IB Environmental systems and societies Hl.cc Moral Standing Notes

Moral Standing: Who Counts in Ethical Decisions

To ask whether something has moral standing is to ask whether it deserves moral consideration in its own right.

How Far the Moral Circle Extends

1. Anthropocentric
   1. Only humans, or human interests, have moral standing.
2. Biocentric
   1. All living organisms have moral standing, so the focus is the ethical treatment of individual plants and animals.
3. Ecocentric
   1. Whole ecosystems have moral standing, including non-living parts like rivers and rocks, and the focus is the health of the biotic community.

Leopold's Land Ethic: Standing for the Whole Community

1. Aldo Leopold extended moral standing to the whole biotic community: the soils, waters, plants, and animals of a place.
2. The land and its living things have inherent value and deserve respect regardless of their usefulness to humans.

Extending Moral Standing to Future Generations

1. Environmental ethics also asks whether people alive today owe obligations to future generations, and how far ahead we should weigh the impacts of our actions.
2. Degrading the environment now for short-term gain raises questions of intergenerational justice, since those who inherit the damage cannot consent to it.

A government that invests in conservation today treats future generations as having moral standing, ensuring they inherit a livable planet.