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The devolutionary attitude is rather different. These folks contend that things were better in the past and are now deteriorating. Vastly different social/political groups can take this position. For example, in Hesiod’s Theogony it is asserted that in the past, there was an age of gold. It was a far better time to be alive on earth: things were much better as opposed to the present, lower age of iron.48 Some politicians around the world cynically set out a similar account of the status quo in order to support either their election or a revolution to change things in order to return to a previous age that was better.49
Caring For and Protecting Nature.
But more is needed and the only way to get there, in this author’s opinion, is to refer to the anthropocentric attitude that a well-operating Nature helps human nature(s) to thrive. This must undergird the value/duty relation because without it, we are faced with mere factual posits. This is not an ethical egoistic position because it is made on behalf of all humanity. If anything, it approaches either a utilitarian justification (not this author’s preferred stance) or a contextual condition that allows human action to continue (the author’s preferred position). An example of this position would be the following argument.51