Question

PHILOSOPHY

Name and elaborate upon a few sources for the deep ecology movement

Answer 1

• Deep ecology is a somewhat recent branch of ecological philosophy (ecosophy) that considers humankind as an integral part of its environment. The philosophy emphasizes the interdependent value of human and non-human life as well as the importance of the ecosystem and natural processes. It provides a foundation for the environmental and green movements and has led to a new system of environmental ethics.
• Deep ecology describes itself as "deep" because it persists in asking deeper questions concerning "why" and "how" and thus is concerned with the fundamental philosophical questions about the impacts of human life as one part of the ecosphere, rather than with a narrow view of ecology as a branch of biological science, and aims to avoid merely anthropocentric environmentalism, which is concerned with conservation of the environment only for exploitation by and for humans purposes, which excludes the fundamental philosophy of deep ecology.
• Deep ecology seeks a more holistic view of the world we live in and seeks to apply to life the understanding that separate parts of the ecosystem (including humans) function as a whole.
  
• Deep Ecologists often find an affinity with Buddhism, Native American spirituality, and Christianity's Saint Francis of Assisi, whose views include the "deep" interconnectedness of all sentient beings and the need to cultivate the spirituality of human beings.
• In their 1985 book Deep Ecology,Bill Devall and George Sessions describe a series of sources of deep ecology. They include the science of ecology itself, and cite its major contribution as the rediscovery in a modern context that "everything is connected to everything else."
• They point out that some ecologists and natural historians, in addition to their scientific viewpoint, have developed a deep ecological consciousness for some a political consciousness and at times a spiritual consciousness.
• A further scientific source for deep ecology adduced by Devall and Sessions is the "new physics," which they describe as shattering Descartes's and Newton's vision of the universe as a machine explainable in terms of simple linear cause and effect, and instead providing a view of Nature in constant flux with the idea that observers are separate an illusion.
• They refer to Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics and The Turning Point for their characterization of how the new physics leads to metaphysical and ecological views of interrelatedness which according to Capra should make deep ecology a framework for future human societies.
• The scientific version of the Gaia hypothesis was also an influence on the development of deep ecology.
• In their book, Devall and Sessions also credit the American poet and social critic Gary Snyder—a man with commitments in Buddhism, Native American studies, the outdoors, and alternative social movements—as a major voice of wisdom in the evolution of their ideas.
• One major stream of thought influencing the development of deep ecology has been the influx of Eastern spiritual traditions into the West which began in the 1950s with the writings of such people as
  Alan Watts' ' and Daisetz Suzuki. Eastern traditions provided a radically different man/nature vision than that of the dominant social paradigm of the West.
• A second stream of thought contributing to deep ecology has been the re-evaluation of Native Americans (and other preliterate peoples) during the 1960s and 1970s. This is not a revival of the Romantic view of Native Americans as "noble savages" but rather an attempt to evaluate traditional religions, philosophies, and social organizations of Native Americans in objective, comparative, analytic, and critical ways.
• A third source of deep ecology is found in the "minority tradition" of Western religious and philosophical traditions.
• A fourth source of reference for the deep ecology movement has been the scientific discipline of ecology. For some ecology is a science of the "home," of the "relationships between," while for others ecology is a perspective.
• A final source of inspiration for the deep, long-range ecology movement is those artists who have tried to maintain a sense of place in their work. Some artists, standing against the tide of midcentury
  pop art, mini-malist art, and conceptual art have shown remarkable clarity and objectivity in their perception of nature.