The Extension of Moral Community in Environmental Ethics: Inclusion and Hierarchy
The Extension of Moral Community in Environmental Ethics: Inclusion and Hierarchy
Author(s): Constantin StoenescuSubject(s): Philosophy, Ethics / Practical Philosophy, Special Branches of Philosophy
Published by: Институт по философия и социология при БАН
Keywords: environmental ethics; sphere of morality; moral community; moral inclusion; moral hierarchy
Summary/Abstract: Environmental ethics is based on the extension of the morality sphere as a consequence of an enlarged moral community beyond the limits of human community. I argue in this paper that the turning point in this extension is the notion of intrinsic value. But the process of extension produces some theoretical puzzles. One of them is the essential tension between the aim to include more and more entities into the moral community and the need for a hierarchy in order to preserve the interests of a good life for more complex living beings. My suggestion is that if the suppositions of traditional anthropocentrism are dislodged, the theoretical conflict is balanced or even dissolved at a managerial level. Biocentrism is the theory that could assume this task.
Journal: Balkan Journal of Philosophy
- Issue Year: VIII/2016
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 55-60
- Page Count: 6
- Language: English