Last Man Argument

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Philosophy 226: Environmental Ethic The Last Man Argument There are three types of intrinsic values. The first intrinsic value (IV1) means the same as something having something non-instrumental value. It has an end in itself. Trees are valuable because they are trees. The second intrinsic value (IV2) is used to refer to an object as having value due to its intrinsic properties; properties that can be characterized without reference to other objects. Trees are valuable because they are living organisms. The third intrinsic value (IV3) is the objectivist view. IV3 has two interpretations according to O’Neill. There are weak and strong interpretations of an object having objective value. The weak objectivist view is finding a relation between secondary properties and evaluative properties. It’s weak because there requires that there is an observer to find the relation between the properties. The strong objectivist view is something has evaluative properties that can be found without referencing the experiences of the human. It’s like saying that a tree is valuable without the valuer. Even when there is no one around to give value to the tree it’ll always be valuable. That’s the argument used to “prove” that the Last Man’s actions are NOT morally permissible. If something is IV2 then it is also IV3 because IV2 is an object having properties based on its non-relational properties which also lets it fit in with being IV3. But it only fits in with weak IV3 because weak IV3 would still require that someone finds the relation between the secondary properties and evaluative properties. The strong IV3 is prevents something with IV3 from also being IV2 because strong IV3 requires that no valuer/ observer be present and it doesn’t take into consideration the secondary values. If the only objectivist view was the weak view then the values IV2 and IV3 could almost be
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