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Mining Morality

Prospecting for Ethics in a Wounded World

William P. George

Employing “self-sharpening tools” found in the work of theologian and philosopher Bernard Lonergan, Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato si’, and international law, William P. George brings mining to personal and collective moral awareness by “prospecting for ethics” at selected sites: (1) Butte, Montana, “the Richest Hill on Earth,” once bound to Chuquicamata, Chile, by a company that spanned two continents and nearly owned a state; (2) the tiny island nation of Nauru, called Pleasant Island until it was devastated by phosphate mining and the breaking of a sacred trust by foreign powers; (3) the deep seabed, governed by the United Nations Law of the Sea, a “constitution for the oceans” that regards much of the resource-rich seabed as humankind’s “common heritage”; (4) Africa, with its uranium mines but also its conflicts over what “being nuclear” means in the wake of colonialism, apartheid, and Hiroshima; and (5) mineral-rich asteroids speeding through space where mining rights are contested, even as space entrepreneurs look to become the world’s first trillionaires.

George introduces readers to remarkable moral miners––the women of Butte and Chuquicamata, a World Court judge from Sri Lanka, and the Rocket Boys of Coalwood, West Virginia, to name a few––and leads them to consider not only the morality of mining––what’s good and not so good about resource extraction––but also the mining of morality, a venture that Socrates called “the examined life.”

Lexington Books / Fortress Academic

Pages: 322 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9

978-1-9787-0792-4 • Hardback • October 2019 • $142.00 • (£109.00)

978-1-9787-0793-1 • eBook • October 2019 • $45.00 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Religion / Ethics, Philosophy / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, Philosophy / Ethics / Environmental Ethics

Mining Morality

Prospecting for Ethics in a Wounded World

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Employing “self-sharpening tools” found in the work of theologian and philosopher Bernard Lonergan, Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato si’, and international law, William P. George brings mining to personal and collective moral awareness by “prospecting for ethics” at selected sites: (1) Butte, Montana, “the Richest Hill on Earth,” once bound to Chuquicamata, Chile, by a company that spanned two continents and nearly owned a state; (2) the tiny island nation of Nauru, called Pleasant Island until it was devastated by phosphate mining and the breaking of a sacred trust by foreign powers; (3) the deep seabed, governed by the United Nations Law of the Sea, a “constitution for the oceans” that regards much of the resource-rich seabed as humankind’s “common heritage”; (4) Africa, with its uranium mines but also its conflicts over what “being nuclear” means in the wake of colonialism, apartheid, and Hiroshima; and (5) mineral-rich asteroids speeding through space where mining rights are contested, even as space entrepreneurs look to become the world’s first trillionaires.

George introduces readers to remarkable moral miners––the women of Butte and Chuquicamata, a World Court judge from Sri Lanka, and the Rocket Boys of Coalwood, West Virginia, to name a few––and leads them to consider not only the morality of mining––what’s good and not so good about resource extraction––but also the mining of morality, a venture that Socrates called “the examined life.”

Details

Lexington Books / Fortress Academic

Pages: 322 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9

978-1-9787-0792-4 • Hardback • October 2019 • $142.00 • (£109.00)

978-1-9787-0793-1 • eBook • October 2019 • $45.00 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Religion / Ethics, Philosophy / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, Philosophy / Ethics / Environmental Ethics

Author

William P. George is emeritus professor of theology at Dominican University.

Table of Contents

Part I: Getting Ready

Chapter 1: Introduction: Mining and Moral Consciousness

Chapter 2: Assembling the Prospector’s Tools

Part II: Prospecting for Ethics on Earth and in Outer Space

Chapter 3: Butte, Montana: “The Richest Hill on Earth” and a Moral Morass

Chapter 4: Nauru: From Pleasant Island to Phosphate Plunder

Chapter 5: Seabed Mining: From Insight to International Law

Chapter 6: Uranium in Africa and Beyond: A Matter of Being and Time

Chapter 7: Asteroid Mining: Ethics for Aliens or for Us?

Part III. A Prospector’s Report

Chapter 8: From Prospecting for Ethics to Mining Morality

Reviews

William P. George has written a wise and penetrating book on the ethics of mining— underground, underwater, and in outer space. Deeply concerned about injustice and the ecological threat, he is not driven by ideology or pre-conceived solutions but invites the reader into careful reflection on an industry that has received too little attention in Christian ethics.
— Daniel Finn, Clemens Professor of Economics and Professor of Theology, St. John’s University & The College of St. Benedict

Mining Morality is a remarkable and necessary book, yet an unexpected one. Remarkable, because it scrutinizes the ethics of five international mining cases within a unifying Christian vision; necessary because mining trails great international evils such as armed violence, trafficking, government corruption, and vast poverty; and unexpected because mining, as the author rightly notes, is daunting territory, to date left virtually untouched by theologians and philosophers. George’s analyses flash brilliance and expand horizons. Mining Morality should not be missed by any Christian social ethicist. Its concreteness and often personal tone will be a gift to students in undergraduate, graduate and seminary classrooms.
— Lisa Cahill, Boston College

George has written a wonderful book about an unlikely topic: the ethics of mining. It is an entrancing book, blending fact and law, philosophy and religion, all in the context of George's personal experience and ethical passion. No one reading it will doubt for a second that the ethics of mining is, after all, a matter of the highest importance.
— Mark Weston Janis, University of Connecticut School of Law

Mining is an essential part of modern life that takes place largely out of sight of those who depend on it. George has explored its possibilities under the earth, into space, and through the changing requirements of law, economics, and public policy. Mining Morality is informative, engaging, and a profound reflection on what it means to understand any human activity in moral terms.
— Robin W. Lovin, Cary M. Maguire University Professor of Ethics Emeritus, Southern Methodist University

Mining Morality

Prospecting for Ethics in a Wounded World

William P. George

Mining Morality

Prospecting for Ethics in a Wounded World

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