ABSTRACT

Individuals have a good of their own, as we developed in the last two chapters. They also are goods of their kind (species). Many of these species are also threatened with extinction. When animals, birds, and plants vanish from the landscape, this raises public concern. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, reporting a multi-national consensus of hundreds of experts, concluded: “Over the past few hundred years, humans have increased species extinction rates by as much as 1,000 times background rates that were typical over Earth’s history” (2005a, p. 3; see also 2005b). The loss of species seems intuitively bad, but why? What values are attached to species? Why ought we to save them? At the species level, responsibilities seem to increase. So does the intellectual challenge of defending duties to species. What are species? The question is scientifi c, one to be answered by biologists. Have humans duties to them? The question is ethical, to be answered by philosophers.