Caitlin Bennion

11/20/14
Jane Drexler
Phil 2300
Are you Inside?
Have you ever thought why our society has allowed acts of cruelty to go on for so long?
Animal abuse, child abuse, spousal abuse, even slavery through the late 1800s were huge acts of
injustice, but were allowed it to continue year, after year, after year. Through all of time, society
has made up their own rules to determine the amount of value our planet, human beings, and
animals have. At times, the poor, sick, and elderly were merely considered to have any worth at
all, let alone a dog or a tree.
As society progressed, many philosophers helped expanded this way of thinking to raise
the level of consideration animals, humans, and our earth is given. Some believe that too much
worth is place upon people and more should be given to the planet. While others taught that
animals deserve little to no consideration over humans due to our ability to reason. This
consideration is called a Moral Circle, and dictates in a lot of ways, how we treat the things that
surround us.
What is included in the Moral Circle means it is due consideration above all thing outside
of that circle. If one chooses to include, for example, humans and trees in the circle, then when
making decision for the circle, one cannot hold the humans above the trees simply because they
are human. Decisions have to be made for the better of the group, as a whole, without holding
anything above anyone without full consideration. Immanuel Kant started small, including
humans in the moral circle and later the circle will grow to include more and more.

Before anything else, humans took care of each other. Whether it was taking care of
ones children, or growing crops for family members, people took care of people, and the rest
came second. We choose to take care of other people because of our capacity to reason and will.
This makes us different above all other thing according to Immanuel Kant, a philosopher of the
1700s. He taught that we have a duty to take care of people like our children or our aging
parents, and that duty comes from our ability to reason. In the 1700s things were much different
than they are now. Kant shared his Moral Circle with people and not much more. He started the
frame work to allow it to grow and include much, much more.
If our duty is to take care of our family and people in need, then why wouldnt that
extend to animals, as well? Human beings have life and therefore have value. Animals are not
much different because they have a life, too. Tom Regan, a philosopher in the mid-1900s, called
life intrinsic value. To me, it is of no argument to say that people dont have intrinsic value and
therefore should be defended against mistreatment, torture, and acts of cruelty. The same
arguments should be fought for all animals, too.
Much like humans, animals fear being hurt. Regan said the animals involved, we have
reason to believe, have an interest in not being made to suffer, and this interest, we have further
reason to believe, is as important to them as is the comparable interest in the case of human
beings. He believed humans and animals have intrinsic value which is why any mistreatment of
animals is morally wrong, including experimentations, hunting and killing. While Regan fought
for animals to be treated fairly, I believe his arguments opened up the Moral Circle to include
animals and showed why we should not be killing them for clothing or consumption.

As weve seen through this paper and history, the Moral Circle has proceeded to get
bigger and bigger. It first included almost solely humans; slowly it has broadened to include
animals. It would only make sense that we would start to include the biotic community, as well.
Philosopher Aldo Leopold created a great example of why we should include plants, and
tree, and the like in our Moral Circle. He named it the Biotic Pyramid of which it was all
encompassing. At the bottom it included plants and tree which supported the survival of the level
above which were birds and rodents. Leopold said about humans that Man shares an
intermediate layer with bears, raccoons, and squirrels which eat both meat and vegetables. The
pyramid continues to build with each level needed the level below it to survive until it reaches
the top of the pyramid that includes humans, bears, and the like.
Why this pyramid is so important is because it illustrates how if we dont respect and take
care of the biotic community then it will have a ripple effect and hurt the survival of the levels
above the plants and trees. Each species, including ourselves, is a link in many chains
(Leopold) Its very important to not forget that we all play a part in the survival of the living
things around us. Just because we dont see the immediate effects of hurting a plant or even an
insect doesnt mean it wont have an effect on our lives later on.
Where does the moral circle stop? It only stops if what is being considered doesnt have
the ability to live. We have to defend and protect everything living, frankly because of the Biotic
Pyramid. However, if we are defending something like a car or building, then I dont believe it
should be given consideration over even an insect or plants, and animals.
Many philosophers like Immanuel Kant, Tom Regan, and Aldo Leopold have valid
reasons as to why people, animals, and the earth should or should not be included in the Moral
Circle. However, there are many times when decisions are made in favor of people strictly

because they are people not realizing that the consequences of that decision could eventually hurt
them. I do not believe that should necessarily be the case. John Stuart Mill taught that decisions
should be made considering everyone and everything in society and the outcome should benefit
each individually. This included laws and each persons decisions. Mill said that:
utility would enjoin first, that laws and social arrangements should place the
happiness, the interest, of every individual, as nearly as possible in harmony with the
interest of the whole; and secondly, that education and opinion, which have so vast a
power over human character, should so use that power as to establish in the mind of
every individual as indissoluble association between his own happiness and the good of
the whole; (Mill)
If all of humanity acted in this way then there would be much more harmony in the
world. The Moral Circle should be very large including almost everything and leaving out very
little. Everything survives because it needs the things around them. Everything survives because
there is a hierarchy and if we dont include even the little things in the Moral Circle then other
things wont survive. For example flower need to be pollinated by bees, and bees need pollen
feed their young. If we dont take care of bees then flower may die that can cause a ripple effect
harming many other insects and plants. Thats why I have chosen to make my Moral Circle large
and doesnt exclude or over look anything due to status in the world.
A Moral Circle is a great way visually to understand how we should treat things in this
world. Sometimes we get to choose individually how we treat things like our pets or our gardens.
Other times the Moral Circle is regulated by the government through laws. The Constitution of
the United States is a great example of a Moral Circle because it was created to protect
Americas citizens. Weather we call it laws, a moral compass, or lifes values, it doesnt matter.

Without a Moral Circle our world would have no direction and things less fortunate or without a
voice would be destroyed without a hint of hesitation.