In Nature's Interests?

by Gary E. Varner

This book is a carefully argued response to what author Gary Varner characterizes as "two dogmas of environmentalism": the assumptions that animal rights philosophies and anthropocentric views are each antithetical to sound environmental policy. He argues that every living organism has interests which ought, other things being equal, to be protected, but that some interests take priority over others. Varner surveys problems facing attempts to develop a holistic environmental ethic, provides a careful analysis of the notion of desire and its scope in the animal kingdom, and improves upon available arguments for the claim that nonconscious organisms possess morally significant interests.