Environmental Ethics in Shinto

Abstract

The purposes of this research were 1) to analyze environmental ethics in Shinto. and, 2) to consider the arguments on ethical values of natural world in environmental ethics, The result of this study showed that environmental ethics in Shinto was classified into Stewardship and Holism based on the belief that Kami resided in nature, so nature was divine and valuable and human had to respect and protect them. Moreover, the existence of Kami in natural world as well as the belief that everything was born from Kami, and therefore, everything was connected. The Shinto shrine and festival reflected the relation between human, Kami and nature. Because the shrine was the sacred place, the location of the shrine as well as its surrounding had to be specially taken care of and protected. The festivals were rituals to connect the people in the community together and they also showed the cooperation among people in community. In the arguments on ethical value of natural world it was found that the Anthropocentrism believed that only human being had intrinsic value. However, in Stewardship, believed that the nature also had ethical value, for it was created by God just like a human being. Therefore, a man had to protect the nature as this duty was assigned by God. To Holism believed that everything had intrinsic value and was connected to each other, and a man was a mere part of the whole; therefore, a man had to realize the intrinsic value of everything in biosphere.