Aristotle and the Ethics of Nature

Aristotle holds certain natural beings to have greater or lesser degrees of value or perfection. This raises the question of what ethical entailments such a hierarchy might have.  I argue for three main points: first, that there is no sense in which an ethical approach to the natural world can be straightforwardly derived from Aristotle’s form of natural hierarchy, since it does not entail viewing “lower” species instrumentally. Moreover, such a hierarchy is in fact fully compatible with strict limits on interspecies exploitation. Second, the one passage in which Aristotle seems to ground the exploitation of non-human nature by humans in his natural philosophy conflicts with his larger theoretical commitments. Third and finally, Aristotle himself – even if he is often unclear and self contradictory – provides powerful materials for an ethics of nature.

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Elena Comay del Junco
University of Toronto
Centre for Ethics

Wed, Oct 2, 2019
12:30 PM - 02:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
200 Larkin