Connection 4
Ecosophy Part One
Nowhere is there a need to openly explore our concepts and values more than in relation to the current environmental issues we face collectively.
The drastic reduction of biodiversity, the accelerating overpopulation of the planet and the marching onslaught of climate change threaten to destroy the planet’s current ecosystem once and for all.
Nothing short of changing our understanding of reality and existence, our way of thinking and our collective values vis a vis the environment is required to avoid extinction of the biosphere as we know it.
Deep Ecology
Deep ecology is an environmental philosophy that argues for a radical change to the way we think of and interact with the environment.
Deep ecology asserts the inherent worth of all life irrespective of its instrumental utility in aiding human needs.
Deep ecology posits “biospheric egalitarianism,” that all forms of life have intrinsic value in their own right, and argues for the restructuring of modern society such that the value of all life forms is respected.
The Deep in Deep Ecology
Arne Naess (1912–2009), who coined the term and started the deep ecology movement, viewed the biosphere as a complex set of relationships in which each organism is dependent on the existence of other organisms.
Naess argued that human interference in the natural world could only be defended on vital grounds; given the inherent value of each organism as well as the collective value of a interrelated biosphere, non-vital interference or destruction of the environment cannot be justified.
Deep ecology embraces an ethics and social movement based on a holistic vision of the world. It is “deep,” because it attempts to understand the reality of the relationship between human beings and the natural world. It rejects anthropocentric environmentalism, ie., conservation of the environment in aid of long-term exploitation for human purposes, and the Enlightenment narrative of human supremacy, that human beings are separate from and superior to nature.
Deep ecology presents an earth-centered view and highlights the many indigenous and aboriginal societies around the world that maintain or did maintain a more sustainable and constructive relationship with the environment. It is social and pluralistic insofar as it examines societies and communities in order to understand the many different ways human beings have interacted with the planet. It condemns capitalism for its commoditization of resources and the prioritization of growth and “progress.”
Not Misanthropy
Deep ecologists believe that the damage to the biosphere sustained since the industrial revolution threatens collapse of the environment as we know it and the extinction of our species. Based on the primacy of non-interference with the ecosphere, many deep ecologists posit an optimal human population of approximately 0.5 billion people.
But deep ecologists are not misanthropists: they view human beings as part of the ecosphere and therefore endowed with the same value as other organisms.
They posit a long term and gradual decrease of the population rather than any apocalyptic solution.
Principles of Deep Ecology
Deep ecology supports the following eight principles:
1. The well-being and flourishing of human and non-human life on Earth have value in themselves (synonyms: intrinsic value, inherent worth). These values are independent of the usefulness of the non-human world for human purposes.
2. Richness and diversity of life forms contribute to the realization of these values and are also values in themselves.
3. Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to satisfy vital needs.
4. The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantially smaller population. The flourishing of non-human life requires a smaller human population.
5. Present human interference with the non-human world is excessive, and the situation is rapidly worsening.
6. Policies must therefore be changed. These policies affect basic economic, technological and ideological structures. The resulting state of affairs will be deeply different from the present.
7. The ideological change will be mainly that of appreciating life quality (dwelling in situations of inherent value) rather than adhering to an increasingly higher standard of living. There will be a profound awareness of the difference between bigness and greatness.
8. Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation directly or indirectly to try to implement the necessary changes.
Activism in the name of protecting the biosphere is condoned only on the basis of Gandhian non-violent means; environmental terrorism, fascism and violence are condemned.
Deep ecology promotes a flourishing in harmony for all organisms and communities in the biosphere.
Ecosophy
Arne Naess also coined the term “ecosophy,” or eco-philosophy. Naess explains ecosophy as follows:
By an ecosophy I mean a philosophy of ecological harmony or equilibrium. A philosophy as a kind of sofia (or) wisdom, is openly normative, it contains both norms, rules, postulates, value priority announcements and hypotheses concerning the state of affairs in our universe. Wisdom is policy wisdom, prescription, not only scientific description and prediction. The details of an ecosophy will show many variations due to significant differences concerning not only the ‘facts’ of pollution, resources, population, etc. but also value priorities.
Naess believed environmental wisdom goes hand-in-hand with the self-realization of all organisms, and the richness of a world flourishing in diversity.
I hope you enjoyed this article. Thanks for reading!
Tomas
Please join my email list here or email me at tomas@tomasbyrne.com.
Excerpt from my forthcoming book, Becoming: A Life of Pure Difference (Gilles Deleuze and the Philosophy of the New) Copyright © 2023 by Tomas Byrne. Learn more here.
