Respect For Nature: A Theory Of Environmental Ethics - 25th Anniversary Edition (studies In Moral, Political, And Legal Philosophy)
by Paul W. Taylor /
2011 / English / PDF
22.2 MB Download
What rational justification is there for conceiving of all living things as possessing inherent worth? In Respect for Nature, Paul Taylor draws on biology, moral philosophy, and environmental science to defend a biocentric environmental ethic in which all life has value. Without making claims for the moral rights of plants and animals, he offers a reasoned alternative to the prevailing anthropocentric view that the natural environment and its wildlife are valued only as objects for human use or enjoyment. Respect for Nature provides both a full account of the biological conditions for life human or otherwise and a comprehensive view of the complex relationship between human beings and the whole of nature.
This classic book remains a valuable resource for philosophers, biologists, and environmentalists alike along with all those who care about the future of life on Earth. A new foreword by Dale Jamieson looks at how the original 1986 edition of Respect for Nature has shaped the study of environmental ethics, and shows why the work remains relevant to debates todaySome environmental philosophers stress our duty to prevent environmental deterioration because of our obligations to future generations of human inhabitants of the earth (cf. H. J. McCloskey's Ecological Ethics and Politics , LJ 10/1/82). In this book Taylor stresses our duties toward nature itself.
Taylor lays out an intricate but powerful argument according to which all life, including individual plants, have equal inherent worth. Although some attention is paid to practical applications, the book is rigorously philosophical and its appeal will be mainly to philosophers and other scholars. Sidney Gendin, Philosophy Dept., Eastern Michigan Univ., Ypsilanti
