Prompt 10

Callicott agrees with Leopold's Land Ethic and attempts at enhancing Leopold's claims. Leopold spoke on the idea of moral extensionism, which is the idea that moral standing should be extended to things such as animals, plants and the earth (things that are typically not thought of as having moral standing). Moral extensionism is limited by certain ideas such as the fact that humans are the only ones with moral standing. Because afterall, people's views and opinions are rooted in either a religious context or secular context.

It can almost be said that Callicott is creative in finding ways around this restriction and improving upon Leopold's claims. Callicott argues that the development of morality can be rooted in evolution. His reasoning which I completely agree with stems from the idea that the development of morals and emotions and opinions came way before religion was developed. Essentially, Callicott is claiming that moral behavior came into existence as a means to survive before religion.

Callicott's argument really made a lot of sense to me and made me realize that in using evolution as an argument for moral development, the concept of community is extended beyond humans. And a utilitarian approach comes into play because under this context, the interests of the individual is outweighed by the interest of everyone.

Response to:  http://parenethical.com/phil149win12/prompt-10-the-land-ethic/