Document Type
Article
Publication Date
July 2009
Abstract
Moves from is to good—that is, principles that link fact to value—are fundamental to environmental ethics. The upshot is fourfold: (1) for nonanthropogenic goods, only those moves from is to good are defensible which conceive goodness as goodness for biotic entities; (2) goodness for nonsentient biotic entities is contribution to their autopoietic functioning; (3) biotic entities also function “exopoietically” to benefit related entities, and these exopoietic benefits are on average greater than their own goods; and (4) the most general is-to-good principles that are defensible (and hence the ones of greatest importance for environmental ethics) concern a realm of nonanthropogenic goodness that encompasses both living and nonliving nature.
Recommended Citation
Nolt, John, "The Move from Is to Good in Environmental Ethics" (2009). Philosophy Publications and Other Works.
http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_philpubs/1
Included in
Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, Logic and foundations of mathematics Commons, Metaphysics Commons