MIDTERM 5 Flashcards
Social Constructionism
There is no objective reality outside our categories of perception and interpretation. We can only know things through the ways that we categorise, classify, define, and understand them - and those ways of understanding are the products of culture and society
Essentialism
A thing’s characteristics are natural,
inherent, innate, fixed, unchanging
Humanism
Fundamental idea that humans are separate and superior from OTH beings.
- Other-than-human beings have less/no moral value
Humanist View of Nature
Irrational/non-rational “Laws of nature” Mechanistic body Instinct/passion INFERIOR
Humanist View of Human
Rational I Autonomy/ “free will” Mind/spirit + body Civility/self-control SUPERIOR
Key point: conceptions of “human” & “nature”
= social constructions
Claims that animals do feel pain/emotions
- Every part of an animal functions just like in a human
- Neurobiology clearly shows that animal brains function like human brains, eg. same limbic pathways
- Humans and other animals have the same neuro chemicals; antipsychotics and
antidepressants (Xanax, Prozac, etc.) work the same - what is the purpose of maternal deprivation studies conducted on thousands of monkeys for over 50 years?!
Speciesism
exclusion of certain beings from the realm of moral
concern merely on the basis of species
-assertion that humans are superior to all other life forms;
prejudice in favour of one’s own species
Nature’s role in economic processes
Provider of inputs (“natural resources”)
Receiver of outputs (“waste”)
Natural Resource
A socially constructed way of viewing OTH
worlds in terms of human wants (incl. profit),
that varies over time, space, and culture.
Economic activity involves ______ of resources
commodification
extraction
transformation
trading
Rationalism in economics is used to
- Create a discursive separation between humans
and all other life forms - Justify human greed and exploitation of nature
Assumptions of Rational Choice Theory
- assumes humans are naturally “rational actors”
- sees human nature as intrinsically selfish
- neglects how rational action is culturally defined
Rational
Make calculated decisions to maximize self interest,
especially economic self interest
By-Catch
accounts for 40%-90% of all catches.
