Lecture 6: Biocentric Ethics & Inherent Value of Life Flashcards
What are the views of Biocentric ethics?
- ALL life has possessing intrinsic value.
- suggests “life” as the criterion for moral standing
The rates of extinction higher now than in the past, but human technology has reached a point where new life forms are being designed and created artificially, called ____. It is a field where biology merges with engineering to design biological entities that do not exist in nature.
synthetic biology
The focus of ____ is to consider more systematic attempts at developing comprehensive environmental philosophies. These approaches question the wisdom of extending traditional ethics in favor of more radical shifts in our ethical perspective.
ethical extensionism
The problems with ethical extensionism (extends traditional ethics) revolves around three issues. The first is that the principles and concepts are narrow, because?
- ethical extensionism gives moral standing only to those animals that most closely resemble adult humans.
- this is hierarchical and anthropocentric
- for example, Singer and Regan attribute moral standing only to some animals, leaving out the majority of living species.
The problems with ethical extensionism (extends traditional ethics) revolves around three issues. The second issue is these extensions remain ______,
- individualistic (focus is on individual animals which have standing, but plants, species, habitat, and relations among entities have no standing in their own right)
- ecology stresses interconnectedness of nature, but traditional approaches ignore this
The problems with ethical extensionism (extends traditional ethics) revolves around three issues. The third issue is that there is a response to environmental problems because extensions are NOT ____.
- comprehensive environmental ethics (does not have a cohesive theory)
- ignores many issues, while addressing others
- tends to be critical and negative (because its focused on what we are doing wrong, but have no alternative ideas)
Environmental concerns do not fit within the traditional domain of ____, which has tended to be centered on humans (their duties, obligations, rights, well-being, etc.)
Morality
Environmental concerns do not fit within the traditional domain of morality. Understood more broadly, philosphical ethics asks more general questions about the good life and about human flourishing, involving wider concerns of ____, which establish broadens the issue by how we ought to live.
Value
(includes moral, aesthetic, spiritual, scientific, cultural value)
What is Instrumental value?
- based on the usefulness of the entity
- considers resources and conservation
- can be useful, but implies tradeoff with other commodities (exchanging, market type system)
What is Intrinsic value?
- inherent value
- valuable in itself (has a good of its own)
- not valued for its uses
- useful, but becomes more difficult to defend (from economic point of view)
- example: frienships arent valued for their usefulness
Traditional ethics asks “What should I do?”. The goal of ____ is to articulate and defend the rules or principles that can guide our behavior - while Philosophers try to justify those rules by demonstrating why all rational people should act in accordance with them (demonstrate the rationality of the developed rule-schemas).
ethics
Schweitzer did not offer reverence for life as an ethical rule. His was not an ethics solely of rules. His ethics focused not on the question of “what I should do”, but on ethic of ____, that we take toward the world.
- character (the type of person I should be/attitude)
- ethics of virtue
- good actions are those that enable us to live meaningful, fulfilled lives
Schweitzer’s “reverence for life” beliefs are _____ because?
biocentric (views all life as intrinsically valuable)
- he tried to reunite nature and ethics
- argued that when we recognize our own intrinsic value, we extend that same valuation to other beings
- recognized that sometimes life must be taken for another, BUT did NOT apply “rules” to this, because this would elevate the rule-system above the reverence.
Goodpaster’s approach for “reverence of life” beliefs are _____ because?
biocentric, because he views life as a criterion for moral standing.
Regan’s approach for “reverence of life” beliefs are _____ because?
NOT biocentric, because he argues passionately for many animals, but not for all life forms
Talor was more precise than Schweitzer in the reasoning behind respect for nature. He believed that all living things are?
the center of their own world and have a good of their own
Talor was more precise than Schweitzer in the reasoning behind respect for nature. He believed that the subjective good does not always equal objective good, because?
the recognition of what is in one’s interest isn’t required and data can support what these needs/interests are
Talor was more precise than Schweitzer in the reasoning behind respect for nature. He believed that the “will to live” is present in all living beings because?
evidence of behaviors toward of survival and reproduction
Talor was more precise than Schweitzer in the reasoning behind respect for nature. He believed that all living things things have a moral standing. Moral agents have a duty to?
respect that standing and the organism’s striving for its own good
What is the biocentric outlook?
- humans are part of the community of life
- interdependent with other beings
- all pursuing their own good
- humans are not superior
Taylor’s priority ethics focuses on 2 basic issues. One of these issues is the priority rules for resolving conflicts between the ethical claims of humans and those of other living things. These 4 implications are?
- Nonmaleficence
- Restitutive justice
- Fidelity
- Noninterference
Taylor’s priority ethics focuses on 2 basic issues. One of these issues is the general rules or duties that follow from the attitude of respect for nature. These 4 implications are?
- Nonmaleficence
- Noninterference
- Fidelity
- Restitutive justice
The duty of ____ requires that we don’t harm any organisms. BUT the implication is a negative duty, because we are not obligated to stop any harms that we are not causing.
Example: It applies only to moral agents, so predators can kill prey.
nonmaleficence
The duty of ____ is we are not required to interfere with the freedom of individual organisms; we do not get in the way of another organisms pursuit of its own good.
Noninterference
The duty of ____ is not deceive or betray wild animals. BUT this is a negative duty, because this implies maleficence and interference, but adds another layer of disrespect.
Fidelity
The duty of ____ is to make reparations when wrong has been done.
Ex: when we destroy an animal’s habitat, justice demands we restore it.
Restitutive justice
Difficult questions arising when human and non human interests clash. From this perspective, humans have no in-principle advantage. This approach is ____.
nonanthropocentric
Difficult questions arising when human and non human interests clash. From this perspective, humans have no in-principle advantage. To help make decisions, Taylor suggests ____, which it is ok to kill if your life is at stake (the last resort)
self defense
Difficult questions arising when human and non human interests clash. From this perspective, humans have no in-principle advantage. To help make decisions, Taylor suggests ____, which cannot meet a non basic human interest by sacrificing a basic interest of a nonhuman.
proportionality
Difficult questions arising when human and non human interests clash. From this perspective, humans have no in-principle advantage. To help make decisions, Taylor suggests ____, wich means its ok to act if basic interest of nonhuman can be madecompatible with nonbasic of human
minimum wrong
Difficult questions arising when human and non human interests clash. From this perspective, humans have no in-principle advantage. To help make decisions, Taylor suggests ____, burdens re: basic needs to be shared equally
distributive justice
Difficult questions arising when human and non human interests clash. From this perspective, humans have no in-principle advantage. To help make decisions, Taylor suggests ____, which makes amends when the last two are not accomplished.
restitutive justice
Are problems created by the individualist nature of this philosophical approach?
- it can generalize into larger ecosystems, but it does not directly address them.
- its not built into the philosophical approach
- assumes an adversarial relationship amongst individuals
