Towards a Revision of Kantian Anthropocentrism Arguments for an Ethical Consideration of (Organic) Nature According to the “Teleological Critique of Judgment”

Abstract

The “Teleological Critique of Judgment” is analyzed to revise, using three lines of argument, the supposed Kantian anthropocentrism according to which the ends of man define the ends of nature in such a way that relegates nature to a mere instrument. The first line of argument shows how the treatment of nature as a means has been limited by morality. The other two advance beyond anthropocentric ethics to trace elements of an ethics oriented toward (organic) nature in which all of its members are also defined as ends, that is, as morally worthy.

Keywords

• I. Kant
• anthropocentrism
• ethics
• morality