Kristalyn Hatch

Phil 2300

Final paper

Analyzing the Moral circle

One of the major components when looking at ethics is the moral circle. The idea of

whom and what has unalienable rights all evolve around the moral circle and what is

considered in or out of it. The first question when looking at the moral circle is what is it?

It is hypothetical circle that represents what is worthy of moral consideration. When

something or someone is inside the moral circle it classifies them as “Moral”. Being

considered as Moral you are considered when making moral decisions, your needs and

interest matter, an individual welfare is taken into consideration, as well as the

importance it gives to ones self and not what we can benefit from in society, last but not

lease any rights that you have may not be violated. The Moral circle is always evolving.

The “Moral Circle” states there is a difference between rights and consideration. Many

theorists believe that the moral circle only evolves around humans. While other theorist

extend the “Moral circle to all life itself. I believe that anything that is living has some

moral value and therefore should all be involved into the moral circle.

Different philosophers have different views on who is to be in the moral circle.

When looking at the moral circle we must look at both sides of the argument on who

should and shouldn’t be in the circle. One of the major arguments about the moral circle

is the subject of humanism. Humanism is the idea that morality applies only to humans.

Rene Descartes is a major influence on the idea of humanism and that only humans have

the capabilities that set them apart from the rest of the world. The awareness of
consciousness and communication and how they set humans apart from animals and all

other organisms on this planet. So therefore Descartes believes humans are the only

species that is allowed into the moral circle. While Descartes believes that only humans

are allowed into the moral circle he creates this theory of dualism. He realizes that he has

to create a blank slate where everything he knows he has to rebuild with proper

foundation to create the idea of dualism. To understand dualism you can look at the

human body. He believes that the body is just an object that follows natural laws. It is the

mind that controls the world, it is the mind that uses the object (the body) for purposes.

Descartes looks as a machine rather than a moral consideration. “I know that animals do

many things better than we do, but this does not surprise me. It can even be used to prove

they act naturally and mechanically like a clock which tells the time better than our

judgment does”. (Descartes 1989) He states animals as not be conscious therefore when

they are hurt and crying they are mentally not feeling the pain but just having an reaction

to the affect on the body.

Some of Descartes strongest points can also be some of his weakest. The first idea

of humans having the ability to communicate sets them apart from other organisms has

been proven wrong. In 2017 there was a group of researches that came out with a book

called Dynamic Human and in this book they state how whales and dolphins have similar

characteristics to us and even well more advanced. These animals have specialized brain

cells called “spindle neurons” which associate the animals brain to be similar to the

humans brain. The “spindle neurons” allow whales and dolphins to “recognize,

remember, reason, communicate, perceive, adapt to change, problem solve and

understand”. These animals are even able to have emotions. Researches that ”the limbic
system of whales to be the most intriguing part of their brains, as they may be more

complex than our own”, as we research other animals we find that in many ways animals

communication skills as well as consciousness is more advance than humans. Although

animals are not able to communicate in our language does not exclude them from the

moral circle. (Montgomery 2017)

To understand how we can think of the moral circle as being much larger than just a

humanistic world we have to analyze other ideas. Such as Carolyn Merchant she is a

strong believer having a good relationship with the environment. She believes that the

way we treat the earth reflect on how humans act are directly impacted. How an

individual sees nature directly effects how we treat it. In the article “The death of nature”,

Carolyn Merchant states that the idea of the earth being a nurturing mother has

diminished as time has gone on. As our idea changes from a nurturing mother earth to the

idea of controlling the imagery, as we wanted changed our views on the world. She states

“The image of the earth as a living organism and nurturing mother had served as a

cultural constraint restricting the actions of human beings”. As we destroy the earth we

are destroying ourselves. The idea from her theory is, we as humans are not the superior

species. Earth is the superior to human and therefore should be apart of the moral circle

because the earth can live without humans. To expand on this idea we must look at

