Earth was not created for us.
Was it created for life?
Was it created just as an experiment?
Was earth created?
Did earth just become?
If earth just became, then it's not for life or an experiment or us. It just is.
But that it just is doesn't imply anything ethically.
The earth - and all on it and around it in the vast (infinite?) universe - changes.
That doesn't imply anything morally.
In a sense, something like this is true: horses evolved to eat rough vegetation; that is what best allows them to live healthily; therefore, if horses are to be healthy, they should eat rough vegetation.
A should has come from an is.
There seem to be health shoulds... perhaps even should for 'flourishing' and for 'wellbeing'... even 'happiness'.
So, how about this: if a community is to flourish, members should co-operate in endeavours that are best achieved communally. Therefore, a member of a social community should engage in reciprocal altruism, apply the golden rule and so on.
Maybe there are shoulds where there are ifs.
But the ifs rely on a value judgement. It is better to flourish than not to flourish.
Is that a fact or a value?
A value, surely.
We might say, or, I might say, 'I prefer to flourish and so do others whom I witness attempting to flourish. It seems to be a majority opinion that people seek to flourish, as do all living things.'
So, then , how do I distinguish the importance of my flourishing compared to that of a lamb or a willow tree or a marsh warbler or a bacteria?
That's where sentience traditionally comes in.
But I value that because I am sentient....
What is it for a river to flourish? To get to the sea faster? To be a habitat for fish and kingfishers, dragonflies and ducks? Even if the river isn't sentient, it matters to the fish and kingfishers, dragonflies and ducks...
But if the good of the river is only FOR them.... then isn't the earth FOR us? is the lamb FOR me?
The answer is that the lamb wants to be, as far as it can want, for itself, not for me... but the river, the earth, can't want.
In theory.
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