ON THE RECONCILIATION OF ANTHROPOCENTRIC AND NONANTHROPOCENTRIC ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

I argue that James Sterba's recent attempt to show that, despite their foundational axiological differences regarding the relative value of humans and members of nonhuman species, anthropocentrists and nonanthr opocentrists would accept the exact same principles of environmental j ustice fails. The failure to reconcile the two positions is a product of an underestimation of the divergence that occurs at the level of ge neral principles and practical policy as a result of the initial value commitments which characterise each position. The upshot of this is t hat, contrary to those who argue that environmental ethicists ought to move beyond the traditional anthropocentric-nonanthropocentric debate , the foundational debate about interspecific egalitarianism will cont inue to issue in substantial debates about environmental policy format ion.