Arne Naess Research Articles

Searching for sustainability: interdisciplinary essays in the philosophy of conservation biology

General introduction: an interdisciplinary experiment. Part I. Pragmatism as an Environmental Philosophy: 1. The constancy of Leopold's land ethic 2. Thoreau and Leopold on science and values 3. Integration or reduction: two approaches to environmental values 4. Convergence corroborated: a comment on Arne Naess on wolf policies 5. Pragmatism, adaptive management, and sustainability Part II. Science, Policy, and Policy Science: 6. What is a conservation biologist? 7. Biological resources and endangered species: history, values, and policy 8. Leopold as practical moralist and pragmatic policy analyst 9. Improving ecological communication Part III. Economics and Environmental Sustainability: 10. Sustainability, human welfare, and ecosystem health 11. Economists' preferences and the preferences of economists 12. Evaluating ecosystem states: two competing paradigms 13. The evolution of preferences: Why 'sovereign' preferences may not lead to sustainable policies and what to do about it 14. Sustainability: ecological and economic perspectives Part IV. Scaling Sustainability: Ecology as if Humans Mattered: 15. Context and hierarchy in Aldo Leopold's theory of environmental management 16. Scale and biodiversity: a hierarchical approach 17. Ecological integrity and social values: at what scale 18. Change, constancy, and creativity: the new ecology and some old problems 19. Democracy and sense of place values Part V. Some Elements of a Philosophy of Sustainable Living: 20. Caring for nature: a broader look at animal stewardship 21. Can there be a universal earth ethic? Reflections on the earth charter 22. Intergenerational equity and sustainability Part VI. Valuing Sustainability: Toward a More Comprehensive Approach to Environmental Evaluation: 23. Commodity, amenity, and morality: the limits of quantification in valuing biodiversity 24. The cultural approach to conservation biology 25. Evaluation and ecosystem management: new directions needed? 26. What do we owe the future? An argument for introducing wolves into Adirondack Park 27. Environmental values and adaptive management.

Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered

The theory of deep ecology has had a profound effect on many environmental political movements over the past generation. While this notion was first advanced by Arne Naess in Western Europe, deep ecology found its broadest and most influential popularization, especially in North America, in the work of Bill Devall and George Sessions. Their 1985 work, Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered , outlines their vision of deep ecology, and it is an important source for anyone interested in the ethics and politics of deep ecology.

ARNE NAESS, VAL PLUMWOOD, AND DEEP ECOLOGICAL SUBJECTIVITYA CONTRIBUTION TO THE ?DEEP ECOLOGY-ECOFEMINISM DEBATE?

Karen Warren's recent essay, Ecofeminist Philosophy and Deep Ecology, begins by noting that the philosophical positions found under the heading are anything but monolithic. This point, which has been overlooked by deep ecologists as often as by others, is crucial for those who are interested in the ecology-ecofeminism debate, for just as one must specify which of the ecofeminisms are in question, so too one must be clear about which of the deep ecologies is being debated, if one is to make one's way through the complex relationships between them. In the course of her article, Warren recounts with approval Val Plumwood's Nature, Self and Gender: Feminism, Environmental Philosophy, and the Critique of Rationalism, an essay which locates, discusses, and critiques three versions of the self that various deep ecologists offer. In light of Plumwood's comments, Warren argues that the work of Arne Naess differs significantly from other deep ecologists such that Naess' deep ecology position is or could be compatible with ecofeminism (Warren 1999, 255).

