Anthropocentrism views humans as the centre of ethical concern, while the environment is often seen as a usable resource, there for our personal exploitation. It is the position that has dominated Western thought, but gained its most destructive momentum following the Enlightenment period. Anthropocentrism justifies protecting the environment for human needs, whether it is in the form of aesthetic, economic, or social benefit. It attaches intrinsic value to humans solely, while the nonhuman world contains only instrumental value¯a value as a means to some further ends. Intrinsic value loosely means value in itself, that we contain value as ends in ourselves, regardless of whether or not we are also useful as a means to some other ends. The differentiation is vital in environmental ethics because it is the main fundamental contrivance between anthropocentrism and non-anthropocentrism.