Paul Taylor

Paul W. Taylor (November 19, 1923 – October 14, 2015) was an American philosopher best known for his work in the field of environmental ethics.

Biography

Taylor's theory of biocentric egalitarianism, related to but not identical with deep ecology, was expounded in his 1986 book Respect for Nature: A Theory of Environmental Ethics, and has been taught in university courses on environmental ethics. Taylor taught philosophy for four decades at Brooklyn College, City University of New York and was professor emeritus there at the time of his death.

Respect for Nature

Taylor's Respect for Nature is widely considered one of the fullest and most sophisticated defences of a life-centered (biocentric) approach to nature. In this work, Taylor agrees with biocentrists that all living things, both plants and animals, have inherent value and deserve moral concern and consideration. More radically, he denies human superiority and argues that all living things have equal inherent value. Recognizing that human interests inevitably conflict with the interests of plants and animals, Taylor carefully lays out and defends a variety of priority principles for the fair resolution of such conflicts.

Taylor's new theory of environmentalism based on the "biocentric outlook" was used in opposition to speciesism. His theory advocated four beliefs: that humans are equal members of the earth's community of life, that humans and members of other species are interdependent, that "all organisms are teleological centres of life in the sense that each is a unique individual pursuing its own good in its own way" and that "humans are not inherently superior to other living things."

Reception

Kristin Shrader-Frechette wrote that Taylor broke new grounds in environmental ethics with his concepts of biocentric outlook and inherent worth and suggested that he developed "the most philosophically sophisticated theory of environmental ethics that has yet appeared". However, she noted various flaws with his theory.

Selected publications

Normative Discourse (Prentice-Hall, 1961; Greenwood Press, 1973, 1976) Principles of Ethics: An Introduction (Dickenson, 1975; Wadsworth, 1980) In Defense of Biocentrism (Environmental Ethics, 1983) Are Humans Superior to Animals and Plants? (Environmental Ethics, 1984) Respect for Nature: A Theory of Environmental Ethics (Princeton University Press, 1986) Inherent Value and Moral Rights (The Monist, 1987)