Arne Naess, Val Plumwood, and Deep Ecological Subjectivity: A Contribution to the "Deep Ecology-Ecofeminism Debate"

Arne Naess, Val Plumwood, and Deep Ecological Subjectivity: A Contribution to the "Deep Ecology-Ecofeminism Debate"

Arne Naess on Deep Ecology and Ethics

Arne Naess on Deep Ecology and Ethics

THE VARIETIES OF NATURE EXPERIENCE

AbstractThis paper focuses on the assertion of the Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess (1989: 20) that "ethics follow from how we experience the world." I discuss what the statement might mean when applied to Naessian Deep Ecology. There follows a discussion of the close cohesion between experience and practice in Naessian thought. I attend to Naess's descriptions of the relationship between mystical nature experience and "ecological enlightenment," in which he suggests that an intense union with nature will lead the experiencing individual to enact Deep Ecological thought, as Naess formulates it. I seek to amplify the definition of mystical nature experience with reference to William James's The Varieties of Religious Experience, and particularly to James's assertions about the effects of religious experience on individual action. Naess (1986: 225-239) has cited James's work as a significant influence on his understanding of the terms "self" and "experience." Is Naess advocating a need to reeducate people to experience nature, in the hope that environmental awareness will increase accordingly? What experience of nature would inspire an environmental ethic? I conclude by arguing that Naess's reformative agenda stands in a complex relationship to the emphasis on individual, mystical nature experience as the catalyst to "ecological enlightenment." This complexity has not been satisfactorily resolved within Naessian Deep Ecology.

Book Review: Philosophical Dialogues: Arne Naess and the Progress of Ecophilosophy

Book Review: Philosophical Dialogues: Arne Naess and the Progress of Ecophilosophy

Avalanches and Snowballs A Reply to Arne Naess

Avalanches and Snowballs A Reply to Arne Naess

Ecoforestry. The Art and Science of Sustainable Forest Use

Ecoforestry focuses on the new paradigm in forestry -- the philosophy, goals, policies, and practices of ecologically and economically sustainable forest use -- including ecoforestry principles and practices; forest ecosystem components and restoration; wood and forest products certification; and current ecoforestry practitioners and techniques. Contributors include James Agee, Herb Hammond, Chris Maser, Nancy Turner, Arne Naess and Gary Snyder.

Gandhi, Deep Ecology, Peace Research And Buddhist Economics

The central importance of Gandhi to nonviolent activism is widely acknowledged. There are also other significant peace-related bodies of knowledge that have gained such popularity in the West in the relatively recent past that they have changed the directions of thought and have been important in encouraging social movements - yet they have not been analysed in terms of antecedents, especially Gandhian ones. The new environmentalism in the form of deep ecology, the discipline of peace research and what has become known as `Buddhist economics' very closely mirror Gandhi's philosophy. This article analyses the Mahatma's contribution to the intellectual development of three leading figures in these fields: Arne Naess, Johan Galtung and E. F. Schumacher and argues that those who want to make an informed study of deep ecology, peace research or Buddhist economics, and particularly those who are interested in the philosophy of Naess, Galtung or Schumacher, should go back to Gandhi for a fuller picture.

Poverty, Puritanism and Environmental Conflict

The paper proposes two ideas: (1) The wilderness preservation movement has failed to identify key elements involved in situations of environmental conflict. (2) The same movement seems unaware of its location within a tradition which is both elitist and Puritan. Holmes Rolston's recent work on the apparent conflict between feeding people and saving nature appears to exemplify the two points. With respect to point (1), Rolston's treatment fails to address the institutional and structural features which set the agenda for individual human lives. The human ecology of environmental destruction cannot ignore the role of corporate actors such as banks, national governments, transnational corporations, trade unions and so on. These agents interact with each other in various ways and also have an internal structure – perhaps akin to Arthur Koestler's conception of the holarchy - which enables people working within them to avoid taking responsibility for policies that have damaging environmental consequences. As far as thesis (2) is concerned, Rolston's work shares common features with Arne Naess's deep ecology and Aldo Leopold's land ethic. All of these writers draw, perhaps unconsciously, on a tradition of sporting elitism associated with the Great White Hunter. One variety of this tradition combines elitism with a form of Puritanism

