Environmental ethics from a Thomistic-personalistic perspective (implications for the sustainable development concept)

According to the author, Thomistic environmental ethics is the ethics of respect for man and nature. Contrary to popular opinion it doesn’t possess a strong anthropocentric nor a non-ecological character but a theocentric one with a pro-ecological dimension. Thomism teaches that there is hierarchical order in reality. In Thomistic ethics it is God who is the main reference point and the supreme good (summum bonum). Thus, it has a primarily theocentric character, and secondarily an anthropocentric one, which is inscribed in relations between humans and other beings. However, this anthropocentrism is moderate and is not hostile towards nature. In theocentric terms, God is the cause and source of all natural beings. From the ontological perspective they are therefore good, and which must be protected. However, from this assumption it does not mean that all natural beings have the same axiological value. In Thomistic eco-ethics a man, understood as a human person, has an autotelic value. Currently, for this reason, traditional Thomism is increasingly supplemented with personalistic reasoning. In anthropologic analysis a man appears as a psychophysical being. He is therefore unique and the most perfect of beings occurring in nature. Only man can be described as a free and rational being, transcending nature which surrounds him. That is why the dignity of a human person is considered as the moral norm of Thomistic eco-ethics. It also has a person-centric dimension. The value of a human person also controls the relations between a person and other beings inhabiting the Earth. However, they cannot be based on the idea of human domination over nature. The duty to protect nature is inscribed in natural law. This understanding of Thomistic-personalistic eco-ethics can be reconciled with the sustainable development concept.