Environmental ethics as a subfield of Anglophone philosophy was effectively inaugurated nearly ha... more Environmental ethics as a subfield of Anglophone philosophy was effectively inaugurated nearly half a century ago with Richard Routley's 'last man' thought experiment. In 'Is There a Need for a New, an Environmental, Ethic?' (Proceedings of the XVth World Congress of Philosophy, Bulgaria: Sofia Press, 1973), Routley (later Sylvan) argues that we must broaden our ethical thinking beyond 'human chauvinism' to include animals and the natural environment: The last man (or person) surviving the collapse of the world system lays about him, eliminating, as far as he can, every living thing, animal or plant (but painlessly if you like, as at the best abattoirs). What he does is quite permissible according to basic chauvinism, but on environmental grounds what he does is wrong.
Environmental ethics as a subfield of Anglophone philosophy was effectively inaugurated nearly ha... more Environmental ethics as a subfield of Anglophone philosophy was effectively inaugurated nearly half a century ago with Richard Routley's 'last man' thought experiment. In 'Is There a Need for a New, an Environmental, Ethic?' (Proceedings of the XVth World Congress of Philosophy, Bulgaria: Sofia Press, 1973), Routley (later Sylvan) argues that we must broaden our ethical thinking beyond 'human chauvinism' to include animals and the natural environment: The last man (or person) surviving the collapse of the world system lays about him, eliminating, as far as he can, every living thing, animal or plant (but painlessly if you like, as at the best abattoirs). What he does is quite permissible according to basic chauvinism, but on environmental grounds what he does is wrong.
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