Poverty, Puritanism and Environmental Conflict

The paper proposes two ideas: (1) The wilderness preservation movement has failed to identify key elements involved in situations of environmental conflict. (2) The same movement seems unaware of its location within a tradition which is both elitist and Puritan. Holmes Rolston's recent work on the apparent conflict between feeding people and saving nature appears to exemplify the two points. With respect to point (1), Rolston's treatment fails to address the institutional and structural features which set the agenda for individual human lives. The human ecology of environmental destruction cannot ignore the role of corporate actors such as banks, national governments, transnational corporations, trade unions and so on. These agents interact with each other in various ways and also have an internal structure – perhaps akin to Arthur Koestler's conception of the holarchy - which enables people working within them to avoid taking responsibility for policies that have damaging environmental consequences. As far as thesis (2) is concerned, Rolston's work shares common features with Arne Naess's deep ecology and Aldo Leopold's land ethic. All of these writers draw, perhaps unconsciously, on a tradition of sporting elitism associated with the Great White Hunter. One variety of this tradition combines elitism with a form of Puritanism

The Dream of the Biocentric Community and the Structure of Utopias1

AbstractThis paper examines the ideal of community as imagined by Arne Naess and the Deep Ecology Movement. In particular the authors address such questions as: Is pluralism of lifestyles reconcilable with the main ideas of the biocentric community? Is liberal justice possible within it? And how realistic is the proposal of education towards a 'biocentric identity'? The analysis shows that, while the deep ecological vision is by no means 'fascist' as some of its critics insist, its inconsistencies, silences and omissions point to an incomplete project which has a dystopian conclusion written into its scenario.

Arne Naess and the Norwegian Nature Tradition

AbstractThe current debate on the sources, meaning and implications of Arne Naess's Deep Ecology often refers to Spinoza, Gandhi and Socrates as the main inspirations of his vision. This essay explores the less familiar, Norwegian sources of Næss's thought and its rootedness in the Scandinavian Enlightenment. The context of the native tradition illuminates both the underlying central values of Deep Ecology - and its famous inconsistencies.

The interconnected universe: conceptual foundations of transdisciplinary unified theory

This book offers an original hypothesis capable of unifying evolution in the physical universe with evolution in biology; herewith it lays the conceptual foundations of “transdisciplinary unified theory”. The rationale for the hypothesis is presented first; then the theoretical framework is outlined, and thereafter it is explored in regard to quantum physics, physical cosmology, micro- and macro-biology, and the cognitive sciences (neurophysiology, psychology, with attention to anomalous phenomena as well). The book closes with a variety of studies, both by the author and his collaborators, sketching out the implications of the hypothesis in regard to brain dynamics, cosmology, the concept of space, phenomena of creativity, and the prospects for the elaboration of a mature transdisciplinary unified theory. The Foreword is written by philosopher of science Arne Naess, and the Afterword is contributed by neuroscientist Karl Pribram.

A state of mind like water: Ecosophy T and the Buddhist traditions

Arne Naess has come under many influences, most notably Gandhi and Spinoza. The Buddhist influence on his work, though less pervasive, provides the most direct account of key deep ecological concepts such as Self‐realization and intrinsic value. I read Ecosophy T as a rigorously phenomenological branch of Deep Ecology. like early Buddhism, Naess responds to the human suffering that causes environmental destruction by challenging us to return to the reality of lived experience. This Buddhist reading clarifies, but it also complicates. It reaffirms Naess's essential vision, but it challenges him at two points: first, to affirm that Self‐realization is a process of co‐realization with all beings, not just with sentient beings. Second, while this reading accepts that humans do not create the value of nature, it questions whether its value is best expressed in terms of the ‘intrinsic value’ of radical environmental ethicists.

Callicott and Naess on pluralism

J. Baird Callicott has thrown down the gauntlet once again in the monism‐pluralism debate in environmental ethics. In a recent article he argues that his ‘communitarianism’ (combined with a limited intertheoretic pluralism) is sufficient to get the advantages of pluralism advocated by his critics, while at the same time retaining the framework of moral monism. Callicott's attempt to set the record straight on the monism‐pluralism debate has once again derailed us from answering the most important question in this discussion: how do we achieve a compatibilism among ethical theories which will inform better environmental practices? But if Callicott got it wrong, then who is getting it right? Arne Naess, whose work has heretofore been excluded from the mainstream discussion of this issue, has all along understood the heart of the monism‐pluralism question. This paper updates the current state of the monism‐pluralism debate, provides an answer to Callicott's latest challenge, and advances the thesis that all ...

