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Title: Is a Personalist Ethic Necessarily Anthropocentric?
Author(s): SELLING, Joseph
Journal: Ethical Perspectives
Volume: 6    Issue: 1   Date: 1999   
Pages: 60-66
DOI: 10.2143/EP.6.1.505367

Abstract :
A third objection against personalist ethics, increasingly heard from specialists in the field of environmental ethics is that personalism is, or at least has a tendency to become, `anthropocentric' and is therefore ill suited to deal with environmental issues. This is based upon the suggestion that personalists automatically presume that the (natural) environment exists solely for the purpose and convenience of serving humankind and individuals. Thus, all other creatures are subordinated to human needs and desires. By corollary, something like 'rights' will belong exclusively to human beings, and any notion of animal rights or the rights of the environment or a pre-existing ecosystem will be categorically denied.

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