Wartość świata przyrody w opinii młodych mieszkańców Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej

Abstract

This article discusses issues of ecophilosophy and environmental ethics. The first part of the work presents the analysis of the relation which connects a human being with nature, and also a moral assessment of actions undertaken by society members and their impact on the state of natural environment, as well as the main concepts of both ecophilosophy (anthropocentrism, biocentrism and moderate anthropocentrism) and environmental ethics (biocentrism, anthropocentrism and holism). The second part of the article includes analysis of data which were collected during sociological research carried out in 2015 among Polish, Slovak and Ukrainian students. The results of the conducted research show that, as a matter of fact, the respondents were aware of ?the ecological values? present in their societies. Perhaps, what proves it, is the fact that the respondents were for giving nature a moral status, but they were simultaneously likely to treat it instrumentally. Undoubtedly, the conducted research made the respondents aware of the existence of an alternative value system, which can be successfully referred to the natural environment.