, so his dreams remained dreams. M. Gorky in the play “At the Lower Depths”. Showed the drama " former people”, who have lost the strength to fight for their own sake. They hope for something good, understand that they need to live better, but do nothing to change their fate. It is no coincidence that the play begins in a rooming house and ends there. I. Bunin in the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco.” Showed the fate of a man who served false values. Wealth was his god, and this god he worshiped. But when the American millionaire died, it turned out that true happiness passed the man by: he died without ever knowing what life was. Yesenin. "Black man" The poem “Black Man” is the cry of Yesenin’s dying soul, it is a requiem for the life left behind. Yesenin, like no one else, was able to tell what life does to a person. Mayakovsky. "Listen." Internal conviction in the correctness of his moral ideals separated Mayakovsky from other poets, from the usual flow of life. This isolation gave rise to a spiritual protest against the philistine environment, where there were no high spiritual ideals. The poem is a cry from the poet’s soul. Zamyatin "Cave".(Martin Martinych). The hero comes into conflict with himself, a split occurs in his soul. His spiritual values are perishing. He violates the commandment “Thou shalt not steal.”
Compassion, sensitivity and mercy
Arguments for the essay
Astafiev "Lyudochka" In the episode with the dying man, when everyone left him, only Lyudochka felt sorry for him. And after his death, everyone only pretended that they felt sorry for him, everyone except Lyudochka. A verdict on a society in which people are deprived of human warmth. M. Sholokhov “The Fate of Man.” The story tells about the tragic fate of a soldier who lost all his relatives during the war. One day he met an orphan boy and decided to call himself his father. This act suggests that love and the desire to do good give a person strength to live, strength to resist fate. V. Hugo “Les Miserables”. The writer in the novel tells the story of a thief. After spending the night in the bishop's house, in the morning this thief stole silverware from him. But an hour later the police detained the criminal and took him to a house where he was given lodging for the night. The priest said that this man did not steal anything, that he took all the things with the owner’s permission. The thief, amazed by what he heard, in one minute experienced a true rebirth, and after that he became an honest man.
Scientific progress and human moral qualities
Arguments for the essay
A. S. Griboyedov. "Woe from Wit" M. Bulgakov. "Heart of a Dog" Doctor Preobrazhensky turns a dog into a human. Scientists are driven by a thirst for knowledge, a desire to change nature. But sometimes progress turns into terrible consequences: a two-legged creature with a “dog’s heart” is not yet a person, because there is no soul in it, no love, honor, nobility.
The problem of the relationship between man and nature
One of current problems social philosophy - the problem of the relationship between society and nature. Just a few decades ago, the real relationship between them was most often very one-sided. Humanity only took from nature, actively exploited its reserves, blithely believing that natural resources are limitless and eternal. At best, this relationship was poetic: a person enjoyed the beauty of nature, calling for respect and love for it. In general, humanity did not go beyond emotional appeals. An understanding of what nature means for the existence and development of society has not been formed. Today, the problem of the relationship between society and nature has grown from a purely theoretical one into an acutely pressing one, on the solution of which the future of humanity depends. Man, through his activities, makes changes in natural environment. The first serious scientific analysis of human changes in the physical and geographical conditions of the Earth was given by the American geographer George Perkins Marsh (1801-1882) in 1864. He examined in detail the geographical consequences of changes made by humans in the flora and fauna - the destruction of forests, the transformation of the hydrographic network (the construction of dams , drainage of swamps and lakes), drainage and irrigation of land, consolidation of sand. Today, scientific and technological revolution has led to a large-scale exchange of substances and energy between humans and the natural environment, which has two sides. On the one hand, natural materials are being extracted, and on the other hand, they are being released into environment various kinds waste polluting the environment and acquiring alarming proportions. The natural resource base of social production is being depleted. When the state and people understand what dangers threaten them, they strive to avoid them, although the dangers may not be eliminated. A specific system of risk stability emerges. Modern man is destined to live, act and make responsible decisions in this system of stability of risks, many of which are associated with negative changes in natural-anthropogenic geosystems. Scientists identify, describe and evaluate more and more new types of natural and anthropogenic impacts on geographic landscapes and are intensively searching for ways to quantitatively or qualitatively assess the environmental effect of individual factors. If the parameters characterizing the natural transformation of the environment maintain their average values for a long period of time, then changes caused by social or economic activities can lead to rapid, sometimes irreversible processes of change in the geographical envelope. These changes, which are sometimes negative, are most often associated with errors in technical and economic policies, insufficient knowledge of the possible consequences of anthropogenic impact, and underestimation of nature’s capabilities for self-reproduction of resources and self-regulation. You can know well what not to do and what human actions inevitably harm nature and, nevertheless, commit them, which currently happens quite often. In other words, the geoecological state of natural-anthropogenic landscapes is also influenced by sociocultural factors that characterize man’s relationship to nature. Their identification and analysis should show the harm of “unbalanced thinking” in the decision environmental problems, according to which only the benefits achieved in some areas are calculated, without assessing losses in others.
