green numbers give full details | back to texts | unexpand this idea
22881 | Should we value environmental systems for human benefit, or for their own sake? |
Full Idea: There is a long-running debate between anthropo-centrists and eco-centrists. The latter believe that humans must protect environmental systems because they have intrinsic value; the former argue that human interests are the root of all value. | |||
From: David Hildebrand (Dewey [2008], 8 'Environ') | |||
A reaction: How many tigers would you kill to save a human life? Would you allow a human to die in order to save a species from extinction? It is very hard to think that the Earth has great value if humans are removed from it! |