Humans and dolphins: an essay on anthropocentrism in applied environmental ethics

Abstract

This essay argues that one of the reasons that the unethical character of much human/dolphin contact is not more apparent to ethicists is that discussion of central issues has been colored with unintentional species bias. This essay will point out weaknesses in the traditional approach used in discussing topics that bear on the question of whether dolphins have moral standing. It demonstrates that discussions of the cognitive abilities of dolphins by Steven Wise and Alasdair MacIntyre are unintentionally, but fundamentally, anthropocentric - largely because the authors are not familiar with enough of the scientific literature about dolphins to draw the conclusions that they do.