Ethics in the Organic Movement - Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World - page 16

(Kirchhoff 2011 ). 8 Human actors are responsible for balancing their actions
between what is necessary for survival and the consequences for others. 9 Lochbühler
argues that this exceptional relationship between human and the rest of creation
divine reflects a “moderate anthropocentric in a theocentric context” (Lochbühler
1996 , p. 117). For White, the Judaeo-Christian monotheism at the core of this
anthropocentric perspective is the ideological source of the modern environmental
crisis (White 1967 ). The IFOAM Principles represent an ethic that is independent
of any religious association. While a relationship to a spiritual dimension is not
excluded, it is not specifically indicated.

2.2.1.3 The Pathocentric View

Pathocentrism is a perspective that is fundamental in the IFOAM Principles. From
this perspective, all living things, except plants (cf. Willemsen 2008 ), can suffer or
feel pain (e.g., Bentham 1978 ; Fenner 2010 ). As Singer ( 1993 ) argues, since animals
have both the capacity to suffer and an interest in avoiding pain, we have a moral
obligation to respect this interest (see also Fenner 2010 ; Vaarst and Alrøe 2012 ).
Having distinguished a difference between animals and plants, however, it is worth
nothing that techniques advanced by Kirlian technology suggest that plants may
also experience pain. 10 This adds a new element to this view that has not yet been
thoroughly explored, yet may play an important role in the future.

2.2.1.4 The Biocentric View

From this perspective, all living organisms without distinction between humans,
animals and plants, have intrinsic value (e.g., Taylor 1989 ; Schweitzer et al. 1999 ).
“Being alive” ( lebendig sein ) is of value in and of itself, and it includes an interest
in staying alive (Schweitzer 1976 ; Jonas 1979 , 2004 ). In contrast, non-living things
do not have moral value; they have instrumental value. This is at the core of
concerns with living soils and efforts to nurture and protect soil fertility (Abaidoo
and Dickinson 2002 ). The IFOAM Principles support the idea of intrinsic value, but
there are different perspectives on the instrumental value of non-living things, that
are rooted in individual belief patterns.

8 The relationship to nature in the tradition of Catholic Christianity, establishes a divine order of
man and nature that is apart from human egoism and intentions (Hoffman and Sandelands 2005 ).
It is God who is in charge of nature and the role of humans is that of faithful stewards of creation,
a service for God, mandated through God (Elmore 1996 ).
9 Vo r s t e r ( 2005 , p. 882) argues that “thus stewardship implies kinship over and against kingship
because a theocentric approach renders any anthropocentrism null and void. Real theocentrism can
lead to only one attitude: responsibility to God that will be expressed in humankinds care for its
creation.” This rather positive picture of a nature-sensitive theocentrism is also under critique.