Research On Paul Taylor's "Inherent Worth" Category

At present,the global ecological crisis is increasingly severe.On the surface,the ecological crisis is the result of human over-exploitation of nature in pursuit of economic benefits.But fundamentally,ecological crisis is the embodiment of the crisis of human environmental ethics.The solution to the ecological crisis may be found in environmental ethics theory.Paul Taylor is an authoritative scholar in the field of environmental ethics in the west.Reviewing his theories,his significance can provide a historical mirror for the solution of ecological crisis.In the past,Taylor's theory has been studied from three aspects: respect for natural attitude,biocentrism and environmental ethics.Inherent worth is the core category of Taylor's theory and the basis of his theory.As a result,this article obtains from the microscopic to Taylor's inherent worth as the clue,based on the inherent worth of the origin,connotation,significance,the inherent worth of biological dilemma and predicament in defense research,tries to grasp the context of the Taylor theory deeply.Taylor's inherent worth is individual born as the value of the objective,that is not of the external inherent worth was perfected,the connotation of the individual will realize own good in Aristotle's highest good,Moore's intrinsic value,such as maslow's internl value category can be found in the source of thought.Taylor extended regan's inherent value from animals to all living things;Regan's moral agent,moral patient,respect principle and harm principle are inherited and developed,and redefined as moral agent,moral subject,respect nature and non-harm principle.The difference between inherent worth and goodness,intrinsic value and inherent value lies in that inherent worth is the objective value of moral judgment that contains moral relations between people and other creatures.The logic of Taylor's biocentrism consists of three steps: each person deserves respect for having the same inherent worth;Other creatures have the same inherent worth as humans;Frompeople to other creatures,we should respect nature.Taylor's inherent worth not only makes the theory of modern defend biological dilemma is the most complete and most depth of philosophy theory,and theory and practice of environmental ethics has important influence.Taylor constructed his biocentrism from inherent worth,but this construction was not successful.Firstly,inherent worth argumentation faces difficulties :(1)Taylor does not provide a solid basis for the determination of inherent worth logically;(2)Taylor's negation of the "human superiority theory with greater inherent worth than other creatures";As a result of(1)and(2),Taylor's argument that "other creatures have the same inherent worth as human beings" finally failed.Second,Taylor to other organisms have inherent worth evidence to be successful,but,for the reason of the inherent worth of will and other biological equalization and argue for humans and other creatures have equal moral status is not reasonable.It is also unreasonable for Taylor to ignore the value of the whole biosphere and to exclude the moral responsibility that humans have for the whole biosphere.We should put human value on the value of other creatures,establish the value of the whole biosphere,and insist on the double unity of human value and the value of the whole biosphere.In practice,the intergenerational justice from the view of environmental justice,justice and international justice in three dimensions,in a different dimension to different ecological ethics,so as to the "reflective equilibrium" of man and nature.