ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an introduction to environmental ethics, followed by a thought experiment. It is followed by a short discussion and then a series of questions. Debates in environmental ethics ask whether the environment has instrumental or non-instrumental value. The traditional view was that only humans had non-instrumental value. Environmental philosophers argue that some aspects, or all, of the environment have non-instrumental value. The value of trees, say, does not lie merely in the fact that they produce paper or oxygen for humans. They are valuable in and of themselves. The questions are intended to get the philosophy students thinking about the problems. They have used these kinds of questions in seminars as the questions set for seminars, so they also think that they can be used to spark conversation and discussion. The chapter also gives a cursory sketch of some of the ways in which philosophers have responded to the thought experiment.
