The Consequences of Enactivism on Moral Considerability in Environmental Ethics

Abstract

Enactivism is a model of cognition that emphasises the dynamic interactions between organisms and their environment. This paper analyses the link between holism and individualism in animal and environmental ethics through the conceptual tools provided by the enactivist programme, particularly through a perspective of relational values emerging from the dynamic interactions of organisms with the environment. In our opinion, the more dynamic concept of value that enactivism implicitly offers can be helpful in resolving conflicts within green ethics. Concurrently, its reconceptualization of agency in simple organisms contributes to the discourse on the attribution of moral con‑ sideration to non‑human entities. These insights have implications for both the moral deliberation of the individual agent and decisions taken at the political level. We briefly address the associated philosophical and practical challenges in ethical deliberations.