Cartesian environmental ethics

Rene Descartes is often thought to have exerted a pernicious influence on o ur views concerning the relationship of humans to the environment. The view that because animals are machines, "thoughtless brutes," they have no mora l standing, and we thus have a right to use them to further our own interes ts, is attributed to him. A celebrated passage from the Discourse on Method adds fuel to the view that he subscribes to the "dominion" theory. I argue that this picture is misleading and unfair. Descartes does not hold the do minion theory, and there is evidence that he accords animals (and plants) m oral standing. Most importantly, Descartes holds that it is a human good to subordinate one's interests to those of the larger universe. He can, in fa ct, be seen as a forerunner of modern ecocentrism.