Wonderfulness

Today in class we discussed Brian Baxter's Argument from 'Wonderfulness', which is discussed on pages 67-68 of his book Ecologism. It's a relatively simple argument and it makes complete sense to me. It goes something like this:

1) If X is autopoietic*, then it is wonderful (it inspires wonder).
2) X is autopoietic.
3) X is wonderful.
4) We should preserve what is wonderful.
5) Therefore, we ought to preserve X.
*In Ecologism, autopoietic is defined as something that is self-sustaining.

Wonderfulness is something that as a class we struggled to define. It's a beautiful thing to think that all things possess some unique quality, some wonderfulness that should be preserved. Is wonderfulness a feeling? An emotion we get from experiencing another persons or animals wonderfulness? It's interesting to think about... Whatever wonderfulness is exactly doesn't matter; what matters is that we recognize wonderfulness in something and realize our duty to preserve that thing. Here's to Baxter and his idea of wonderfulness :)