Paul Taylor The Ethics Of Respect For Nature

In his essay, The Ethics of Respect for Nature, Paul Taylor presents his argument for a deontological, biocentric egalitarian attitude toward nature based on the conviction that all living things possess equal intrinsic value and are worthy of the same moral consideration. Taylor offers four main premises to support his position. (1) Humans are members of the “Earth’s community of life” in the same capacity that nonhuman members are. (2) All species exist as a “complex web of interconnected elements” which are dependent upon one another for their well-being. (3) Individual organisms are “teleological centers of life” which possess a good of their own and a unique way in which to pursue it. (4) The concept that humans are superior to other species is an unsupported anthropocentric bias. To support his first premise, humans are members of the “Earth’s community of life” in the same capacity that nonhuman members are, Taylor cites the fact that we are only one species among many. Humans are subject to “the [same] laws of genetics, of natural selection, and of adaptation” (p.633) that all other livings

He provides us with a virtue ethics approach toward the natural world, how we should act toward other living things must reflect the equal worth each individual possesses. While Taylor admits “such a belief system cannot be proven to be true” it does provide a “coherent, unified, and rationally acceptable picture of a total world” (p.632), and to this end, I believe he was successful. While his species egalitarianism goes against our moral experience, especially as it pertains to nonsentiant beings, it does give us an alternative position to anthropocentrism. The idea that our respect for other species should not be contingent upon their relationship to