Biology · Biodiversity and Conservation · NEET
No. This is the key point. The narrowly utilitarian and broadly utilitarian arguments are both about benefits humans GET from nature (food, medicine, oxygen, pollination). The ethical argument is the opposite - it says a species should be saved even if it gives us NO current or future economic value. It is a moral or spiritual argument, not a benefit argument.
Intrinsic value means value that a species has in itself, just for existing - not because it is useful to humans. NCERT says 'every species has an intrinsic value, even if it may not be of current or any economic value to us.' So a plant nobody uses still deserves to exist. This phrase is the heart of the ethical argument and is a favourite NEET line.
Two groups. (1) The other species themselves - 'what we owe to millions of plant, animal and microbe species with whom we share this planet.' (2) Future generations - we must 'pass on our biological legacy in good order to future generations.' Both are moral duties, not economic reasons.
Broadly utilitarian = indirect benefits we still receive (oxygen from photosynthesis, pollination, climate control, the aesthetic pleasure of a bird's song). Even 'aesthetic pleasure' is a benefit to US. The ethical argument steps beyond all benefits: it is about our moral responsibility, whether or not we gain anything.
Aesthetic pleasure (walking through woods, spring flowers, a bulbul's song) is placed under the BROADLY utilitarian argument in NCERT, because it is still a benefit we enjoy. The line 'Can we put a price tag on such things?' bridges into the ethical argument, but aesthetic value itself is broadly utilitarian. NEET has trapped students here.
Try the real previous-year questions from this chapter — each with the answer and a full solution.
Every species has intrinsic value and we have a moral duty to protect all species and pass our biological legacy in good order to future generations, regardless of economic use.
The ethical argument. Both utilitarian arguments (narrow and broad) are about benefits humans receive; the ethical argument is purely moral and spiritual.
Narrowly utilitarian (direct economic products like food, medicine, bioprospecting), broadly utilitarian (indirect ecosystem services like oxygen, pollination, aesthetic value), and ethical (intrinsic value and moral duty).
It is ethical. Handing over our biological legacy in good order to future generations is a moral responsibility, not a use-benefit, so it falls under the ethical argument.
NEET frequently gives one option describing a benefit and asks which argument it belongs to. Knowing that ethical = intrinsic value + moral duty (no money) lets you eliminate any benefit-based option instantly.
