Moral Obligations To Non-Humans

Abstract

There exist five models of ethical reflection from which it is possible to take into account the debate surrounding the topic of the relationships between human beings and non–humans: the deontological, the contractualist, the utilitarian, the neo–Aristotilian and the discursive models. This article will examine, based upon these five models, the question of the moral status assigned to animals and to nature, along with the possibility of each to support the extension of moral obligations. Toward this end, it will examine the central arguments for recognizing or negating moral considerations to non–human life forms as well as the scope of these arguments in order to understand the configuration and the limits of the ethical community. This will then allow for the classification of the aforementioned ethical approaches taking into account their links to various forms of anthropocentrism or biocentrism.