Anthropocentrism
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Anthropocentrism (
Anthropocentrism interprets or regards the world in terms of human values and experiences.
Environmental philosophy
Anthropocentrism, also known as homocentricism or human
One of the first extended philosophical essays addressing environmental ethics, John Passmore's Man's Responsibility for Nature[12] has been criticised by defenders of deep ecology because of its anthropocentrism, often claimed to be constitutive of traditional Western moral thought.[13] Indeed, defenders of anthropocentrism concerned with the ecological crisis contend that the maintenance of a healthy, sustainable environment is necessary for human well-being as opposed to for its own sake. According to William Grey, the problem with a "shallow" viewpoint is not that it is human-centred: "What's wrong with shallow views is not their concern about the well-being of humans, but that they do not really consider enough in what that well-being consists. According to this view, we need to develop an enriched, fortified anthropocentric notion of human interest to replace the dominant short-term, sectional and self-regarding conception."[14] In turn, Plumwood in Environmental Culture: The Ecological Crisis of Reason argued that Grey's anthropocentrism is inadequate.[15]
Many devoted environmentalists encompass a somewhat anthropocentric-based philosophical view supporting the fact that they will argue in favor of saving the environment for the sake of human populations.[16] Grey writes: "We should be concerned to promote a rich, diverse, and vibrant biosphere. Human flourishing may certainly be included as a legitimate part of such a flourishing."[17] Such a concern for human flourishing amidst the flourishing of life as a whole, however, is said to be indistinguishable from that of deep ecology and biocentrism, which has been proposed as both an antithesis of anthropocentrism[18] and as a generalised form of anthropocentrism.[19]
Judaeo-Christian traditions
In the 1985
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
The use of the word "dominion" in the Genesis has been used to justify an anthropocentric worldview, but recently some have found it controversial, viewing it as possibly a mistranslation from the Hebrew.[20] However an argument can be made that the Bible actually places all the importance on God as creator, and humans as merely another part of creation.[21]
Moses Maimonides, a Torah scholar who lived in the twelfth century AD, was renowned for his staunch opposition to anthropocentrism. He referred to humans as "just a drop in the bucket" and asserted that "humans are not the axis of the world". He also claimed that anthropocentric thinking is what leads humans to believe in the existence of evil things in nature. According to Rabbi Norman Lamm, Moses Maimonides "refuted the exaggerated ideas about the importance of man and urged us to abandon these fantasies.[22]
Catholic social teaching sees the pre-eminence of human beings over the rest of creation in terms of service rather than domination. Pope Francis, in his encyclical letter Laudato si' , notes that "an obsession with denying any pre-eminence to the human person" endangers the concern which should be shown to protecting and upholding the welfare of all people, which he argues should rank alongside the "care for our common home" which is the subject of his letter.[23]
Human rights
Anthropocentrism is the grounding for some
Author and anthropocentrism defender Wesley J. Smith from the Discovery Institute has written that human exceptionalism is what gives rise to human duties to each other, the natural world, and to treat animals humanely. Writing in A Rat is a Pig is a Dog is a Boy, a critique of animal rights ideology, "Because we are unquestionably a unique species—the only species capable of even contemplating ethical issues and assuming responsibilities—we uniquely are capable of apprehending the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, proper and improper conduct toward animals. Or to put it more succinctly, if being human isn't what requires us to treat animals humanely, what in the world does?"[25]
Animal rights
Anthropocentrism has been criticised by
Cognitive psychology
In
Anthropocentric thinking has predominantly been studied in young children (mostly up to the age of 10) by
The notion that anthropocentric thinking is an
In popular culture
This article needs attention from an expert in Science Fiction. The specific problem is: Analysis of global fiction and science fiction without neither source nor examples. Needs an expert of Science fiction studies. (November 2016) |
In fiction from all eras and societies, there is fiction depicting the actions of humans to ride, eat, milk, and otherwise treat (non-human) animals as inferior. There are occasional fictional exceptions, such as talking animals as aberrations to the rule distinguishing people from animals.[citation needed]
In
This idea is countered by
Mark Twain mocked the belief in human supremacy in Letters from the Earth (written c. 1909, published 1962).[34]
The Planet of the Apes franchise focuses on the analogy of apes becoming the dominant species in society and the fall of humans (see also human extinction). In the 1968 film, Taylor, a human states "take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!". In the 2001 film, this is contrasted with Attar (a gorilla)'s quote "take your stinking hands off me, you damn dirty human!". This links in with allusions that in becoming the dominant species apes are becoming more like humans (anthropomorphism). In the film Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Virgil, an orangutan states "ape has never killed ape, let alone an ape child. Aldo has killed an ape child. The branch did not break. It was cut with a sword." in reference to planned murder; a stereotypical human concept. Additionally, in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Caesar states "I always think...ape better than human. I see now...how much like them we are."
