Does Life on Earth have an overall significance of its own, is life entitled to moral considerability? What would a non-human centered worldview look like, an ecocentric worldview? Opposite a life centered world view is an anthropocentric world-view, resting upon the notion that “only one species occupies the moral universe – humans – while the rest of creation lacks any moral consideration.” [129] Humanity lives and primarily sees life through the latter worldview, the vast majority of people believe we are the center of all life, if not the entire universe.

 

The human-induced changes in the natural environment are a clear indication that humanity must begin taking into consideration life-sustaining processes to ensure its own existence. Is it ok for people to think that we are the center of the universe, and earth? Is there not an obligation to us and/or all of life when people’s own actions negatively impact other species and people? Inevitably, humans will have to develop an ecocentric worldview, either through humanity’s precognizant volition, or necessity? Why bother changing at all?

 

An ecocentric world-view (life-centered ethic) follows from the argument that an anthropocentric world-view (human-centered ethic) has led to anthropogenic (human-induced) changes in the global environment that are now threatening the planet’s stability, as well as the life that it supports. Unfortunately, that includes us.

 

An ecocentric world-view is a path that may provide the basis for us to sustain our existence, and life on Earth. It is clear that we are are undeniably dependent on the biosphere and a multitude of millions of individual organisms. Therefore, we should consider the significance of individual organisms and ecosystems, in and for themselves, because we are undeniably bound to them. Accordingly, becoming cognizant of life as “entities possessing inherent worth,” [having overall significance] is critical if homo sapiens seek to exist longer than 50,000 years, and that’s only if we live another 10,000 years as homo sapiens. We may be the crown of the antrohopocene.

 

James Nash, author of Loving Nature, states that “two polarities must be preserved in creative tension for an adequate ecological ethic.”[131]  Each pole recognizes a different end of the spectrum.  He states that “at one pole, an ecological ethic must posit respect for individual lives, not simply aggregates like species.”[132]  At the other end, an “ecological ethic must be holistic, concerned about collective connections.”[133]

 

In any case, an ecological ethic, the extension of moral considerability does not require that life carry “the same moral significance.”[134]  Although all life is considered significant as an evolutionary expression, it “does not ipso facto mean [that all life possesses] equal intrinsic value [significance].”[135]  Further distinctions are made.

 

Although an ecosystem is a collection of various living organisms that have their own overall significance, an ecosystem also has a significance that is separate from the aggregated interests of individual organisms.

 

The ecosystem, although it is sustained by individual organisms, helps to maintain the flow of energy through the entire system, the evolution of which is consequent upon greater diversity and connections throughout earth’s system networks. In sum, ecosystems are living systems that have an organic unity, and although intricately connected to individual organisms, they have their own function and thus, their own value.

 

Although each life has an overall significance of its own, it is important to remember that “a species cannot be a species apart from the individuals or [ecosystems] that constitute it.”[136]  It is also important to take note that species use other species for their survival and that the ecosystem as a whole is dependent upon those relationships, thus imbuing an inherent instrumental value.

 

The final point is that the integrity of the biotic community depends on certain relationships. Although all creatures are entitled to moral consideration it does not legitimize arguments for moral equality.[137]  The integrity of the entire biotic community is sometimes more important than the individual organisms that comprise it. This is one aspect of what Aldo Leopold meant when he stated: “a thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”[138]

 

Although Leopold’s moral concern shifts attention away from individual organisms to the entire biotic community, he judiciously takes into account the ethical consideration of its individual members as an instrincially valuable part of the whole. His view is “preempted by concern for the preservation of the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community,”[139]  thus taking into account the value of individual organisms within the whole. In sum, the overall significance of our natural environment and the extension of our ethical consideration are required if we are to constitute and create an ecocentric worldview, through choice, or inevitably, by necessity.

 

Critical to an ecocentric world-view is an evolutionary perspective. Becoming aware of one’s own place in the evolution of the universe offers life to share a kind of kinship with other living organisms consequent upon transcending non-existence. By so doing, humanity has been able to know people in their current form, homo sapiens, one of the most recent arrivals after hundreds of millions of years of evolution on Earth. Throughout our own evolutionary history, going back 1.2 million years to the Australopethecine, it is clear that at each stage people have been dependent upon other organisms to exist, “establishing a diachronic link between people and non-human nature.”[140]

 

We now know for certain that the Earth is an organic whole of functionally interdependent parts. All of life is linked to the intricate processes that take place in the natural environment; further revealing that “human beings, plants, animals, soils, and waters are all interlocked in one humming community of co-operations and competitions, in one biota.”[141]

 

Individual organisms all have their own means and ends in the divine interplay of life. Subsequently, the fulfillment of our inherent purpose is directly connected to the greater purpose of the whole – to live; a beautiful dance, a symbiosis between both individual species and the communities in which life reside.

