Essay On Anthropocentrism
Anthropocentrism is the belief that only human beings hold direct moral standing. Under this belief, no other things, living or nonliving, are of moral concern. Many people may then jump to the conclusion that anthropocentrists do not think that global warming is wrong. Because global warming can have negative impacts on human beings, anthropocentrists would be concerned about it. There are some human activities, however, that would increase global warming but would still be ethical to perform in the eyes of an anthropocentrist. An anthropocentrist who believes that global warming is real and is a result of human activity would say that there is an optimal balance in the human-nature relationship which holds the highest ethical implications.
As a people-centered belief, anthropocentrism values what will have the most positive impact on human beings. In this way, human driven global warming can be thought of as both good and bad by anthropocentrists. Some of the activities that humans do to increase global warming benefit them in ways that are hard to match. For example, cutting down trees to build homes has a positive impact on humans because they will have a dry shelter to live in. Cutting down trees increases global warming because there will be more carbon …show more content…
For instance, if global warming caused icebergs to melt and polar bears lose their habitat and die; many people would be upset about it. Polar bears, to some extent, bring people pleasure who enjoy looking at them and learning about them. In this scenario, the anthropocentrist would argue that human driven global warming is unethical not because it caused harm to the polar bears, but because it caused displeasure to people. As we have discussed, however, preventing many human activities that release greenhouse gases will also cause displeasure and even compromise human
As a people-centered belief, anthropocentrism values what will have the most positive impact on human beings. In this way, human driven global warming can be thought of as both good and bad by anthropocentrists. Some of the activities that humans do to increase global warming benefit them in ways that are hard to match. For example, cutting down trees to build homes has a positive impact on humans because they will have a dry shelter to live in. Cutting down trees increases global warming because there will be more carbon …show more content…
For instance, if global warming caused icebergs to melt and polar bears lose their habitat and die; many people would be upset about it. Polar bears, to some extent, bring people pleasure who enjoy looking at them and learning about them. In this scenario, the anthropocentrist would argue that human driven global warming is unethical not because it caused harm to the polar bears, but because it caused displeasure to people. As we have discussed, however, preventing many human activities that release greenhouse gases will also cause displeasure and even compromise human