PP - Intrinsic species

The question whether an organism is intrinsic is a very subjective one. To be intrinsic is to be essential within itself; unlike instrumental which is to be useful to others. In a sense, every living thing has intrinsic value just in the fact that it is living because there is value in life. However, it seems that some organisms may hold more value than others. A good way to determine how high an organism’s value is, might be looking at how long it has existed on this planet and how essential it is for life on this planet. Based on this, single celled organisms like bacteria are the most intrinsic, before them no life existed and without them no life would exist. Bacteria allowed oxygen to accumulate which led to more complex organisms, or prokaryotes, to evolve. The next large step was plants and trees and their appearance seems to jumpstart the evolution of many of the more advanced organisms around today.