 

Consider the world in which you live. We are a part of a vast, evolving universe. We are interdependent with the entire community of life on Earth. The well-being of the biosphere depends upon humans living sustainably: preserving clean air, pure waters, fertile soils, and a diverse landscape of individual organisms and extensive ecosystems; either because humanity chooses to do so, or has to do so.

 

The global environment is our only home and its finite resources must be considered, and when used, used more cautiously to protect the Earth’s diversity, vitality, and beauty. Although there are great benefits that come with science and technology there are also great harms.

 

The recent patterns of human domination and exploitation have led to global climate change, biodiversity loss, soil, and water degradation. As the human population continues to grow the pressures on ecological systems continue to increase.

 

The transition to an ecocentric world-view will require fundamental changes in our attitudes, values, and ways of living, each of us have the choice; one day we may not. We may be required by natural forces to consider respecting the Earth, while rejecting the notion that the natural environment is merely a collection of resources to be used.

We may never fully realize that our environmental, social, and economic problems are inter-linked in such ways that it is naive to think hope remains. However, there is no doubt that all people will one day have to create practical strategies to sustain themselves and, maybe others, they must choose to address the challenges; they’re lives will likely depend on it.

 

Capitivated by the egocentric prospect that is an anthropocentic world-view, humanity’s perceptions of nature continue to change, and evolve with time heterogenously. The advances that have been made in ecology, environmental philosophy, and science are acting as catalysts for change and the transition to an ecocentric world-view is beginning to emerge.

 

World-views are not shaped over night, they emerge with the discovery of new ideas, philosophies, and theories and then slowly become integrated and translated into our everyday lives. Once we make the transition there is no turning back. The power of a world-view is that “its hold over our perception of reality is so overwhelming that we can’t possibly imagine any other way of looking at the world.”[143]

 

As we make the transition from an anthropocentric world-view to an ecocentric world-view it may take generations for our new perceptions to converge in our lives. More importantly, we will have to live in ways that do not continuously negatively affect the global environment. The goal is to become more cognizant and change by choice, rather than as a consequence of necessity. Either way, a paradigmatic shifts often happens in leaps. Humanity will always search for ways to live, and inevitabily they will have to do it more sustainably, continually taking into consideration the negative implications of their actions. If humanity chooses not to change rapidly enough, the fate of their own existence remains in question.

 

At a time when the population is beyond the Earth’s carrying capacity; Earth’s temperature is continually rising above its average. Furthermore, the Earth’s biological diversity is disappearing at a rate of about 140 species a day. When soil and water are both being degraded and polluted in irreparable ways, it is difficult to think that we can actually come up with the solutions to resolve these complex problems without millions upon millions of people suffering life as death.

 

As we embark on the journey through a new century, no challenge looms larger than that of changing the fundamental ways that we act upon and perceive life on Earth. Changing our perceptions is pertinent, as well as becoming aware of the roots of the ecological crisis. As we understand the changes that are occurring in the global environment consequent on the relationship between our individual and collective actions, a new world-view is the key step toward resolving the inherent dilemma in humanity, the paradox of existing in the midst of life.

 

Humanity must see that it is paramount that it continue to develop the policies, plans, and act to undertake the challenges of this human created crisis but, each must be done within new frameworks, guided by realistic new world views. If humanity does not change its perspective of the world it will inevitably confront its temporal nature, and its own perpetual existence will be undermined. It is apparent that choice conflicts with a human centered wordview. If one is undermining existence by existing, and then fails to recognize it, then their human centered view is simply a castle in the sand waiting to be washed into sea.

 

The ecological dilemma is a crisis of perceptions and values deeply embedded in human history and culture. It is a crisis that rests on the belief that we are above or superior to the rest of nature, and it is undoubtedly the single largest threat to the environment and human security in the 21st Century. The choice has to be made, it has to be made quickly, if we have any respect for life at all.

