ABSTRACT
A classic moral dilemma is the conflict between biocentrism and anthropocentrism. Popularized in 2010 by Doctor Robert Lanza, biocentrism (through a book by the same name) (Lanza and Berman, 2010) puts nature at the center and treats every element of it with equality. It predisposes that humanity has direct and moral responsibilities toward its conservation. Anthropocentrism, on the other hand, perceives humans as the center and believes that environmental responsibilities unfold as reactions to safeguard human interests. It tries to evaluate everything in terms of human values. While the reception to biocentrism is mixed, anthropocentrism has been cited as a major reason for human exploitation of nature due to its inbuilt human supremacy. Supporters of anthropocentrism are often accused of placing sheer priority to human needs and neglecting the needs of nonhuman nature. Anthropocentrism views all other elements of nature as being dominated by humans and as mere facilitators for human living. For this reason, biocentrism treats anthropocentrism as anti-environment.
