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PHENOMENOLOGY AND ECOFEMINISM 205

find it offensive? Phenomenology can go a long way in explaining this.
Abstract principles can explain far less than can be understood through
a clear perception of the context in which something occurs.
Careful attention to the factors which shape a person's constitution
of a Uved world can help us evaluate the adequacy of that person's world
view. We need not be stymied in our search for understanding when we
find disagreement over basic moral beliefs. Holding an opinion does not
need to rest as a given. We can explore the formation of individual
world views and discover certain obvious inadequacies in the way they
were arrived at. Since world views are not often, if ever, the product of
logical deduction, we need not be afraid of falling into an ad hominem.
We need to make a distinction between premises which prove logically
that a proposition is true or a logical inadequacy which shows the
proposition to be false and observations which give us strong grounds for
accepting or rejecting a proposition when there can be no proof or
disproof. When we find that superstition, scientific error, or reliance on
a discredited authority played a significant role in shaping a world view,
we have good reason to be suspicious of the view. The bare logical
possibility that the view could be correct need not disturb us. When we
find dishonesty, avoidance of unwelcome information, or self-serving
selection of data we have other reasons to reject a world view. We are
not put into the position of having to accept uncritically every constitution
of a hved world which claims to be a true picture of the world.
Specifically, we are not left with mysterious differences between men an
women which we will never be able to fathom. We can understand very
well why women respond to certain situation in ways which are quite
different from those of many men. Furthermore, we can make a sound
judgment about which responses are appropriate and which are not,
which responses foster civil society and which do not.
In the context of the natural environment, just as we can be confident
that debiUtating fear of garter snakes is not reasonable, we can spot
inadequate beUefs about the environment. If someone advocated
destruction of a forest because such wilderness areas are frequented by
Satan, a view firmly held because a psychic had said it is so, surely we
would not need to accept that view as on all fours with the views of
ecologists. If we found that the advocate is in the lumber business, we
would have even further grounds for denying any credence to beliefs
about unhousing his satanic majesty. The importance of context has a
number of dimensions. One of the strengths of feminist ethics is its