 

– Matthew W. King, Ph.D.

 

Bibliography: (The essay drew upon each of the identified sources, but all are not quoted directly in it, as it is a part of a larger work in progress).

[1] Middleton, Nick; The Global Casino: An Introduction to Environmental Issues, 2nd Edition, Arnold Publishers, 1999, The Glossary was used to develop general definitions for the terms used throughout this thesis, Pages 323-327.

[2] Fox, Warwick; Toward a Transpersonal Ecology: Developing New Foundations for Environmentalism, Shambhala Publications Inc., Boston & London, 1990, Page 5

[3] Bateson, Gregory; Steps to an Ecology of Mind, Random House, New York, 1972, Page 472

[4] Tucker, Mary Evelyn; Grim, John A., ed.; Worldviews and Ecology: Religion, Philosophy, and the Environment; Orbis Books, New York, 1994, Page 32

[5] Attfield, Robin & Belsey, Andrew; “Philosophy and the Natural Environment,” Supplement to Philosophy, Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement: 36, Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 1994, Page 104

[6] Fox; 1990, Page 11

[7] Zimmerman, Michael E., ed.; Environmental Philosophy: From Animal Rights to Radical Ecology, 2nd Edition, Prentice-Hall, 1998, Page 118

[8] Elliott, Herschel; “A Special Section for Correspondence and Controversy: The Absurdity of a Human-Centered Ethics” Population and Environment: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies; Volume 17, Number 5, May 1996, Human Sciences Press, Inc., 1996, Page 427

[9] Devall, Bill & Sessions, George; Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered, Peregrine Smith Books, 1985, Page 66

[10] Nash, Roderick F.; The Rights of Nature: A History of Environmental Ethics, The University of Wisconsin Press, 1989, Page 17

[11] Nash, Roderick; 1989, Page 17

[12] Capra, Fritjof; The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems, Published by Anchor Books, Doubleday, 1997, Page 7

[13] Zimmerman; 1998, Page 4

[14] Zimmerman; 1998, Page 80

[15] Zimmerman; 1998, Page 81

[16] Myers, Norman; Ultimate Security: The Environmental Basis of Political Stability, W.W. Norton and Company, 1993, Page 152

[17] Ehrlich, Paul & Anne; “The Population Explosion: Why we should care and what we should do about it.” Environmental Law Journal, Winter, 1997, v27 n4, p1187-1208

[18] Swimme, Brian & Berry, Thomas; The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era, A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos, Penguin Books, 1992, Page 200-201

[19] The Worldwatch Institute; Vital Signs: The Environmental Trends that are Shaping our Future, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1999, Page 99

[20] Wilson, Edward; Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, Vintage Books, 1999, Page 306

[21] International Herald Tribune; Africa’s War Business, Monday, August 9, 1999, Page 8

[22] Nash, James A.; Loving Nature: Ecological Integrity and Christian Responsibility, Abingdon Press, 1992, Page 46

[23] O’Mahony, John; Agencies Fear Debt May Lead to Deaths Rise in Poorer Children; Third World Crippled by High Debt Repayments, The Examiner, Thursday, August 5, 1999

[24] O’Mahony, John; Agencies Fear Debt May Lead to Deaths Rise in Poorer Children; Third World Crippled by High Debt Repayments, The Examiner, Thursday, August 5, 1999

[25] International Herald Tribune; Africa’s War Business, Monday, August 9, 1999, Page 8

[26] International Herald Tribune; Africa’s War Business, Monday, August 9, 1999, Page 8

[27] The disparities that exist between the Western World and the Third World are outlined in great detail in Ben Jackson’s Poverty and the Planet: A Question of Survival, Penguin Books, 1994. I would recommend consulting this reading for further information.

