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    Natural ecosystems possess intrinsic value — Carmelics
    Home/Environmental Ethics
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Natural ecosystems possess intrinsic value

    Environmental Ethics
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.The moral reasoning that applies to individual natural entities applies equally to natural ecosystems
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    • 2.Natural ecosystems lack intrinsic function to the same extent that individual natural entities do
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Intrinsic value requires a subject of experience or a telos directed toward the good of the entity itself, as Aristotle and Kant both ground value in rational or sentient subjects.
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    • 2.Ecosystems are not unified organisms with their own telos but dynamic, boundary-indeterminate assemblages of entities without a shared good.
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    • 3.Therefore ecosystems can possess only instrumental or relational value, not intrinsic value in any philosophically rigorous sense.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Bryan Norton's weak anthropocentrism shows that all practical conservation goals can be achieved by expanding and refining human preference satisfaction without positing non-human intrinsic value.
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    • 2.Positing intrinsic value in ecosystems introduces ontological commitments that are empirically unmotivated and generate irresolvable conflicts when ecosystems change or collapse naturally.
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    • 3.A parsimonious ethical framework that accomplishes the same normative work without surplus metaphysical commitments is rationally preferable under Occam's Razor.
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    Topics

    Environmental Ethics

    Related

    A parsimonious ethical framework that accomplishes the same normative work witho...Bryan Norton's weak anthropocentrism shows that all practical conservation goals...Ecosystems are not unified organisms with their own telos but dynamic, boundary-...Intrinsic value requires a subject of experience or a telos directed toward the ...
    +4 moreShow less
    Natural ecosystems lack intrinsic function to the same extent that individual na...Positing intrinsic value in ecosystems introduces ontological commitments that a...The moral reasoning that applies to individual natural entities applies equally ...Therefore ecosystems can possess only instrumental or relational value, not intr...

    Similar

    All natural entities, whether individuals or wholes, have intrinsic va...82%Natural ecosystems lack intrinsic function to the same extent that ind...81%All natural things, events, and states of affairs possess intrinsic va...80%The biotic community per se is the sole locus of intrinsic value76%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: ethics-environmental
    View source passageHide passage
    Individual natural entities (whether sentient or not, living or not), Andrew Brennan (1984, 2014) argues, are not designed by anyone to fulfill any purpose and therefore lack “intrinsic function” (i.e., the function of a thing that constitutes part of its essence or identity conditions). This, he proposes, is a reason for thinking that individual natural entities should not be treated as mere instruments, and thus a reason for assigning them intrinsic value. Furthermore, he argues that the same
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit