Environmental philosophy

Environmental philosophy is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with the natural environment and humans' place within it. Environmental philosophy includes environmental ethics, environmental aesthetics, ecofeminism and environmental theology. Some of the main areas of interest for environmental philosophers are:

• Defining environment and nature
• How to value the environment
• Moral status of animals and plants
• Endangered species
• Environmentalism and Deep Ecology
• Aesthetic value of nature
• Restoration of nature
• Consideration of future generations

Contemporary Issues

• Overfished oceans
• Pesticides in ground and water
• Ozone holes
• Rising extinction rates
• Deforestation
• Pollutants in atmosphere (Such as Carbon-Dioxide)

Modern History

Environmental Philosophy re-emerged as a major social movement in the 1970s. The movement was an attempt to connect with humanity's sense of alienation from nature in a continuing fashion throughout history. The movement created a divide between the body of writing that is fairly professional; objective, theoretical and academic in nature. This contrasts with a more spiritual and political concern. Environmental Philosophy encompasses each of these positions in the overall study and acknowledgement of the craft.

Deep Ecology Movement

In 1984, George Sessions and Arne Naess articulated the principles of the new Deep Ecology Movement. These basic principles:

• The well-being and flourishing of human and non human life have value
• Richness and diversity of life forms contribute to the realization of these values and are also values in themselves.
• Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to satisfy vital needs.
• The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease in the human population.
• Present human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive, and the situation is rapidly worsening.
• 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.
• 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.
• Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation directly or indirectly to try to implement the necessary changes.

See also

• List of environmental philosophers
• Natural philosophy

Further reading

• Armstrong, Susan, Richard Botzler. Environmental Ethics: Divergence and Convergence, McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York, New York.
• DesJardins, Joseph R., Environmental Ethics Wadsworth Publishing Company, ITP, An International Thomson Publishing Company, Belmont, California. A Division of Wadsworth, Inc.
• Derr, Patrick, G, Edward McNamara, 2003. Case Studies in Environmental Ethics, Bowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, Lanham, Maryland 20706 isbn = 0-7425-3136-8
• Devall, W. and G. Sessions. 1985. Deep Ecology: Living As if Nature Mattered, Salt Lake City: Gibbs M. Smith, Inc.
• Foltz, Bruce V., Robert Frodeman. 2004. Rethinking Nature, Indiana University Press, 601 North Morton Street, Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 isbn = 0-253-21702-4
• Mannison, D., M. McRobbie, and R. Routley (ed), 1980. Environmental Philosophy, Australian National University
• Næss, A. 1989. Ecology, Community and Lifestyle: Outline of an Ecosophy, Translated by D. Rothenberg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Pojman, Louis P., Paul Pojman. Environmental Ethics, Thomson-Wadsworth, United States
• Sherer, D., ed, Thomas Attig. 1983. Ethics and the Environment, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632. isbn = 0-13-290163-3
• VanDeVeer, Donald, Christine Pierce. The Environmental Ethics and Policy Book, Wadsworth Publishing Company. An International Thomson Publishing Company
• Zimmerman, Michael E., J. Baird Callicott, George Sessions, Karen J. Warren, John Clark. 1993. Environmental Philosophy: From Animal Rights to Radical Ecology, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632 isbn = 0-13-666959-X
• Weston, 1999. "An Invitation to Environmental Philosophy," Oxford University Press, New York, New York.