Values behind biodiversity: ends in themselves or knowledge-based attitudes

摘要

The article discusses how ecological literacy influences or is part of philosophical theories of environmental ethics. Ecological literacy refers to knowledge of and care for nature. One observation is that ecological literacy seems to be of increasedimportance in practical ethics when inner worth as ends in themselves are expanded to an increasing spectrum of nonhuman ecological entities. This means that practical applications of the ethical theories more or less seem to rely on some kinds of moralattitudes based on ecological literacy.