The Ecological Citizen: Confronting human supremacy
HOME | ABOUT | SIGN UP FOR EMAILS
What is Deep Ecology? (A definition)
Deep Ecology is an ecological philosophy informed by a concern for all life, and the realization that previous philosophies looked at only human desires when considering the environment. Deep Ecology changes the focus from solely human wants and needs to that of all life. It looked 'deeper' into the processes of life on Earth than had been done previously.
In the early to mid-1980s, Arne Naess developed the powerful Eight Points of Deep Ecology and which anyone interested in Deep Ecology must consult. Since the original version is life centered, or biocentric, in that it considers only the interests of life as opposed to those of the Earth, this version shows the first four points in two forms, the first in the original and the second in an ecocentric form. The last four points of the original are already ecocentric.
Since Deep Ecology was a radical departure from previous philosophies, it had some detractors who badmouthed it, in error, as being misanthropic. In reality, it added all the rest of life to our focus of concern, and did not exclude humans. Slowly, ecocentrism, with its focus on the Earth and all Her life, has developed out of Deep Ecology, and, for many people, succeeded it.
Related content
Aligning with Law: A review of Freya Mathews’s The Dao of Civilization
Book review by Eileen Crist [Vol 7 No 2 2024: 180–4]
ACCESS PDF | MORE DETAILS
Greening education: A multidimensional power struggle
Long article by Antony Allen [Vol 7 No 1 2024: 9–15]
ACCESS PDF | MORE DETAILS
Knowing more and acknowledging others
Long article by Kenneth Shockley [Vol 7 No 1 2024: 27–34]
ACCESS PDF | MORE DETAILS
Developing an ecocentric mind-set through exploration and role-play within online virtual worlds
Reflection by Taylor Hood [Vol 5 No 2 2022: 128–34]
ACCESS PDF | MORE DETAILS
Envisioning a Nietzschean land ethic
Long article by Kaitlyn Creasy [Vol 3 Suppl C 2020: 15–20]
ACCESS PDF | MORE DETAILS
Addressing global insect meltdown
Snapshot by Michael J Samways [Vol 3 Suppl A 2019: 23–6]
ACCESS PDF | MORE DETAILS
The silence of the humpback whale
Long article by Kathleen Dean Moore [Vol 3 Suppl A 2019: 7–11]
ACCESS PDF | MORE DETAILS
De-centring humans from environmental valuation: Introducing the Life Framework of Values
Opinion by Seb O'Connor [Vol 3 No 2 2020: 117–18]
ACCESS PDF | MORE DETAILS
Eating animals: An ecocentric perspective
Long article by Rob Percival [Vol 2 No 1 2018: 33–9]
ACCESS PDF | MORE DETAILS
Ecocentrism: What it means and what it implies
Opinion by Joe Gray et al. [Vol 1 No 2 2018: 130–1]
ACCESS PDF | MORE DETAILS
From wilderness to plastic plants: How might we get back to wildness?
Long article by Helen Kopnina [Vol 1 No 2 2018: 191–7]
ACCESS PDF | MORE DETAILS
The intrinsic value of geodiversity
Opinion by Haydn Washington [Vol 1 No 2 2018: 137]
ACCESS PDF | MORE DETAILS
Reasons for a reduction of humans’ impact on the ecosphere
Opinion by Joe Gray [Vol 1 No 1 2017: 17–18]
ACCESS PDF | MORE DETAILS
Why ecocentrism is the key pathway to sustainability
Long article by Haydn Washington et al. [Vol 1 No 1 2017: 35–41]
ACCESS PDF | MORE DETAILS