June Clarisse C.

Villapaz

BSIE 5

Question.
Discuss the last person scenario: You are the last person left on earth and can press a button
(connected to nuclear bombs) destroying all life on the planet. Is there a moral obligation not to press
the button and why? How would each of the environmental ethics answer the question? Research more
on the different types of environmental ethics to aid you in answering. Cite references.

Answer.
Discussion. At a conference in 1973, Richard Sylvan (then known as Richard Routley) proposed a science
fiction thought experiment that helped to launch environmental ethics as a branch of academic
philosophy. (This is the only science fiction example you will encounter in this book. In Environmental
Ethics, there is no need to make up strange cases, for environmental issues permeate everyday life.)
Routleys thought experiment came to be known as the "Last Man" argument.

The thought experiment presents you with a situation something like this: You are the last human being.
You shall soon die. When you are gone, the only life remaining will be plants, microbes, invertebrates. For
some reason, the following thought runs through your head: Before I die, it sure would be nice to destroy
the last remaining Redwood. Just for fun.

Sylvans audience was left to ponder. What, if anything, would be wrong with destroying that Redwood?
Destroying it wont hurt anyone, so whats the problem? Environmental philosophers have been trying to
answer that question ever since, and you will hear the question echoing through this book.

How would you answer it?

Source: Willott E. & Schmidtz D. 2002. Why Environmental Ethics? Oxford University Press

I would answer it this way:

Being the last person left on the planet, I have the freedom to do whatever I want to do. No one is going
to tell me that my action is wrong since there is already the absence of humans which created the
standards of morality. But if I have in my hands the power to destroy the remaining life on the planet, I
would not do it. They remained to live for a specific reason and life is still life no matter what form it is
presented. They too are valuable and I believe that the human race would not have gone through
generations without the help of other life forms. Maybe, humans were brought to extinction so to stop
their destruction of other lives in the planet. Also, I respect life in all kinds including animals and plants.
I, as a person, have concern for them and I strongly believe that they should be taken care of and it is my
duty as a steward of the planet Earth to take good care of creation. It is also my way of returning the
favor that these other life forms have provided for me and for the human race despite their greediness.
Not pressing the button would be my way of showing gratitude and respect. What if there is yet to
unfold from them, something more beautiful than the human race. It would be a burden on my
conscience that I was the one who caused the extinction of every single life. My moral standing on
environmental issues remain to be firm: to respect life whatever it is. Because I have chosen to live as an
individual, that despite the need to conform to moral standards and the never-ending arguments of
what is wrong or what is right, I choose to make peace with the environment and I choose to value the
environment and life as something that really matters more than I do.