Philosophy of Nature · Ethics
Which parts of the natural world have moral standing in their own right?
Only human beings have direct moral standing; duties concerning nonhuman nature derive from its effects on present or future human interests.
Every living organism has direct moral standing because it has a good of its own that can be promoted or harmed, whether or not it is sentient.
The biotic community as an ecological whole is an object of direct moral concern, and preserving its integrity can outweigh the interests of individual members.
Direct moral standing extends to sentient beings because their capacity for suffering or enjoyment gives them interests that count; nonsentient entities lack standing in their own right.
To have moral standing is to matter for one's own sake, rather than only as a means to something else. Environmental ethics asks where that standing begins and ends: with human beings, with sentient beings, with all living organisms, or also with ecological wholes.
These answers mark different scopes of direct concern. They are not drawn as strict incompatibilities because a pluralist view can combine several sources or levels of value.