[28] Myers; 1993, Page 157

[29] Wilson; 1999, Page 308

[30] O’Mahony, John; Agencies Fear Debt May Lead to Deaths Rise in Poorer Children; Third World Crippled by High Debt Repayments, The Examiner, Thursday, August 5, 1999

[31] Rasmussen, Larry L.; Earth Community Earth Ethic, Orbis Books, 1998, Page 39

[32] Brown, Lester & Halweil, Brian; The Billion Mark Should Be a Sobering Feat for India, International Herald Tribune, Wednesday, August 11, 1999, Page 6

[33] Nash, James; 1992, Page 46

[34] Callenbach, Ernest; Ecology: A Pocket Guide, University of California Press, 1998, Page 7

[35] Middleton; 1999, Page 151

[36] Middleton; 1999, Page 7

[37] Nash, James; 1992, Page 32

[38] Orr, David W.; Ecological Literacy: Education and the Transition to a Postmodern World, State University of New York Press, 1992, Page 49

[39] Myers; 1993, Page 171

[40] The Worldwatch Institute; Vital Signs, 1999, Page 58

[41] The Worldwatch Institute; Vital Signs, 1999, Page 58

[42] Rivers, Patrick; The Stolen Future: How to Rescue the Earth for our Children, Green Print, 1988, Page 5

[43] Anderson, Walter Truett; Evolution Isn’t What it Used to Be: The Augmented Animal and the Whole Wired World, W.H. Freeman & Company, 1996, Page 155

[44] Orr; 1992, Page 50

[45] Tuxhill, John; “Losing Strands in the Web of Life: Vertebrate Declines and the Conservation of Biological Diversity,” World Watch Paper 141, May 1998, Page 9

[46] Soil & Water Conservation Society; Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, May-June 1996, v51 n3 Page 204

[47] Aldo Leopold Chapter Society for Conservation Biology; http://www.ies.wisc.edu/partners/alc-scb/wiscbiod/BIOD-DEF.HTM

[48] Ryan, John C.; “Life Support: Conserving Biological Diversity,” World Watch Paper 108, World Watch Institute, April 1992, Page 5

[49] Reaka-Kudla, Majorie; Wilson, Don E.; & Wilson, Edward O.; Lovejoy, Thomas E.; “Biodiversity: What Is It?”  Biodiversity II: Understanding and Protecting Our Biological Resources, Joseph Henry Press, 1997, Page 7

[50] Ryan; World Watch Paper 108, April 1992, Page 6

[51] Reaka-Kudla, Wilson, Wilson, Lovejoy; 1997, Page 9-10

[52] Waite, Maurice; The Little Oxford Dictionary, Clarendon Press – Oxford, 1998, Page 202

[53] Callenbach; 1998, Page 40

[54] Ryan; World Watch Paper 108, April 1992, Page 5

[55] Aldo Leopold Chapter Society for Conservation Biology; http://www.ies.wisc.edu/partners/alc-scb/wiscbiod/BD-VALUE.HTM

[56] Tuxhill; World Watch Paper 141, May 1998, Page 10

[57] Barlow, Connie; Evolution Extended: Biological Debates on the Meaning of Life, Wilson, Edward; “Biological Diversity as the Scale of Progress,” MIT Press, 1995, Page 29

[58] Callenbach; 1998, Page 58

[59] Callenbach; 1998, Page 106-107

[60] Leopold, Aldo; A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There, Oxford University Press, 1989, Page 216

[61] Roberts, J.M.; A Short History of the World, Oxford University Press, 1997, Page 22

[62] Roberts; 1997, Page 338-339

[63] Brown, Lester; Flavin, Christopher; French, Hilary & the Staff of the World Watch Institute; The State of the World, A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress Toward a Sustainable Society, W.W. Norton & Company, 1999, Page 116

[64] Brown, Flavin, French, & the Staff of the World Watch Institute; 1999, Page 116

[65] Orr; 1992, Page 51

[66] Middleton; 1999, Page 59

[67] Middleton; 1999, Page 62-65

[68] Middleton; 1999, Page 48-50

[69] McDaniel, Jay B.; Earth, Sky, Gods & Mortals: Developing an Ecological Spirituality, Twenty-Third Publications, 1990, Page 95

[70] Jackson, Ben & the World Development Movement; Poverty and the Planet; A Question of Survival, Penguin Books, 1994, Page 39

[71] Reaka-Kudla, Wilson, Wilson, Lovejoy; 1997, Page 8

[72] Callenbach; 1998, Page 132-133

[73] Middleton; 1999, Page 103

[74] Brown, Flavin, French, & the Staff of the World Watch Institute; 1999, Page 83

[75] Brown, Flavin, French, & the Staff of the World Watch Institute; 1999, Page 80

[76] Brown, Flavin, French, & the Staff of the World Watch Institute; 1999, Page 85

[77] Middleton; 1999, Page 104

[78] Middleton; 1999, Page 113

[79] Middleton; 1999, Page 87

[80] Middleton; 1999, Page 91

[81] Fox; 1990, Page 7

[82] Flynn, Eileen P.; Cradled in Human Hands: A Textbook on Environmental Responsibility, Sheed & Ward Publishers, 1991, Page 43

[83] Flynn; 1991, Page 47

[84] Leopold; 1989, Page 203-204

[85] Flynn; 1991, Page 50

[86] Fox; 1990, Page 5

[87] Tucker & Grim, ed.; 1994, Page 37

[88] Tucker & Grim, ed.; 1994, Page 166

[89] Leopold; 1949, Page 204

[90] Tucker & Grim, ed.; 1994, Page 207

[91] Tucker & Grim, ed.; 1994, Page 35

[92] Tucker & Grim, ed.; 1994, Page 191

[93] Zimmerman; 1998, Page 113

[94] Capra; 1997, Page 6

[95] Zimmerman; 1998, Page 78

[96] Tucker & Grim, ed.; 1994, Page 211

[97] Zimmerman; 1998, Page 3

[98]Tucker & Grim, ed.; 1994, Page 192

[99] Zimmerman; 1998, Page 14

[100] Zimmerman; 1998, Page 13

[101] Barlow, e.; 1995, Page 172

[102] Committee on Geological Sciences, Division of Earth Sciences, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences; The Earth and Human Affairs, Canfield Press, San Francisco, 1972, Page 22

[103] Grant, Verne; The Evolutionary Process: A Critical Review of Evolutionary Theory, Columbia University Press, New York, 1985, Page 275

[104] Clark, Arnold M.; Understanding Science Through Evolution: A Humanist Approach, Charles C. Thomas Publishers, 1987, Page 125

[105] Committee on Geological Sciences, Division of Earth Sciences, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences; The Earth and Human Affairs, Canfield Press, San Francisco, 1972, Page 43-44

[106] Committee on Geological Sciences, Division of Earth Sciences, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences; The Earth and Human Affairs, Canfield Press, San Francisco, 1972, Page 24

[107] Barlow, ed.; 1995, Page 172

[108] Barlow, ed.; 1995, Page 172

[109] Barlow, ed.; 1995, Page 143

[110] Callenbach; 1998, Page 40

[111] Waite, ed.; 1998, Page 475

[112] Eldredge, Niles; Life in the Balance: Humanity and the Biodiversity Crisis, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 1998, Page 50

[113] Rifkin; 1989, Page 20

[114] Rifkin; 1989, Page 20

[115] Rifkin; 1989, Page 22

[116] Rifkin; 1989, Page 53

[117] Rifkin; 1989, Page 53

[118] Callenbach; 1998, Page 43-44

[119] Zimmerman; 1998, Page 77-78

[120] Zimmerman; 1998, Page 78

[121] Rasmussen; 1998, Page 106

[122] Holldobler, Bert & Wilson, Edward O.; Journery to the Ants: A Story of Scientific Exploration, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1995, Page 117

[123] Wade, Nicholas; Leaf-Cutter Ants Invented Farming, International Herald Tribune, Monday, August 9, 1999, Page 9

[124] Holldobler & Wilson; 1995, Page 115

[125] Rasmussen; 1998, Page 106

[126] Wade, Nicholas; Leaf-Cutter Ants Invented Farming, International Herald Tribune, Monday, August 9, 1999, Page 9

[127] Holldobler & Wilson; 1995, Page 112

[128] Holldobler, Bert & Wilson, Edward O.; Journery to the Ants: A Story of Scientific Exploration, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1995, Page 122

[129] Rasmussen; 1998, Page 107

[130] Zimmerman, ed.; 1998, Page 74

[131] Nash, James; 1992, Page 179

[132] Nash, James; 1992, Page 179

[133] Nash, James; 1992, Page 183

[134] Nash, James; 1992, Page 181

[135] Rasmussen; 1998, Page 107

[136] Rasmussen; 1998, Page 107

[137] Rasmussen; 1998, Page 107

[138] Leopold; 1949, Page 224-225

[139] Zimmerman, ed.; 1998, Page 108-109

[140] Zimmerman, ed.; 1998, Page 107

[141] Zimmerman, ed.; 1998, Page 107

[142] Rasmussen; 1998 , Page 19

[143] Rifkin; 1989, Page 19