Antoine C. Dussault (Laval University) publishes a new article entitled “Un bien au-delà de la sentience ? Examen de la conception téléo-sélectionniste du bien propre défendue en éthique de l’environnement” in Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review / Revue canadienne de philosophie

Abstract

This article examines the teleo-selectionist account of the good of their own of nonsentient biological entities (organisms, species, ecosystems) proposed in environmental ethics to explain such entities’ ability to be positively or negatively affected by states of affairs. I show the link this account establishes between such a good and the possession by an entity of a goal-directed functional organization as conceived according to the selected effects theory of function advocated in the philosophy of biology. I then highlight two virtues and two limitations of this account.