Bhagavadgītā, Ecosophy T, and deep ecology

This article analyses the influence of Hinduism on Ecosophy T. Arne Naess in several of his environmental writings quotes verse 6.29 of the Bhagavadgitā, a Hindu sacred text. The verse is understood to illustrate the close relationship between the ideas of oneness of all living beings, non‐injury and self‐realization. The article compares the interpretations of the verse of some of the most important Hindu commentators on the Bhagavadgitā with the environmentalist interpretation. There is no agreement in the history of the Hindu tradition on the meaning of the verse. The interpretation of Ecosophy T contrasts sharply with the interpretations of the Hindu monastic traditions but has similarities with the twentieth‐century social activist interpretations of Mohandas K. Gandhi and S. Radhakrishnan. In Ecosophy T aspects of this social activist version of Hinduism have been creatively reinterpreted in the context of contemporary environmentalism.

How wide is deep ecology?

Arne Naess's ‘rules of Gandhian nonviolence’ might usefully be applied to recent debates in ecophilosophy. The ‘radical ecologies’ have increasingly been depicted as mutually exclusive alternatives lacking any common ground, and many of the hostile and antagonistic attitudes that Naess cautions against have become prevalent. Naess suggests, however, that fundamental differences concerning theory and practice can coexist with a respect for one's opponents, an openness to the views of others, and a commitment to cooperation in the pursuit of mutually held goals. I raise questions about the scope of deep ecology in the light of Naess's non‐ideological, ‘deep questioning’ approach. First, I ask whether an expanded consideration of the social institutional implications of deep ecology would not increase its depth, relevance, and appeal to proponents of other ecologies. Second, I pose the question of whether certain tendencies to define deep ecology in stark opposition to other ecophilosophies have not impeded ...

The Green Reader : Essays Toward a Sustainable Society

Review: The Green Reader: Essays toward a Sustainable Society Edited by Andrew Dobson Reviewed by Jeroen H.N. Broeders Institute of Economic Geography Dobson, Andrew, editor. THE GREEN READER: ESSAYS TOWARD A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY. San Francisco: Mercury House, 1991. 280 pp. US $11.95 Paper ISBN: 1-56279-010-2. Recycled, acid-free paper. THE GREEN READER: ESSAYS TOWARD A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY is an anthology of excerpts from well-known Green books and articles. I began reading it with scepticism, not convinced such a collection of previously published material was necessary. Ultimately, however, my mistrust proved unjustified. The editor, Andrew Dobson, a teacher at the University of Keele in the United Kingdom, presents an overview of what you might call 'Green Thinking.' The book includes pieces from such seminal works as SILENT SPRING, LIMITS TO GROWTH and SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL. In addition, it contains excerpts from articles and books by lesser reknown, but probably more fundamental authors such as the American economist Herman Daly, the Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess, and Garrett 'Tragedy of the Commons' Hardin. With such varied selections, Dobson has successfully represented a wide-range of environmentalist thought. When compiling the THE GREEN READER, Dobson no doubt faced the problem of structure. His solution was to group the various pieces thematically (i.e., The Green Critique, The Green Society, Green Economics, Green Political Strategies, and Green Philosophy). Unfortunately, the result seems awkward, due to the interdisciplinary and all-embracing nature of many of the contributions. In the end, there is too much overlap between the different themes. This is only a minor point of criticism, however, and it is easily compensated by the quality of each piece's introduction where Dobson points out its relevance to and context within the overall collection. Quite frankly, the introductions alone are sufficient reason to buy the book. To whom could this book be useful? It is of no use whatsoever to