At 12:00 PM 11/18/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello folks,
>
>I've been reading the back mail - seems to be mostly about animal rights
>and/or hunting, as usual.  Reading in sequence, page after page like a book,
>raises some questions for me.
>
>First, it seems to me that the discussions are coming from at least 2 ways
>of viewing the world and the place of humans within it.  One might be
>characterized as "strongly anthropocentric" and the other perhaps as "weakly
>anthropocentric".  That is to say, that it seems to me that all the
>discussion assumes the primacy of humans; that determining how they should
>relate with the others (non-humans) depends on the perceptions of how humans
>would most be benefited in a particular relationship.  One side seems to
>value as a measure something like "human pleasure" or "human freedom" and
>the other seems to prefer something like "human moral quality" or some such
>as a measure.
>
>All this is how I interpret the discussion at the moment; other views would
>help my understanding greatly.

      I for one adhere to the Ghia Principle, that all life in every form is
interconnected.  To destroy one species is detrimental to every other
species.

>Second, it seems to me that there is at least a third way of viewing the
>world and thus the value standard by which human action should be judged.  I
>am thinking that we might shift from anthropocentrism to something like
>eco-centrism (which of course incorporates humans as a part of the system).
>By that I mean that human action be judged by how that action affects the
>welfare of the ecosystem (and/or system of ecosystems).  I am not prepared
>to define, at the moment, just how ecosystem welfare might be determined,
>but it seems to me that conservation biologists have much to say on that
>subject.  In this context, the effect of human action on a particular animal
>or species would be judged by the impact on the welfare of the ecosystem and
>not on the specific part of that system.
>
>It seems to me that St. Augustine's dictum should play a role in the process
>of evaluating actions: "Act as you desire, so long as you act with love".
>(G. Wills, _Saint Augustine_, Lipper/Viking Book, 1999, pp 111+/-)
>
>Do any of you folks see any merit in this?  What are the
>problems/difficulties?  Or is it just senile nonsense? :-)
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Ray



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%