Chapter 12 - Business and the Environment

Question 1

What does environmental ethics deal with?

Answer 1

what obligations do businesses have to the environment if any?

Question 2

What are some meanings that environment can have?

Which one do we use?

Answer 2

o Our surroundings (spatial meaning)
o What goes on in that space (climate)
o The ways that life forms are independent in their nature (organic) – This one for business related topics

Question 3

What 3 values does the environment have?

Answer 3

o	Intrinsic value
	Good for its own sake
o	Instrumental value
	Good for some other purpose
o	Prima facie value
	Value that can be overcome by other interests

Question 4

What is Anthropocentrism?

Answer 4

Humans alone have intrinsic value
o Human-centered perspective
 They are useful to us, so they are instrumentally valuable

o Humans only have direct responsibilities to other human beings

Question 5

What is ecocentrism?

Answer 5

o Argues that it is not just humans that intrinsic value but also plants, animals, and ecosystems.
o Ethical questions in this view involve determining what is in the best interest of all these things.

Question 6

What is a moral agent?

Answer 6

beings who act responsibly for moral reasons

 Can also be moral patients

Question 7

What is a moral patient?

Answer 7

are things which moral agents have moral responsibilities for

any being for which what we do matters in itself
 We have direct duties to moral patients
 Plants, animals, ecosystems

Question 8

What are Baxters 6 points of pollution control from a anthropocentric view?

Answer 8

1. Damage to animals, environment irrelevant
2. That does not mean we should destroy non-human natural objects (should preserve them since we need them)
3. What is good for humans is what is good for pants and animals
4. Everyone is free to give preferences to other forms of life
5. Plants and animals are to be viewed as means and not ends
6. Only humans are capable of normative questions; normative questions

Question 9

What is Signer’s view on nonhumans in the environment?

Answer 9

 Singer is primarily concerned with nonhuman animals b/c they are sentient – they experience pain and pleasure
 Main interest: experience pleasure and avoid pain

Question 10

Why does Singer think it is important to establish that nohumans have interests?

Answer 10

b/c we often view nonhuman animals and their interests as less important than human beings’ interests

Question 11

What is Specism?

Answer 11

A prejudice or attitude of bias in favor of the interests of members of one’s own species

Question 12

What is the principle of equal consideration of interests?

Answer 12

Interests of all beings must be given equal consideration.

Question 13

What does this principle not mean?

Answer 13

 Principle does not mean different species are of equal value to humans; it just means that the interest of nonhumans must be weighed equally with interests of humans

Question 14

What is Singer’s conclusion?

Answer 14

o Singer concludes: where are actions are likely to make animals suffer, that suffering must count in our deliberations and it should count equally with a like amount of suffering by human beings.