The more narrow and specific the questions posed, the less vagueness there will be. Modern environmentalism owes a great debt to philosopher, professor, and writer arne naess, cofounder of the deep ecology movement. The wellbeing and flourishing of human and nonhuman life on earth have value in themselves synonyms. Hinduism, deep ecology and the universe story david l. Environmental ethics as a question of environmental ontology. The deep ecology movement, which began with arne naess introduction of the term in 1972, is compared with other movements for social responsibility that developed in the 20th century.
Communication ecology june 7, 2010 alan drengson 1 communication ecology of arne naess 19122009 alan drengson selfrealization is not a maximal realization of the coercive powers of the ego. He uses reasonable arguments that resound with all aspects of life. The important philosopher of deep ecology and gandhian philosophy, arne naess, died in january 2009. Deep ecology is an ecological and environmental philosophy promoting the inherent worth of. Foundation for deep ecology the deep ecology platform. Deep ecology became established, formally, from the early 1970s by arne naess, a european academic philosopher who highlighted the division between shallow ecology, which puts human welfare first, and deep ecology, which emphasizes the integrity of all life naess, 1973. Several of the points in the deep ecology platform are problematic and there appear to be inconsistencies within the philosophy as a whole. Deep ecology is criticised for its claim to being deeper than alternative theories, which by implication are shallow. Arne naess invented the term deep ecology in a famous. Ijpsr 2009, issue 1, vol international journal of current. Deep ecology book, working as an antinuclear activist in usa, found that one of the major impediments confronting the activists cause was the presence of unresolved emotions of despair, grief, sorrow, anger and rage. Basic principles of deep ecology the anarchist library. Because deep ecology requires everyone to formulate their own interpretation, people who claim to be part of the movement hold incompatible viewpoints from. A shallow, but currently rather powerful movement, and a deep, but less influen.
The shallow and the deep, long range ecology movements in this article, naess. Proponents of deep ecology believe that the world does not exist as a resource to be freely exploited by humans. It is not a set of rules to which we must conform, but rather of challenges which require us to think deeply about what we are doing and comeup with our own individual solutions. This introductory chapter interrogates the intellectual robustness and mobilizing potential of arne naesss deep ecology in the 21st century. This long awaited work is an updated and thoroughly revised translation of okologi, samfunn og livsstil in norwegian.
In a time when the market economy is pervading more and more areas around the globe, a philosophy like naess s that can help us reconnect with the bigger picture is much needed. Its function in the ecological crisis arne naess council for environmental studies university of oslo po box 1116, blindern 0317 oslo 3, norway abstract. Naess and sessions deep ecology platform provided a loose framework for a. His many books include ecology, community, and lifestyle. For example, i have proposed norms relating to communities of bears, wolves, sheep, and sheepowners in norway. After 1969, naess achieved international recognition as the founder of a style of environmentalism known as deep ecology.
I suggest an inquiry into and interpretation of the buddhist sources of naess proposal, in order to understand the role. Deep ecology is a radical environmental philosophy that was presented in april of 1984 by arne naess and george. Environmental ethics as a question of environmental. The analysis in the present paper was inspired by arne naess paper on shallow and deep, longrange environmentalism. Naess is the acknowledged founder of deep ecology and a respected authority in semantics, the philosophy of science and the thinking of spinoza and ghandi. Naessian deep ecology, political action and the climate crisis. Alan drengson is an emeritus professor at the university of victoria in british columbia, canada. The paper discusses naess crosscultural approach to characterizing grassroots movements via platform principles that can be supported from a diversity of cultures, worldviews, and personal philosophies. There are deeper concerns which touch upon principles of diversity, complexity, autonomy, decentralization, symbiosis. There are deeper concerns which touch upon principles of. Norwegian philosopher arne naess first used the shallow deep distinction in a talk at the. These values are independent of the usefulness of the nonhuman world for human purposes. Rethinking the heideggerdeep ecology relationship pdf. By ecology movement naess means a cosmology or worldview.
