by Patrick Curry
\nJuly 25, 2008, revised August 15, 2008<\/p>\n
The Roots of Deep Ecology<\/p>\n
Left Biocentrism grew out of Deep Ecology,<\/a> which itself was rooted in the growing environmental awareness and struggles of the 1970s. Its roots are thus in activism, not academia. In 1973, however, the Norwegian activist and philosopher Arne Naess<\/a> tried to articulate the theory of deep ecological practice. (Interestingly, in the same year Richard Routley,<\/a> later Richard Sylvan together with Val Plumwood, initiated the field of environmental ethics with another influential paper, Is There a Need for a New, an Environmental Ethic?<\/em>)<\/p>\n Naess began with an important distinction between shallow environmentalism and deep ecology. He pointed out that the former is anthropocentric<\/strong>, or human-centered. In a human-centric view, non-human nature has only ‘instrumental value.’ That is, it has value only insofar as it is useful to human beings or for their purposes. Deep ecology, Naess stated, is in contrast ecocentric<\/strong>; it recognizes the ‘intrinsic value’ of the entire natural world. That insight became the first of eight Platform Principles<\/em><\/a> which Naess, together with Bill Devall and George Sessions, later formulated as the theoretical basis of Deep Ecology.<\/p>\n As well as the different focus, the Platform Principles<\/em><\/a> advocate respecting the richness and diversity of the Earth\u2019s life-forms and argue that human beings have no right to diminish and exploit these for trivial or selfish reasons. But that is just what is happening, so the principles also specify our obligation to reduce our impact on the Earth, particularly through a lower population, less consumption, and more appreciation of the overall quality of life as distinct from economic standard of living.<\/p>\n All Life on Earth<\/p>\n Although the principles make no explicit mention of it, the Earth is clearly the ultimate context for natural value and all life-forms. The term ‘biocentric’ is often used in this connection, although a better one (because more accurate) would be ‘ecocentric’, since inorganic elements are also integral to life. There are fruitful overlaps in this worldview with the work of Aldo Leopold<\/a> on ‘thinking like a mountain’ (as opposed, in Sylvan’s words, to “thinking like like a cash register”). Both Naess and Leopold were major influences on the Earth First!<\/a> movement.<\/p>\n Naess and Sessions also formulated an example of a Deep Ecological theory they called Ecosophy T,<\/strong> with two further principles. These are Self-realization<\/strong> and biocentric egalitarianism<\/strong>. Unfortunately, these two ideas have somewhat overshadowed the original ones, and there are problems with both. The emphasis on supposedly one great Self — certainly the most obvious interpretation — obscures the vital importance of relations of all kinds between different kinds of beings, and whose flourishing requires those differences to be appreciated and respected. (Ecofeminists have been acute critics on this point.) Secondly, biospheric egalitarianism seems to ask us to treat every species, without exception or attention to context, as of equal value. That assumes, implausibly, that value is parcelled out in equal units per species. It is also very difficult, if not impossible, to fully practice. Finally, the language of ‘Self’ sits oddly with Buddhism, by which Naess claims to have been influenced.<\/p>\n [Editor’s note]<\/strong> This point is contentious. Some Left-Biocentrists do not interpret Self-realisation as one great Self, but believe that Naess and Sessions simply were encouraging people to go beyond the ego; also that biocentric egalitarianism refers to the intrinsic value of all species as part of the web of Life (see Suzanne Duarte and Victor, below).<\/em><\/p>\n A much more promising recent offshoot of Deep Ecology and, to some extent, of Left Biocentrism, has been the Earth Manifesto<\/a> developed by Stan Rowe and Ted Mosquin, and published in 2004. (Rowe also produced his own revised short-list of the DE Platform Principles.)<\/p>\n From The Green Web<\/p>\n