Abstract

Ecosystems and their component organisms are being destroyed at an unprecedented rate today by the space and resource demands of an exponentially growing human population. Ethical theories developed for addressing environmental problems have generally followed one of two different lines. Individual-centered theories that expand moral consideration to include some nonhumans draw support from traditional ethical thinking but encounter difficulties with defining the limits of moral considerability, with countenancing such natural processes as predation, and with according relevance to the extinction of species. Ecocentric theories accommodate species interactions but show a relative lack of historical grounding and are often unclear about the moral status accorded human and nonhuman individuals, facing charges of "environmental fascism" to the extent that the good of individuals may be subordinated to the good of the ecosystem. Current ecocentric views have further problems of consistency, since the human being is seemingly still accorded special privileges within the ecosystem, leading them to collapse into merely enlightened versions of anthropocentrism, and of effectiveness, since as yet they have demonstrated little of substance in addressing population problems. Anthropocentrism is rejected as incongruent with our empirical picture of the world, which shows evolutionary continuity, rather than sharp gaps, existing among living organisms, and hence individual-centered approaches that accord nonhumans continuity of consideration appear preferable. Of these approaches, the utilitarian theories of Singer and Attfield have the advantage of an ongoing dialogue concerning population, but at least one utilitarian view appears to encourage additional human population growth. I argue that it may be possible to develop an individual-centered ethic according equal respect for the equal interests of all living beings that, in the process of concretizing the content of the interests of those beings, reflects the coarse-grained, interconnected kinds within the ecosystem and thereby discovers limits on the numbers of those beings there should be. We find we humans have choices to make with respect to accommodating those interests as we discover our own coarse-grained niche within the ecosystem, and a very important choice is the extent to which we ourselves should procreate