Inegalitarian biocentric consequentialism, the minimax implication and multidimensional value theory: A brief proposal for a new direction in environmental ethics
Utilitas 17 (1):62-84 (2005)
| Abstract | Perhaps the most impressive environmental ethic developed to date in any detail is Robin Attfield's biocentric consequentialism. Indeed, on first study, it appears sufficiently impressive that, before presenting any alternative theoretical approach, one would first need to establish why one should not simply embrace Attfield's. After outlining a seemingly decisive flaw in his theory, and then criticizing his response to it, this article adumbrates a very different theoretical basis for an environmental ethic: namely, a value-pluralist one. In so doing, it seeks to give due weight to anthropocentric, zoocentric, biocentric and ecocentric considerations, and argues that the various values involved require trading off. This can be accomplished by employing multidimensional indifference curves. Moreover, after considering a three-dimensional indifference plane superimposed upon a three-dimensional possibility frontier, it becomes apparent that a moral-pluralist environmental ethic is, contrary to widespread assumptions, capable, in principle at least, of providing determinate answers to moral questions. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,653 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesPaul W. Taylor (1983). In Defense of Biocentrism. Environmental Ethics 5 (3):237-243.
Richard A. Watson (1983). A Critique of Anti-Anthropocentric Biocentrism. Environmental Ethics 5 (3):245-256.
Ben A. Minteer (2008). Biocentric Farming? Environmental Ethics 30 (4):341-359.
Jason Kawall (2003). Reverence for Life as a Viable Environmental Virtue. Environmental Ethics 25 (4):339-358.
Karánn Durland (2008). The Prospects of a Viable Biocentric Egalitarianism. Environmental Ethics 30 (4):401-416.
James P. Sterba (1995). From Biocentric Individualism to Biocentric Pluralism. Environmental Ethics 17 (2):191-207.
Victoria Davion (2006). Itch Scratching, Patio Building, and Pesky Flies: Biocentric Individualism Revisted. Environmental Ethics 28 (2):115-128.
John Mizzoni (2004). St. Francis, Paul Taylor, and Franciscan Biocentrism. Environmental Ethics 26 (1):41-56.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads22 ( #56,103 of 548,984 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,327 of 548,984 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
