BIO ETHICS: CHAPTER 3: ENVIRONMENTAL
ETHICS
AIMS
DEFINITIONS
SENTIENCY
- SENTIENCY = the capacity of an organism to have subjective experiences, such as feelings,
sensations, or emotions.
- It implies a level of consciousness or awareness that allows an organism to perceive and
respond to its environment in some way
Sentiency plays a role in the debates about the moral considerability of different beings
PRO animal right: sentient beings such as mammals and birds, deserve moral consideration &
ethical treatment because they can experience pleasure, pain & other sensations
This is in contrast to views that prioritize only human interests or the interests of certain
species over others
- Peter Singer: was the first philosopher that defended non-human interests animal right
movements
TELOS
- TELOS = the good is connected to life’s ultimate goal.
o Aristotle said: happiness and the good life are inseparably connected: the good is
connected to life’s ultimate goal (telos)
FLOURISHING
- FLOURISHING
- Attfield: moral worthiness is not based upon the capacity to experience pleasure or pain, but
on the ability to flourish
o Any organism that has the ability to flourish, has an interest in doing so
, SATISFACTION OF INTERESTS
- SATISFACTION OF INTERESTS = These are possessed by all and only individual living things.
o A consequentialist approach by Van De Veer focuses on the satisfaction of interests
- With interests, an organism ‘has a welfare or good of its own that matters from a moral point
of view’
ANTHROPOCENTRIC
- ANTHROPOCENTRIC = Regarding to humankind as the central or most important element of
existence, especially as opposed to God or animals.
ECOCENTRIC / BIOCENTRIC
- BIOCENTRISM = The view/belief that the rights and needs of humans are not more important
than those of other living things
- ECOCENTRISM = Biocentrism
RESTITUTION
- RESTITUTION = A form of ecological compensation according to which it would be possible to
compensate for damage to or death of individual organisms by a good treatment of the same
or different organisms.
- It holds some similarities w/ the replaceability issue consequentialist approaches presented.
- A restitution approach cannot be consistent with a deontological approach, since wrongs
cannot be summed up and compensated for as it would be possible for consequentialists
ETHICS
AIMS
DEFINITIONS
SENTIENCY
- SENTIENCY = the capacity of an organism to have subjective experiences, such as feelings,
sensations, or emotions.
- It implies a level of consciousness or awareness that allows an organism to perceive and
respond to its environment in some way
Sentiency plays a role in the debates about the moral considerability of different beings
PRO animal right: sentient beings such as mammals and birds, deserve moral consideration &
ethical treatment because they can experience pleasure, pain & other sensations
This is in contrast to views that prioritize only human interests or the interests of certain
species over others
- Peter Singer: was the first philosopher that defended non-human interests animal right
movements
TELOS
- TELOS = the good is connected to life’s ultimate goal.
o Aristotle said: happiness and the good life are inseparably connected: the good is
connected to life’s ultimate goal (telos)
FLOURISHING
- FLOURISHING
- Attfield: moral worthiness is not based upon the capacity to experience pleasure or pain, but
on the ability to flourish
o Any organism that has the ability to flourish, has an interest in doing so
, SATISFACTION OF INTERESTS
- SATISFACTION OF INTERESTS = These are possessed by all and only individual living things.
o A consequentialist approach by Van De Veer focuses on the satisfaction of interests
- With interests, an organism ‘has a welfare or good of its own that matters from a moral point
of view’
ANTHROPOCENTRIC
- ANTHROPOCENTRIC = Regarding to humankind as the central or most important element of
existence, especially as opposed to God or animals.
ECOCENTRIC / BIOCENTRIC
- BIOCENTRISM = The view/belief that the rights and needs of humans are not more important
than those of other living things
- ECOCENTRISM = Biocentrism
RESTITUTION
- RESTITUTION = A form of ecological compensation according to which it would be possible to
compensate for damage to or death of individual organisms by a good treatment of the same
or different organisms.
- It holds some similarities w/ the replaceability issue consequentialist approaches presented.
- A restitution approach cannot be consistent with a deontological approach, since wrongs
cannot be summed up and compensated for as it would be possible for consequentialists
