ABSTRACT
A modern definition of biocentrism is that it's an ethical perspective which says that all life has equal moral standing. Historically, ethics were anthropocentric, with only living humans being worthy of the moral consideration. Biocentrism puts four duties on anyone trying to hold to it: Do no harm to other living beings and Don't interfere with other beings living their lives. Further duties are: Don't use other organisms as merely means to human ends and Make restitution if a living being has been harmed by human activity. A strong criticism of biocentricity is that it places too much emphasis on the individual, and in doing so misses the bigger picture. This argument says that it's the population and the species that matter, not individual members of it, although that's not an argument most of us would ever use about humans outside of warfare.
