Dualism renders the lower order a mere resource excluded from the moral sphere

Evidence

Since the relationship is seen as that of a superior to a separate inferior order, it is also seen as fitting and natural that the lower side serves the upper as a means to his ends. The upperside is an end in itself, but the underside has no such intrinsic value, is not for-itself but merely useful, a resource. The identity of the underside is constructed instrumentally, and the canons of virtue for a good wife, a good colonised, or a good worker are written in terms of usefulness to the centre. In the typical case this involves setting up a moral dualism, where the underside is not part of the sphere to be considered morally, but is either judged by a separate instrumental standard (as in the sexual double standard) or seen as outside morality altogether. — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 218

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘instrumentalism’ as the moral dualism that places the underside outside moral consideration.
• XREF: The upperside-as-end/underside-as-resource structure is exactly the logic that licenses treating nature as standing reserve — bridges to Eco-Justice environmental ethics and Merchant. — connects to: Reversing valuation traps liberation theory inside the dualistic structure it flees — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 39; Dualism demands hyperseparation achieved by magnifying differences and denying shared qualities — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 201; Rejecting reason-nature dualism must not banish the mechanical to a new lower class — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 504 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Moral exclusion arises from a society’s own evaluative schemes #expands (0.82) — Cristian Tileagă, The Nature of Prejudice, 807
• Rejecting reason-nature dualism must not banish the mechanical to a new lower class #expands (0.80) — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 504
• Mechanistic reduction extends nature’s instrumentalisation to humans rather than ending dualism #expands (0.75) — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 458