9. Alan Marshall’s 3 categories
Conservationists: Only interested in
conserving the
environment because it
will benefit humans
Libertarian extensionists:
Ecological extensionists:
10. Alan Marshall’s 3 categories
Conservationists: Only interested in
conserving the
environment because it
will benefit humans
Libertarian extensionists:
‘Rights’ should be
extended to aspects of
the natural world
Ecological extensionists:
11. Alan Marshall’s 3 categories
Conservationists: Only interested in
conserving the
environment because it
will benefit humans
Libertarian extensionists:
‘Rights’ should be
extended to aspects of
the natural world
Ecological extensionists:
You should give value to
an ecosystem
12. Knowledge is
power
“Father of Modern Science”
the only knowledge of importance to
man - empirically rooted in the natural
world - a clear system of scientific
enquiry would assure human progress
Francis Bacon was the main instigator of the scientific approach, which
suggested that the earth is ours to be exploited. It was applied first to
Francis Bacon
astronomy and physics, then to human behaviour, society and
consciousness.
(1561-1626)
13. Human-centred (anthropomorphic)
environmentalism
“Progress” - earth’s natural resources and non-human habitats
- exploited for human advancement
Capitalism (18th century) - emphasis on the individual
Human behaviour - individuals pursuing their interests
How could it ever be sensible for an individual to act in what
might appear to be an interest other than one’s own?
Genesis has been interpreted to support the view that humans
have a God-given right to control nature
14. Then God said, “And now
we will make human beings;
they will be like us and
resemble us. They will have
power over the fish, the
birds, and all the animals,
domestic and wild, large and
small ... [He] blessed them,
and said, “Have many
children, so that your
descendants will live over
the earth and bring it under
their control.. I am putting
you in charge of the fish, the Genesis 1: 26, 28
birds, and all the wild
animals.”
15. “through being cruel to
animals one becomes cruel to
human beings ... injury to an
animal leads to the temporal
hurt of man”
Summa Contra Gentiles (c. 1260)
Instrumental or intrinsic?
Do you agree?
St Thomas Aquinas
16. Kant suggested that cruelty towards
a dog might encourage a person to
develop a character that would be
desensitized to cruelty towards
humans.
‘Duties to Animals and Spirits’,
Lectures on Ethics (1770)
Instrumental or intrinsic?
Do you agree?
Immanuel Kant
18. Complete the sentences
Anthropocentrism means ...
One argument for anthropocentric
environmentalism is ...
A conservationist would say that Chernobyl ...
One challenge to human-centred environmentalism
might be ...