Respect for nature is an act of individuation, not of boundary-drawing

Evidence

The ability to apply ethical concepts (for example, respect) to earth others is largely a matter of concept formation and of individuating them in appropriate ways, in terms of discerning others as autonomous intentional systems, rather than in terms of an instrumental and mechanistic system of individuation in which they are conceived only as fulfilling certain predetermined human ends. In a respect framework then, we would tend to frame concepts of, and individuate the world in terms of, the intentional stance towards the other. The Coca Cola bottle when individuated as part of a human instrumental context is not (or not without a further context) framed intentionally, and we can neither hinder nor assist its journey. Unless it is individuated as an artefact, that is, subsumed within a context of human agency and intentionality (in which case it is subject to the considerations of intrahuman ethics), there is no obvious intentional context to place it in. Unless we can find one, it has no direction of travel, and all outcomes with respect to it are indifferent. But the glaciated valley can easily be conceived as such an intentional system, if considered as part of a directional, developmental process of the earth, and we might both hinder its journey and stop it telling its story by damming it, for example. — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 511

Categorization

• XREF: This ‘respect via appropriate individuation’ framework bypasses the boundary question entirely — a genuinely useful analytic tool for eco-justice pedagogy that wants to avoid the sentience-meritocracy trap flagged at ch20/ch21. — connects to: Self forms through recognizing an other both alike and different — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 582; Being defined as nature means being passive, non-agent, and claimable land — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 44; Plato’s earth-mother myth promoted militarism, not environmentalism. — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 281 (+2 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The Coca-Cola bottle vs glaciated valley contrast is a remarkably compact demonstration that moral standing is a function of how we frame/individuate an object, not a property it carries — slides past the whole who-qualifies debate.

Broader Connections

• Respect for nature can rest on human self-interest in integrity, not intrinsic value #qualifies (0.75) — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice, 454