Lecture 6: Biocentric Ethics & Inherent Value of Life

Question 1

What are the views of Biocentric ethics?

Answer 1

1. ALL life has possessing intrinsic value.
2. suggests “life” as the criterion for moral standing

Question 2

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.

Answer 2

synthetic biology

Question 3

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.

Answer 3

ethical extensionism

Question 4

The problems with ethical extensionism (extends traditional ethics) revolves around three issues. The first is that the principles and concepts are narrow, because?

Answer 4

1. ethical extensionism gives moral standing only to those animals that most closely resemble adult humans.
2. this is hierarchical and anthropocentric
3. for example, Singer and Regan attribute moral standing only to some animals, leaving out the majority of living species.

Question 5

The problems with ethical extensionism (extends traditional ethics) revolves around three issues. The second issue is these extensions remain ______,

Answer 5

1. individualistic (focus is on individual animals which have standing, but plants, species, habitat, and relations among entities have no standing in their own right)
2. ecology stresses interconnectedness of nature, but traditional approaches ignore this

Question 6

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 ____.

Answer 6

1. comprehensive environmental ethics (does not have a cohesive theory)
2. ignores many issues, while addressing others
3. tends to be critical and negative (because its focused on what we are doing wrong, but have no alternative ideas)

Question 7

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.)

Answer 7

Morality

Question 8

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.

Answer 8

Value

(includes moral, aesthetic, spiritual, scientific, cultural value)

Question 9

What is Instrumental value?

Answer 9

• based on the usefulness of the entity
• considers resources and conservation
• can be useful, but implies tradeoff with other commodities (exchanging, market type system)

Question 10

What is Intrinsic value?

Answer 10

• 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

Question 11

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).

Answer 11

ethics

Question 12

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.

Answer 12

• character (the type of person I should be/attitude)
• ethics of virtue
• good actions are those that enable us to live meaningful, fulfilled lives

Question 13

Schweitzer’s “reverence for life” beliefs are _____ because?

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

Goodpaster’s approach for “reverence of life” beliefs are _____ because?

Answer 14

biocentric, because he views life as a criterion for moral standing.

Question 15

Regan’s approach for “reverence of life” beliefs are _____ because?

Answer 15

NOT biocentric, because he argues passionately for many animals, but not for all life forms

Question 16

Talor was more precise than Schweitzer in the reasoning behind respect for nature. He believed that all living things are?

Answer 16

the center of their own world and have a good of their own

Question 17

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?

Answer 17

the recognition of what is in one’s interest isn’t required and data can support what these needs/interests are

Question 18

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?

Answer 18

evidence of behaviors toward of survival and reproduction

Question 19

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?

Answer 19

respect that standing and the organism’s striving for its own good

Question 20

What is the biocentric outlook?

Answer 20

• humans are part of the community of life
• interdependent with other beings
• all pursuing their own good
• humans are not superior

Question 21

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?

Answer 21

1. Nonmaleficence
2. Restitutive justice
3. Fidelity
4. Noninterference

Question 22

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?

Answer 22

1. Nonmaleficence
2. Noninterference
3. Fidelity
4. Restitutive justice

Question 23

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.

Answer 23

nonmaleficence

Question 24

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.

Answer 24

Noninterference

Question 25

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.

Answer 25

Fidelity

Question 26

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.

Answer 26

Restitutive justice

Question 27

Difficult questions arising when human and non human interests clash. From this perspective, humans have no in-principle advantage. This approach is ____.

Answer 27

nonanthropocentric

Question 28

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)

Answer 28

self defense

Question 29

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.

Answer 29

proportionality

Question 30

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

Answer 30

minimum wrong

Question 31

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

Answer 31

distributive justice

Question 32

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.

Answer 32

restitutive justice

Question 33

Are problems created by the individualist nature of this philosophical approach?

Answer 33

• 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