Reasons for protecting biodiversity are usually defined in terms of its instrumentality. Although there may be a number of ways to seek an alternative non-anthropocentric approach, I have chosen to develop an Aristotelian response that draws upon his conception of friendship and self-love. In doing so, I argue that a person living according to moral virtue will recognise that the nonhuman world should be valued and thus protected (at least in part) for its own sake.
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