The land ethic is a holistic view of ecosystems. It entails an entire view of a biotic community to include all of nature, not the individualistic components which incorporate our environment. Great efforts would be taken by supporters of the 'land ethic' to support an ecosystem that was threatened. The individual components that comprise the ecosystem are not of great concern to supporters of this theory; they would argue that a threat to an individual organism, even protected or endangered, should be evaluated on whether or not the protected or endangered species does endanger the integrity of the whole system. A supporter of the land ethic argument would have consequences to weigh regarding the value of the threatened individual and how it relates to the survival of individuals of the group. If the group were to suffer a threatening blow that could affect the livelihood or existence of members of the controlling group one would expect that the threatened organism could be evaluated for possible 'non-protection'.
In contrast, Taylor would argue that any animal or living organism should be protected because that organism is deserving of its own individual worth; the fact that it is protected or endangered would be of little
To summarize the various stages of ethical obligation in Callicott's argument of land ethic, his supporters would argue an "accretion" of his view would be composed of individual beliefs that support the whole rather than the individual. Some examples are given in his work. He argues that an individual cares about the existence of a group to which he or she belongs, therefore that particular individual has a self serving need to protect that group. This protection may include having the same morals as others within that group that collectively comprise the groups whole view and aids in the preservation of its existence. Callicott argues under the Humean-Darwinian approach that individual humans as a whole posses biological sympathies which cause emotion responses related to survival. He uses the example of a lost child to illustrate this. Although, it is not his child who is lost he certainly has some feeling and pity that is awakened within him as a person. In addition he feels sympathy. One could certainly argue that sympathy and pity are emotions that cause an individual to adhere to the norms of group. Adherence to norms inherently causes the self-preservation of the group as a whole.
If the view of the community is to decide whether or not an individual, ecosystem, or environment is to be preserved based upon that above stated val
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