Abstract: What does “taking care of the environment” mean ? A philosophical analysis of the relation between ecology and medicine.
The concern for the relationship of individuals, human groups, and even humans in general, to their “environment” forms is the starting point of this paper. It aims better to understand what it means to care for and about the environment. A useful first step in this direction is to consider the idea of “global bioethics” formulated by Van Rensselaer Potter. However, this perspective must itself be considered in the context of a long-term history, whose source lies in the Hippocratic works. This frame context facilitates understanding of the diverse relationships that have been established between human health and the “environment” throughout the history of human societies. Above all, it enables us better to understand a relationship that is currently emerging : human health is increasingly dependent on the ways humans care for and about the environment. The paper concludes by examining the difficulties associated with one of the currently favoured approaches to taking care of the environment : its representation as a capital.