MORAL ASPECT OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
The global problems of our time require an immediate rethinking of the historically formed attitude in human consciousness, aimed at the consumerist, destructive and in many cases destructive attitude of man to nature. IN modern world against the backdrop of a thoughtless attitude towards our own lives and those around us, when millions of living beings are destroyed without any need, the basis modern relations human and nature must be a deeply moral principle of sustainable development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. A. A. Skvortsov describes four types of relationships between man and nature that were observed throughout their interaction. The first type is immoral, evil attitude. It is quite rare (setting fire to a forest for fun, killing animals and cutting down forests to demonstrate one’s strength, etc.). The second type is a utilitarian attitude, the most common at present. It is typical for him to see in nature only the resources necessary to maintain well-being. The third type is the attitude towards nature: theoretical, scientific, opposed to the purely utilitarian. A real scientist does not care what benefits knowledge will bring him; his task is to look for the objective laws of nature, the unshakable foundations on which the entire universe rests. The fourth type is an aesthetic attitude. However, A. A. Skvortsov considers the first and second types of relationships unacceptable, and the third and fourth types insufficient. The most accurate formulation of the only worthy relationship of man to nature is the statement human beginning in space and cosmic in man. In recent years, many developed countries have seen an ecologization of moral consciousness and value orientations have changed; a system of values was created that included both social and natural elements. In this case, nature received the status of an independent value due to its uniqueness, singularity and inimitability. As V.I. Baranova notes, the value understanding of nature expresses the indissoluble unity of man and society with nature. Man and society act as elements of a single system “nature-society”, without which their existence is impossible; however, at the same time, the interests of nature are brought to the fore, given priority over the interests of society, and are included in the sphere of morality. With this approach, nature in new system moral values acts as a goal, and not as a means, which is directly related to a new understanding of the essence of man as a natural being. The question also arises about man’s moral relationship to nature, about the peculiarities of this relationship, about expanding the scope of traditional, customary forms of moral regulation (norms, principles, values, ideals, etc.). In the broad and strict sense of the word, “ethics” is a philosophical and scientific discipline that studies the phenomena of morality and ethics: morality as a set of norms - prohibitions, requirements, regulations, ideals - accepted in a given society and enshrined in its culture; morality as human behavior from the point of view of its compliance with these norms. In a loose but acceptable sense in everyday use, the term “ethics” coincides with the term “morality” and is its synonym. Unlike custom or tradition, moral norms have an ideological justification in the form of the ideals of goodness and justice, what is proper, etc. Thus, morality is a form of social consciousness and a type of social relations. By definition, the subject of environmental ethics, as one of the subdisciplines of general ethics, is moral standards and ethical behavior in the field of human-society-nature relations. However, we probably have the right to say something more about environmental ethics. In fact, due to the fact that its object is the fundamental, basic relationship between man and nature, it stands out in its significance among other subdisciplines of general ethics, for all their absolute importance, even among such as, say, medical ethics or bioethics. It is also necessary to emphasize here special place ethics in the entire structure of environmental knowledge and behavior. The founder of the doctrine of the biosphere, V.I. Vernadsky, wrote: “The most important questions are ethical questions, questions about how one should behave under certain living conditions” (Vernadsky V.I. Philosophical thoughts of a naturalist. - M., 1988. - P. 386). It is probably permissible to supplement this authoritative statement with the assumption that a person’s consciousness first becomes defective and only then does the natural environment around him become defective, that human ecology is, first of all, the improvement of the spiritual world of society, the development high culture and humanistic morality. In connection with the named essential features of environmental ethics, it is important to highlight in its internal structure the meaning of moral choice and responsibility. Generally speaking, our choice can be determined