The Categorical Imperative as a mediator: Can duty improve the relationship between Human Beings and Nature?

Abstract

In the following article, a look is discussed regarding the coexistence relationship between humans and nature, a tension that has been established since modernity due to specific decisions and motivations. The exploitation of biodiversity today requires an environmental awareness that transcends the particular interests of human beings, therefore, a possible way for discussion and/or improvement is to resort to Kantian ethics with the notion of duty that is recognized in the categorical imperative, together with other contemporary positions that contribute to the study in question; on the one hand, a theory that calls for biocentrism and, on the other hand, one that calls for reconsideration in the exercise of scientific practice. The positions under discussion could give a possible solution to the problem, so that it becomes relevant to detach from the subjective interest and self-interested practices of the human being towards nature.