1. Ryan Mauer

2.  Hunting - direct human influence on the natural world
 Manipulates animal populations
 Use as population control: slow or halt population growth
 Manipulation of animal populations serve partly to ensure
continuation of the “game”
 Disruptive to the natural environment
 Access and alteration to hunting grounds (lodges, roads,
deforestation to make hunting more efficient)
 Two sides to this – hunting often done on protected lands,
which promotes the overall protection of habitats
 Evaluate the ethical implications of human influences
on wildlife
 Does manipulation equate to unethical behavior?

3. Analyze through 4 ideologies:
 Utilitarianism / Consequentialism
 Biocentrism
 Future Generations Theory
 Care Ethics

4.  Ethical theory stating that proper moral
behavior includes only actions that maximize
utility, overall happiness, or good
 Form of consequentialism - morality of an
action determined by its outcome or
consequences
 Considering the morality of an action can only be
done after considering all of its consequences
 Jeremy Bentham
 John Stuart Mill

5.  Good/utility/happiness
 Humans as the dominate animal for whom the good is to be maximized?
 Not necessarily
 Anthropocentric utilitarianism
 Human pleasure - good to be maximized
 Whether hunting for sport or food, both lead to overall human happiness and
positive consequences for humans.
 Generally no excessive pain or torture to the animal
 An animal-centered approach:
 Loftin believes “legal and ethical hunting which tends to preserve the
integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community is a good according
to pragmatic ethical principles, since the prohibition of such hunting
would likely result in intolerable loss of habitat for both game and non-
game animals” (Loftin 249)
 Hunting provides utility for both humans and other animal species in the
long-run, and is morally permissible
 Conclusion: Hunting - a moral course of action – ethical.

6.  Gives inherent value to non-human species, as
well as natural processes and ecosystems,
regardless of sentience (the ability to feel, be
conscious, or have subjective experiences)
 Opposite of anthropocentrism, which gives
special consideration to humans above other
species
 Paul Taylor – Professor emeritus at Brooklyn
College, City University of New York.
 Philosopher concentrating on environmental ethics
 Idea of biocentrism - 1986 book Respect for Nature

7.  Four Main Themes:
 All species, including humans, make up an equal community of life
 Community utilizes system of interdependence between members, which
facilitates relationships across species
 Each organism is a teleological center of life, meaning each has a purpose
which is considered valuable
 Humans not intrinsically superior to any other species
 Earth’s ecosystems are interconnected and people should live in a way that reflects
that attitude
 Three Guidelines:
 People must not:
 Harm any part of nature with inherent value
 Try to control or change natural ecosystems
 Deceive any animal
 Conclusion - hunting of wild animals is unethical under biocentrism
 Hunting places humans above other animals, a role they do not deserve
 Disrupts natural environments (humans do not account for the effects their
actions cause on the interconnected ecosystems)

8.  Humans have a responsibility to preserve the
natural world for future generations

9.  Places humans outside of nature
 Grants them role of protector over natural world
 Original application of theory concerned climate change, but is applicable
to hunting as well
 Method of hunting determines whether it is moral or not
 If animals gave fundamental significance to humans that allowed them to
continue species in a way not otherwise possible, hunting could be
permissible (assuming it does not deplete animal populations)
 Could be considered immoral - threat of over-hunting and depletion of
species.
 Flaws:
 Humans do not know what future generations desire
 No guarantee that future generations will continue to preserve
nature for their future generations
 Idea of humans as protector of the natural world – is it humans
that are best suited to carry out the task of preservation?

10.  Normative ethical theory – concerns what makes actions
right or wrong
 Developed by feminists
 Emphasizes importance of relationships as opposed to standards
of behavior
 Beliefs:
 Individuals achieve interests through interdependence on others
 Those vulnerable to our choices and their outcomes deserve extra
consideration
 Measured according to:
 Level of vulnerability
 Level of affectedness
 Applied differently across many situations – contextual
details are important to promote interests of those affected

11.  Tries to see the world through the eyes of
animals – as individuals
 Hunting creates this sense of direct interaction
 Personal connection
 Act of killing an animal and watching it die should
create emotional link between hunters and animals
 Easy to visualize effects of hunters’ actions
 Critical imagining of hunter in the animal’s position –
gives care ethics more significance than being simply
an emotional theory
 Less established – more of a recent ideology

12.  Do you think hunting is ethical?
 What qualifiers would you impose, if any, on
hunting practices to justify your answer?
 What is better, the industrial food system of
bringing meat to the table, or individual
hunters?
 Is keeping populations in check by means of
hunting a valid argument, or should animals
be free to multiply as they wish, perhaps as
God intends?