ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses ecological with economic rationality to illustrate that the criterion constituting what is deemed rational is fundamentally disputed rather than being universally accepted and how the particular epistemological assumptions of the analyst either justifies or rejects the existence of environmental human rights. Dominant forms of rationality are therefore more a reflection of the culture within which they are constructed, rather than being universal in character. The paradigm of economic rationality assumes the Greco-Christian position that everything on earth is for the sole use of humankind and that that species is at liberty to modify the environment as it will. The denial of intrinsic value has led some theorists to condemn economic rationality as a manifestation of speciesism for making decisions on morally arbitrary grounds that prejudice otherness. Economic rationality expresses the political agenda of facilitating and enhancing consumerism through Gross Domestic Product growth. Economic rationality encourages systematic environmental destruction as a consequence of assuming the concept of discounting.
