Deep & Shallow Ecology and the Gaia Hypothesis (Environmental ethics)

Environmental ethics


Deep Ecology

Ecocentric (nature is at the heart, not humanity)
Developed by Arne Naess
Sees humans are one part of a larger structure, we are not special
He calls this understanding of the unity of all things `ecosophy'
This view is related to Aristotle and Aquinas but Aquinas'…

James Lovelock first put forward this hypothesis
It claims the earth is a massive, self regulating biological organism unconcerned with our survival
Individual parts are really part of a bigger single entity (like cogs in a machine), called Gaia
Gaia was the Greek goddess of the Earth
The idea that…