Even the most scientifically reductionist view of the individual reveals that we
are complex systems nested within complex systems. These interactions within and
among systems are based and depend on numerous variables of our (internal and
external) environment(s). If we define ethics as a system of moral
decision making, then it becomes clear that these decisions ultimately affect the
situation(s) of managing our activities and relationships with others in our
environment (in essence, our being in the world). Given that ecology literally means “a study or
system of wisdom and reasoning about the interrelation of organisms in their
environment or place of inhabitance,” Owen Flanagan's
description of ethics as “human ecology” takes on
considerable relevance and importance.