Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 8, 2026

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task
Published on: July 22, 2025
[The Future of Ecology: Wisdom as The Speculative Centre of Environmental Ethics]
1Faculty of Philosophy y Center of Bioethics, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul, Santiago de Chile. Tel.: 56 2 2354 1479 luvalera@uc.cl.
Abstract:
This article argues that it is necessary to go back to Potter's proposal to rediscover a concept of bioethics wider than medical ethics, and strongly connected to environmental ethics. The two disciplines share, among others, the following dimensions: the consciousness of the sin as a consequence of recent technological developments; the need for a salvation; the need for a science of survival; wisdom as a possible solution. Referring to the latter, the work of Van Rennselaer Potter (father of bioethics) and Arne Næss (father of deep ecology, and in a broader sense, of environmental ethics) are particularly linked: it seems that wisdom should be the virtue providing answers about our way of dwelling the world. Finally, we will argue about the need for a practical wisdom (phronesis) for the future of environmental ethics.
Related Concept Videos
Biodiversity and Human Values
Ethics and Bioethics
Dimensions of Health and Illness
Ethical Dilemmas II
Criticisms of the Evolutionary Perspective
Evolutionary psychology provides one explanation for these findings, suggesting...
Social Traps

