Nelson, James. “Health and Disease as ‘Thick’ Concepts in Ecosystemic Contexts.” Environmental Values 4, no. 4 (1995): 311–22. doi:10.3197/096327195776679420.
In this paper, I consider what kind of normative work might be done by speaking of ecosystems utilising a “medical” vocabulary—drawing, that is, on such notions as “health,” “disease,” and “illness.” Some writers attracted to this mode of expression have been rather modest about what they think it might purchase. I wish to be bolder. Drawing on the idea of “thick” evaluative concepts as discussed by McDowell, Williams and Taylor, and resorting to a phenomenological argument for a kind of moral realism, I argue that the project of developing a robust understanding of the moral significance of recognising the health or illness of ecosystems is definitely a starter.
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