Darwin and Deep Ecology

Abstract

This essay explores connections between Charles Darwin’s thinking and the writings of theorists in the deep ecology movement. It begins by placing Darwin’s thought in the context of Western attempts to reject teleological descriptions of nature. It then shows that while some authors cite Darwin’s naturalistic view of human origins as a positive contribution to deep ecological thought, the fact that his work also helped eliminate teleological explanations of natural phenomena is problematic for non-anthropocentric environmental ethics. Because of this, the argument is made that the significance of Darwin’s work for deep ecology theorists is not simply that it views humans as a part of nature, but that it asserts a basic continuity between humans and other living things. The essay concludes by suggesting that an outlook grounded in a Darwinian sense of continuity does not necessarily issue in a strictly bio-centric understanding of nature’s value. Upon first encountering the writings of deep ecology theorists, people are sometimes surprised to learn that, despite its moniker, deep ecology is not a branch of the natural sciences. It is, rather, a branch of the environmental movement that was formally introduced to the English-speaking world by Arne Naess in his essay “The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movement: A Summary” (Naess 1973). Naess’s goal in this article was, as its title indicates, to contrast more conventional, “shallow” approaches to environmental issues with a new and ostensibly “deeper” perspective that some environmentalists had been expressing. He did not intend, however, to suggest that this emerging perspective was directly associated with or derived from the scientific study of natural systems.