Intrinsic Value and Care: Making Connections through Ecological Narratives

Abstract

Vitriolic debates between supporters of the intrinsic value and the care approaches to environmental ethics make it sound as though these two sides share no common ground. Yet ecofeminist Jim Cheney holds up Holmes Rolston's work as a paragon of feminist sensibility. I explore where Cheney gets this idea from and try to root out some potential connections between intrinsic value and care approaches. The common ground is explored through Alasdair MacIntyre's articulation of a narrative ethics and the development of the notion of an ecological and evolutionary tradition.