Environmental Philosophy

Volume 7, Issue 2, Fall 2010

Ecotourism and Environmental Justice

Ethics Commands, Aesthetics Demands
Environmental Aesthetics for Environmental Justice in Newark

I identify a commonly held position in environmental philosophy, “the received view,” and argue that its proponents beg the question when challenged to demonstrate the relevance of environmental aesthetics for environmental justice. I call this “the inference problem,” and I go on to argue that an alternative to the received view, Arnold Berleant’s participatory engagement model, is better equipped to meet the challenge it poses. By adopting an alternative metaphysics, the engagement model supplies a solution to the inference problem and thereby provides a more useful theoretical framework for application to pressing concerns in environmental justice, such as the plight of the historical Ironbound District of Newark, New Jersey.