Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.5673/sip.56.3.1
The Rights of the Living World, Ethical Principles and Human Attitudes Toward the Natural Environment
Tijana Trako Poljak
orcid.org/0000-0002-0846-2889
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Sociology, Croatia
Ivan Cifrić
Antonija Bukvić - Letica
Tea Tomić
Abstract
In order to better understand and attempt to resolve today’s pressing environmental issues,
we need a deper understanding of the ethical principals that guide the decisions of involved
actors. The relationship between humans and their environment, including their practical
behaviour toward the living and non-living world, is guided by ethical principles which are
anthropocentric or eco/bio/centric in nature. The goal of this paper is to examine the ethical
foundation of Croatian citizens’ relationship toward their living environment through their
perception of 1) the right of the living beings to life and 2) the motives behind human care
for the living world (plants and animals). In the theoretical part of the paper, the idea of “the
right of the living world to live“ is defined by three dominant theoretical approaches: (biological)
egalitarianism, anthropocentric exceptionalism (human domination) and the fight for
survival (natural competition). Furthermore, “the motives behind human behaviour toward
the living world“ are defined by four key ethical approaches: deontological ethics (duty), utilitarian
ethics (usefulness), emotions (feelings) and situational ethics (circumstances). In the
methodological part of the paper, the results from the empirical research conducted on the
representative sample of Croatian citizens (2014, N=1000) are presented. The results reveal
that most respondents prefer 1)“egalitarianism“ (animal species have the same right to life as
humans) and 2)“deontological ethics“as the main motive for human behaviour toward the living
world. In addition, statistically significant differences are found in relation to respondents’
socio-demographic characteristics. Finally, we offer a brief comparison of these results with
those from the previous research done in 2005, 2007 and 2010 on a narrower student sample.
Keywords
anthropocentrism; ecocentrism; animal rights; egalitarianism; deontological ethics
Hrčak ID:
207759
URI
Publication date:
8.11.2018.
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