in two ways - either by rational considerations, sound reasoning about the consequences of making a decision or this or that course of action, or emotionally, by passions, so often far from the interests of the matter. When choosing in the environmental field, it is especially important that a rational, reasonable principle prevail, and only such a choice will be fully responsible. In this context, we also need to talk not only about high personal responsibility, but also about social and environmental responsibility, since without exaggeration it can be argued that it has crucial for historical development as a whole. In ethics, which is already more than two and a half thousand years old, there is still no generally accepted theory; first of all, there is no consensus on what all moral norms are based on, i.e. Not issue resolved about the origins of morality. Various answers are given to this. Naturalistic theories of ethics see the origins of morality in natural law: “what is moral is what is natural, what is in harmony with nature.” Other theories claim that all moral norms contain common sense, which is the best guide in resolving moral conflicts. Many ethical theories talk about the religious origin of morality, the main imperatives of which are revealed in divine revelation. In the field of environmental ethics, in addition to, of course, the aforementioned theoretical differences, there are many specific, controversial and debated problems. Let us name, in particular, the following: does environmental ethics have its own basis or are its principles - these are general environmental principles; is it based only on the recognition of the intrinsic value of natural objects; whether aesthetics constitutes the exclusive basis of ecoethics, when it is believed that “the value of life lies in its beauty”; can individual moral norms shape environmental ethics and environmental awareness; how far has the departure from utilitarian forms of ethics progressed or whether they continue to dominate; and finally, whether environmental ethics is effective in practice. Returning to the question of the origins of ethics, but in relation to environmental ethics, we adhere to the point of view that it is based on ideological level approaches to the essence of interaction between man and nature. And in this sense, the ethics of reverence for the life of Nobel Prize laureate Albert Schweitzer, who through the feat of his life demonstrated the effectiveness of man’s inner spiritual connection with the world around him, acquires particular relevance. The essence of the ethic of reverence for life is that a person, when causing harm to any other life, is aware of this and constantly weighs how justified the harm caused to someone else's life is. It also provides for a constant internal conflict, which is based on reverence for one’s own and any other life and, as a result, the inevitability of a choice arises between the ethical and the necessary. It should be borne in mind that morality has always been the most vulnerable weak point of all social programs, so there is no reason to consider it as the key to solving environmental problems. Morality is derived from the type, nature of life activity, which, in turn, depends on many objective conditions, including natural ones. Considering the connection moral principles ethical subdisciplines with the norms and imperative of general ethics, one should, apparently, proceed from the recognition that it is impossible to propose a set of rules and principles that would satisfy everyone. In this regard, we will try to formulate as material for discussing this issue a set of rules and principles of environmental ethics. Among them we would name the following. The moral position in man’s relationship with nature should be, first of all, humanistic, i.e. having as a priority both the good of man and the good of nature. The connection between them is institutionalized by the “ecological imperative” put forward by academician N. N. Moiseev and prescribing, adhering to the theory of co-evolutionary development of society and nature, not to conflict with natural laws, so as not to cause irreversible processes in the biosphere. Next to this imperative can be placed the “principle of partnership” in the relationship between man and nature. This principle, in turn, can be supplemented by the principle: treat nature with respect and love, and living nature in particular. Based on the above, activities aimed at eradicating egoistic ideology with its consumerism and disregard for future generations, and in connection with this, restructuring the entire system of enlightenment, education and upbringing, and the entire culture, can be called moral. Accordingly, knowledge and practical skills that optimize human impact on nature are moral. We especially consider it possible to highlight the principle of non-violence as having great integration potential in relation to other principles of environmental ethics and as in the most acute form correlating with its humanistic component.
