Moral consideration of plants for their own sake

Ariane Willemsen

Moral consideration of plants for their own sake

In: Ethical futures: bioscience and food horizons

Author:

Ariane Willemsen

Ariane Willemsen Executive Secretary, Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology ECNH, c/o Federal Office for the Environment FOEN, CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland; ariane.willemsen@bafu.admin.ch

Search for other papers by Ariane Willemsen in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 434–439

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.3920/9789086866731_074

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

€42.00€35.00 excl. VAT

Add to Cart

Redeem Access Token

The Swiss Constitution knows three forms of protection for plants: the protection of biodiversity, species protection, and the duty to take the dignity of living beings into consideration. The constitutional term ‘living beings’ encompasses animals, plants, and other organisms. Previous discussion relates the term dignity of living beings to the value of the individual organism for its own sake. Given the legal interpretation, the general ethical questions remain unanswered: do we have moral obligations towards plants and why? The concept of dignity of living beings clearly refers to the protection for their own sake, not to the protection for the sake of others. The Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology ECNH was mandated by the Swiss administration to clarify the meaning of this concept for the handling of plants in research. Since for plants – unlike animals – it is almost impossible to refer to moral intuition, a theoretical approach was followed. Which fundamental ethical positions actually are open to the moral consideration of plants for their own sake? What is the individual entity of a plant? What is the weight of a moral obligation towards plants compared to moral obligations towards other living beings? In April 2008, the ECNH presented a report that analyses these questions. The report not only caused some controversy in Switzerland, but also internationally. This paper intends to present the contents of the ECNH-report as well as to critically discuss the committee’s majority opinion.

Citation Info

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share link with colleague or librarian

You can email a link to this page to a colleague or librarian:
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/9789086866731/BP000074.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

Collapse
Expand

Ethical futures: bioscience and food horizons

E-Book ISBN:: 9789086866731

Publisher:: Wageningen Academic

Print Publication Date:: 30 Oct 2009

Subjects
- Life Sciences

Metrics

	All Time	Past 365 days	Past 30 Days
Abstract Views	134	39	12
Full Text Views	9	0	0
PDF Views & Downloads	9	1	0

African Studies	Education	Media Studies
American Studies	History	Middle East and Islamic Studies
Ancient Near East and Egypt	Human Rights and Humanitarian Law	Musicology
Art History	International Law	Philosophy
Asian Studies	International Relations	Religious Studies
Biblical Studies	Jewish Studies	Slavic and Eurasian Studies
Biology	Languages and Linguistics	Social Sciences
Book History and Cartography	Life Sciences	Theology and World Christianity
Classical Studies	Literature and Cultural Studies

Subjects

Authors

Open Access

Product Information

Company

Contact

Moral consideration of plants for their own sake

Citation Info

Share link with colleague or librarian

Ethical futures: bioscience and food horizons

Table of Contents

Metrics

Metrics