David Landis Barnhill has been Director of Environmental Studies and Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh since 2003. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1986 in Religious Studies with a minor in Japanese literature.
- The Foundation for Deep Ecology Movement
- The shallow and the deep, long range ecology movements
- Introduction to Deep Ecology
- Deep Ecology: Living as if nature mattered- book review
- Deep Ecology: Arne Naess & The Deep Ecology Movement: Pictures, Quotes, Ecosophy
- Ecophilosophy, Ecosophy and the Deep Ecology Movement: An Overview
Introduction
Deep ecology is one of the principal schools in contemporary environmental philosophy. The term was first used by the Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess in 1972 in his paper “The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movement.” The term was intended to call for a fundamental rethinking of environmental thought that would go far beyond anthropocentric (human-centered) and reform environmentalism that sought merely to adjust environmental policy. Instead of limiting itself to the mitigation of environmental degradation and sustainability in the use of natural resources, deep ecology is self-consciously a radical philosophy that seeks to create profound changes in the way we conceive of and relate to nature.
Three meanings of the term ‘deep ecology’
The term ‘deep ecology’ has been used in three main ways. First, it refers to a deep questioning about environmental issues. It probes the fundamental causes of environmental problems and the underlying worldview of environmental policies. In this it follows the view of historian Lynn White, who argued that environmental problems are rooted in religious worldviews and that real solutions must involve a change at that fundamental level. Assumptions about the value of nature and the relationship between humans and the natural world, for instance, shape the way we view and interact with nature. Deep ecology is “deep” because it reflects critically on those fundamental assumptions. In this sense, deep ecology refers to any environmental philosophy that critiques deep-seated worldviews and proposes a radical alternative.
Second, deep ecology refers to a platform, first formulated as eight principles by Arne Naess and George Sessions in 1984. Those principles are as follows:
1. The well-being and flourishing of human and nonhuman life on Earth have value in themselves (synonyms: intrinsic value, inherent value). These values are independent of the usefulness of the nonhuman 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 substantial decrease of the human population. The flourishing of nonhuman life requires such a decrease.
5. Present human interference with the nonhuman 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 is 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 big and great.
8. Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation directly or indirectly to try to implement the necessary changes.
The intent of this platform is to articulate central views and values that a variety of schools of environmental thought could agree on. Various worldviews, from Buddhism to ecosocialism, could be the foundation of these principles, and the principles could be put into practice in divergent ways. In this sense, deep ecology specifies a common philosophic core while remaining open to a pluralism of worldviews and policies.
The third and most common meaning of the term deep ecology is a philosophy of nature that are in line with this platform but are more specific in their views and values. Deep ecology in this sense refers to the views of environmental philosophers such as Arne Naess and Warwick Fox, in contrast to the views found in ecofeminism and social ecology. This restricted sense of deep ecology is characterized by the following principles:
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