Mahogany is a tree found in the tropical rain forests of Central and South America. Mahogany lumber is prized for its beauty, durability, and color

Question

Overharvesting of mahogany has led to the tree being classified as threatened, and there are international laws banning its harvest and trade. Although an anthropocentrist, biocentrist, and ecocentrist might all agree that it is important to protect mahogany trees, they would disagree on the reasons for doing so. Explain how they would differ in their reasoning.

Answer 1

An anthropocentrist would focus on the value toward humankind of protecting the mahogany trees. They may argue that it would be wrong to harvest mahogany trees because doing so would damage an ecosystem that may (a) contain undiscovered materials and medicines that would benefit humankind, and b) help protect humankind from the effects of global climate change. A biocentrist would focus on the mahogany species itself, arguing that it would be unethical to drive mahogany to extinction. An ecocentrist would be concerned with the rain forest ecosystem as a whole and may argue that damage to the ecosystem and removal of the mahogany tree from the ecosystem would seriously impact the ecological interactions that occur within the rain forest ecosystem, thus harming the ecosystem as a whole.