Michael Pollans’ views on the moral expansion. He analyzes the idea of people thinking

of the moral circle all wrong. Comparing humans as bees working in a garden to pollinate

as well as using the pollen to make honey. Humans are evolving the earth. Agriculture is

the strategy to evolve and if that is so humans are the worker bees.
Reverting back to the basics of biology we can identify why we cannot live without the

environment around us. First and foremost the earth feeds us. Oxygen is the reason why

humans are able to prosper on earth. We cannot live without breathing. We would not

have shelter without the plants around us. The idea of “Anthropocentric” which

unjustifiably centers humans as the center of the universe. What makes humans the center

of the world? We may have the capability to change things and communicate in other

ways other than plants. Just like humans trees and organisms are alive. Once they are

dead they are dead. Plants communicate by changing their form when something is

wrong or right. Plants should be considered of moral consideration because their needs

are important and without plants we cannot live.

Further expanding the moral circle would be Land ethics. One of the major

philosophers that explain land ethics is Aldo Leopold. He believed that land is much

more than just soil but really creates the whole ego-system. He creates the idea of the

biotic community. The biotic community is an idea that everything lives off one another.

Aldo Leopold believes that the biotic community is displayed into a pyramid, which

conduct energy. The change that is seen in the pyramid can cause drastic deviation. One

that a community would not be able to handle and them would affect the whole change.

Leopold’s biotic community states that when we destroy a biotic community it is

destroying other biotic communities, which then leads to destruction. With this statement

said land should be a part of the moral circle because everything in this world evolves

around each other. A good example of this would be the coral reefs in our oceans. In

chasing coral a documentary that displays the destruction of the coral reefs around the

world. One of the key points in the documentary the researches state that because the
change in the temperatures around the world there was a massive heat wave. This heat

wave leads to many of the coral reefs dying. The researches state that humans think “out

of sight out of mind” according to Leopold’s idea of men creating the largest imbalance

in the biotic pyramid they are also the most careless. Leopold states “A thing is right

when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community”.

Taking this quote and relating it to the coral reefs it becomes very meaningful. These

plants have been prospering for hundreds of years on this earth. Now suddenly are dying

off because of temperature change in the atmosphere. From research the scientist have

concluded that they believe the change in temperature is based off of the green house

gases that are increasing due to humans. The green house gasses heat up the earths’

temperature, which then leads to the coral reef “bleaching”. Once the coral reefs are dead

they will not grow back. Which will threaten many lives around the world because the

temperatures will rise as well as the fish that prosper from the reefs will also start to die.

Land is so important when looking on how the earth has evolved and kept humans alive.

We must take that in consideration when looking at the moral circle.

Looking at all of the ideas and facts on how every living organism should be part

of the moral circle it becomes clear we need everything to be considered moral. We as

humans must change our views that animals, land and plants are just object. Without

changing our mentality we are taking more than we need and destroying everything in

our way. Many humans are not educated on why we must think of these things in our

world as moral and therefore believe that they are still object. Now knowing all this

information on how plants, animals and land are so important to our society they must be
apart of the moral circle. Humans often center themselves as the most important species

but it is all the other species in the world that make it possible for humans to prosper.
 Work cited page

Aldo Leopold, “The Land Ethic,” from A sand county almanac, (New York, Oxford
University Press, 1949. P.201-226.
ISBN 0-19-505928-x

Carolyn Merchant, “ The Death of Nature,” Environmental Philosophy: From Animal

Rights to Radical Ecology (1st edition). Michael Zimmeran (ed) (Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1993); P. 269-271, 275-277. ISBN: 0-13-666959-s

Krause, Jennifer. “Plants and Life on Earth.” Biology of Plants: Plants and Life on Earth,
2009, www.mbgnet.net/bioplants/earth.html.

Montgomery, Madison. “Still Think Humans Are the Most Intelligent Animals? Here's
Why Whales and Dolphins Have Us Beat.” One Green Planet, 7 July 2017,
www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/human-intelligence-versus-whales-
and-dolphins/.

Netflix Official Site, 14 July 2017,

www.netflix.com/watch/80168188?trackId=13752289&tctx=0,0,80ea388f-b756-
4a63-917b-365b87db5368-66964215,.

Rene Descartes, “Animals Are Machines,” in Animal rights and Human Obligations,
Tom Reagan and Peter Singer (eds). (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1989),
p. 13-19. ISBN 0-13-036864-4