Our contention is that deep ecology is not a spent force, as some influential western philosophers argue in this volume. Pdf deep ecology is a term introduced by arne naess to suggest that environmentalism, in its strongest incarnation, must have at its root a. Arne naess 19122009 was a widely published and celebrated norwegian philosopher whose long career spans two main periods. The shallow and the deep, longrange ecology movement a summary by arne naess t he emergence of ecologists from their former relative obscurity marks a turning point in our scientific communities. Through deep experience, deep questioning and deep commitment emerges deep ecology to understand what arne naess means by deep ecology it helps to imagine this place.
Lovelock explicitly tells us that he is moved by the ideas of deep ecology 142, and praises deep ecologists for recognizing the magnitude of the change of mind needed to bring us back into peace with gaia, the living earth 154. The news did not even make it into the obituary columns of such global weeklies as time magazine although, as usual, many sporting and film personalities did. Arne naess 19122009 founded the deep ecology movement in 1973 with his article the shallow and the deep, longrange ecology movement. The late val plumwood, whom i consider among the most insightful of ecological philosophers, argued arne naess did not question the structures of possessive egoism and selfinterest. Early life arne naess was the youngest of four children in a wealthy.
Norwegian philosopher arne naess first used the shallowdeep distinction in a talk at the. The self in the kinds of philosophy i am alluding to is something expansive, and the. Despite a general distaste for deep ecology and its associated superstitions, i found myself very much appreciating naess take on deep ecology and holding great respect for this his attempt to construct a worldview that is informed by the basic principles of ecology. Shallow in the sense that creating new technologies, discontinuing the use of fossil fuels, practicing. I attended a workshop in new delhi recently in which an academic research chemist told me that there is no tension between religion and science in india the way there is in the united states. Arne naess and james lovelock published and spoke in an wellarticulated. He is the author of the practice of technology 1995, and coeditor of the deep ecology movement 1995 and ecoforestry 1997.
Origins of the deep ecology movement arne naess invented the term deep ecology in a famous 1973 englishlanguage article, the shallow and the deep, longrange ecology movement. Norwegian philosopher arne naess was best known for his invention of the term deep ecology to describe the way in which environmental issues are fundamentally questions of ethics and philosophy. This is contrary to the spirit of arne naess himself, as can be seen by one of the quotations above given with the. Arne naess rightly applauded as founder of the movement, though, as he implies, only setting down in one codification what was already in the air wrote only of the deep ecology movement and set down what he has subsequently described as a deep ecology platform. Naess ecosophy t and buddhist traditions elisa cavazza arne naess included several references to buddhist teachings in his ecophilosophy. Quality of life is here considered to be something incompatible with artificial, material standards above that necessary for the satisfaction of fundamental needs, and secondly, that ecological considerations are to be regarded as preconditions for life quality, therefore not outside human responsibilitythe lifestyle of the majority should be changed so that the. With george sessions, naess forged a political platform for. David rothenberg, new jersey institute of technology arne naess, the founder of deep ecology, died on 12 january 2009, three weeks before his 97th birthday. There he lived looking out on that vast, wild panorama, reading gandhi or spinoza and studying sanskrit. On the one hand, however, we find a restricted movement which has many friends among the power elite, while on the other hand, we find a deeper and. Deep ecology, by some regarded as a fundamentalist approach, offers an. In his book, arne naess brilliantly provides the philosophical basis for deep ecology. The methods used are patterned after john rodmans seminal critique of the resources conservation and development movement in the united.
He was also the associate editor of a tenvolume collection of naesss works, the selected works of arne naess, published in 2005 by the foundation for deep ecology. He adopted a shallow wildlife management perspective that defended the sheep owners. In april 1984, during the advent of spring and john muirs birthday. Briefly, this provides a guide to thinking through our action on environmental issues. Arne naess ecology, community and lifestyle is a nice book. The distinction made by kant between moral and beautiful actions is relevant to efforts to. Here, editors alan drengson and bill devall provide a comprehensive yet accessible volume of naesss most groundbreaking and seminal essays, which have remained influential among environmentalists to this day. Deep ecology was conceived by the norwegian environmental philosopher arne naess. The eight points a reinterpretation of deep ecology. The shallow and the deep, longrange ecology movement. Themes examined include the educational implications of the.
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