The Concept of Intrinsic Value and Depositional Coastal Landforms

Bibliographic Data

ID4489745
AuthorsKarl F Nordstrom (0000-0001-6872-6527, corresponding author)
Year1990
Volume80
Issue1
Pages68
Publication date1990-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeographical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0016-7428 • E-ISSN: 1931-0846
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/215899
OpenAlexW2320789930
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited10

Application of the concept of intrinsic value to inanimate objects is examined by comparing characteristics of depositional landforms in undeveloped coastal areas with those of landforms subjected to human modification. Humans alter landforms either through direct manipulation or indirect means. Altered and unaltered landforms are often similar in outward appearance and have identical human uses, but internal structures and evolutionary processes differ. Essential characteristics of natural features can be maintained through alternative management techniques. IM ANY recent studies in geography, ecology, and environmental ethics have called attention to the need to manage natural resources in ways that do not appeal solely to human preference or utility (Smith and O'Keefe 1980; Hargrove 1987; Sessions 1987; Bonnicksen 1988; Stone 1988). Much debate has centered on the concept of the rights of sentient nonhuman beings. The challenges of legitimizing this approach are substantial and become still more difficult when applied to nonliving things. Past appeals for the rights of inanimate objects have involved a holistic view of the interconnectedness of nonliving and living things or an argument that extends rights to nonliving natural features. A potentially more fruitful approach bases moral considerability on the intrinsic value of the object itself. This method, however, is still controversial, largely because of the difficulty of identifying the intrinsic worth of something that cannot be killed, pained, or frustrated (Nash 1977; Leopold 1979; Cahen 1988; Stone 1988). Conversion of landforms by humans often goes unnoticed. Moreover, humans tend to remain satisfied with an environment even as it degrades around them (Dustin and McAvoy 1982). As time passes, natural landscape becomes ever more susceptible to conversion, human memory of natural landform characteristics fades, documentation of those characteristics becomes scarcer, and people accept current conditions as a natural system. The landscape may remain valuable to humans, but the interactions of processes and the resultant landforms that characterized the natural system are modified, and the intrinsic value of the physical landscape is gradually lost. The purpose of this article is to assess the concept of intrinsic value as applied to nonliving objects through an examination of geomorphic systems in undeveloped and human-altered environments. It provides a basis for environmental debate and a starting point for restoring endangered nonliving resources. The focus is on beaches and coastal dunes, familiar landforms on which human alteration of natural processes is prevalent (Brown 1970; * DR. NORDSTROM is an associate research professor at the Center for Coastal and Environmental Studies and a member of the geography department at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.180 on Thu, 08 Sep 2016 04:22:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms CONCEPT OF INTRINSIC VALUE Carr 1988). Coastal landforms also have the advantage of being readily observable, measurable, and more mobile than many other natural features, so changes may be monitored over a short period. The analysis begins by isolating the characteristics of coastal depositional landforms in their least altered state and then identifies the degree to which those characteristics occur in human-altered systems. The intrinsic attributes of coastal landforms are outlined, along with the problems of using the literal meaning of the term intrinsic. Alternative terms are suggested, and implications for management are presented. CHANGES ON UNDEVELOPED SHORELINES Several processes create and shape beaches and dunes (Table I). Wind is ultimately responsible for most changes to these landforms. Wind-generated waves and their associated currents are the principal causes of beach change; coastal dunes accrete and erode by direct wind action; wind-generated waves also play an important role in dune change. TABLE I-FACTORS OF CHANGE FOR BEACHES AND COASTAL DUNES

Landform · Sedimentary depositional environment · Statistics · Value (mathematics · Environmental Philosophy and Ethics · Geology · Mathematics · Paleontology

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub