Nature and Society Final

• Ethics


  Moral principles that govern a person’s behavior
• Morals


  Difference between right and wrong, good and bad
• Amoral person


  Someone with no moral standards
• Immoral Person


  Someone who intentionally goes against what is considered right
• Moral Community


  Network of those who recognize an ethical connection
• Moral Standard


  Values that a society uses to determine what is acceptable or right
• Moral Agency


  Someone who can tell the difference between right and wrong and can therefore be held accountable for their actions
• Moral Patient


  The state of being eligible for moral consideration due to age or mental illness
• Anthropocentrism


  The belief that human beings are the most important entity on the planet
• Human Exceptionalism


  Humans are different from other organisms; all problems can be solved by human ingenuity
• Human Supremacy


  Humans are the supreme being who have the right to do whatever they want
• Dominion


  Humans have the right to control and have power over the land and other living things
• Stewardship


  Humans must take care of the land and other beings that they have control over
• Peter Singer


  Famine. Affluence, & Morality; it is in each persons moral power to prevent harm or evil
• Animal Liberation


  Moral entitlement to nonhuman beings
• Principle of Equal Consideration


  When make a moral decision, one must consider all who could be affected by ones actions
• Speciesism 


  Treating one species morally different than another species
• Tom Regan


  Argues that humans and some non human beings have moral rights
• Subject of Life


  Each creature has its own unique life and purpose
• Albert Schweitzer


  Reverence for life; all living organisms have a will to live
• Reverence for Life


  All life is important and shall not be sacrificed without considering the greater good
• Paul Taylor


  Biocentric Egalitarianism; humans have an obligation to protect plants and animals
• Biocentric Egalitarianism


  All living things have equal worth
• Teleological Center of Life


  Each organism has a purpose and a reason for being, inherently good or valuable
• Self Defense


  Use of force to protect oneself from attempted injury by another
• Proportionality


  Action should not be more or less severe the needed
• Minimum Wrong


  Limiting the number of wrongs done to other organisms
• Restitutive Justice


  Repairing the harm and rebuilding relationships
• Distributive Justice


  Each person should get the same amount of goods and services
• Ecocentrism


  Nature-centered; recognize the Earth as the ultimate source for all beings
• Ethical Extensionism


  Extending moral concerns to all organisms
• Aldo Leopold


  Created land ethic
• Land Ethic


  Belief that it is humanities obligation to care for the land
• Ecological Holism


  The view that humans have duties to preserve the natural world