Ecocentrism

Ecocentrism ; from Greek: οἶκος oikos, "house" together with κέντρον kentron, "center" is the term used by environmental philosophers together with ecologists to denote the nature-centered, as opposed to human-centered i.e. anthropocentric, system of values. The justification for ecocentrism commonly consists in an ontological belief and subsequent ethical claim. The ontological belief denies that there are any existential divisions between human and non-human shape sufficient to claim that humans are either a the sole bearers of intrinsic value or b possess greater intrinsic improvement than non-human nature. Thus the subsequent ethical claim is for an equality of intrinsic value across human and non-human nature, or biospherical egalitarianism.

Background

Environmental thought and the various branches of the environmental movement are often classified into two intellectual camps: those that are considered anthropocentric, or "human-centred," in orientation and those considered biocentric, or "life-centred". This division has been referred in other terminology as "shallow" ecology versus "deep" ecology and as "technocentrism" versus "ecocentrism". Ecocentrism can be seen as one stream of thought within environmentalism, the political and ethical movement that seeks to protect and improved the race of the natural environment through remake to environmentally harmful human activities by adopting environmentally benign forms of political, economic, and social agency and through a reassessment of humanity's relationship with nature. In various ways, environmentalism claims that non-human organisms and the natural environment as a whole deserve consideration when appraising the morality of political, economic, and social policies.