In George Orwell's novel Animal Farm, this theme of anthropocentrism is also present. Whereas originally the animals planned for liberation from humans and animal equality, as evident from the "seven commandments" such as "whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy", "Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend", "All animals are equal"; the pigs would later abridge the commandments with statements such as "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others", and "Four legs good, two legs better."[citation needed]
The 2012 documentary The Superior Human? systematically analyzes anthropocentrism and concludes that value is fundamentally an opinion, and since life forms naturally value their own traits, most humans are misled to believe that they are actually more valuable than other species. This natural bias, according to the film, combined with a received sense of comfort and an excuse for exploitation of non-humans cause anthropocentrism to remain in society.[35][36][37]
In his 2009 book
See also
- Anthropic principle
- Anthropocene
- Anthropocentric embodied energy analysis
- Carbon chauvinism
- Ecocentrism
- Ecocriticism
- Existentialism
- Great ape personhood
- Great chain of being
- Gynocentrism
- Hot cognition
- Humanism
- Intrinsic value (animal ethics)
- Object-oriented ontology
- Sentiocentrism
- Speciesism
- Technocentrism
- Theocentricism
References
- ISBN 978-3-12-539683-8
- ^ a b Boslaugh SE (2013). "Anthropocentrism". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 29 May 2021.
- ^ "anthropocentrism". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary.
- ^ PhilPapers, Systems Thinking and Universal Dialogue: The Creation of a Noosphere in Today's Era of Globalization, Author-Martha C. Beck, Dialogue and Universalism 23 (3):123-136 (2013)
- ^ "Environmental Ethics, See: 1. Introduction: The Challenge of Environmental Ethics". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
- ^ "Environmental Ethics, See: 1a. Human Beings". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
- ISBN 9780415178778. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
- S2CID 52207763.
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- ^ Plumwood, V. 1993. Feminism and the Mastery of Nature. London: Routledge
- ^ Plumwood, V. 1996. Androcentrism and Anthrocentrism: Parallels and Politics. Ethics and the Environment 1
- ^ Passmore, J. 1974. Man's Responsibility for Nature London: Duckworth
- ^ Routley, R. and V. 1980. 'Human Chauvinism and Environmental Ethics' in Environmental Philosophy (eds) D.S. Mannison, M. McRobbie and R. Routley. Canberra: ANU Research School of Social Sciences: 96-189
- doi:10.1080/00048409312345442. Archived from the original on 2008-07-26. Retrieved 2006-11-12.[dead link]
- ISBN 9780415178778. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
- ISBN 978-83-67405-14-0.
- ^ "The University of Queensland". Archived from the original on 26 July 2008. Retrieved 4 May 2015.[dead link]
- ISBN 0949324264.
- ^ "insurgentdesire.org.uk". Retrieved 4 May 2015.
- S2CID 213322770. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
- S2CID 145211787. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-275-93038-7.
- ^ Pope Francis (2015), Laudato si', paragraph 90, accessed 28 December 2023
- ^ Mortimer J. Adler, The Difference of Man and the Difference It Makes, (New York, Fordham University Press, 1993), p.264.
- ^ A Rat is a Pig is a Dog is a Boy: The Human Cost of the Animal Rights Movement [1], (New York, Encounter Books, 2010), pp. 243-244.
- ^ Gruen, Lori (2017), "The Moral Status of Animals", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2017 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2019-10-14
- ^ a b Moore, J. Howard (1906). The Universal Kinship. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co.
- ^ Pearce, David (2013). "The Antispeciesist Revolution". www.hedweb.com. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
- ^ Mill, John Stuart (1863). Utilitarianism. London: Parker, Son, and Bourn. pp. 91.
- ^ PMID 22949417.
- PMID 27865155.
- PMID 20479241.
- ^ ISSN 1040-9289.
- ^ Mark Twain. "Damned Human Race: Mark Twain". skeptically.org. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
- ^ ""The Superior Human?" Official Movie Website". Retrieved 4 May 2015.
- ^ "Now Online! Debut of New Anti-Speciesist Film, "The Superior Human?" - Dr. Steve Best". Dr. Steve Best. 2012-04-02. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
- ^ "The Superior Human? Who Do We Think We Are?". Psychology Today. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
- ISBN 978-0-316-06990-8.
Further reading
- Bertalanffy, Ludwig Von (1993) General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications pp. 239–48
- Boddice, Rob (ed.) (2011) Anthropocentrism: Humans, Animals, Environments Leiden and Boston: Brill
- ISBN 978-1609806781.
- Kopnina, Helen; et al. (2018). "Anthropocentrism: More than Just a Misunderstood Problem". .
- Piccolo, John J.; Taylor, Bron; Washington, Haydn; Kopnina, Helen; Gray, Joe; Alberro, Heather; Orlikowska, Ewa (2022). ""Nature's contributions to people" and peoples' moral obligations to nature". .
- Seigel, Michael T. (May 2002). Religion, science, and environment. Meeting of the Victorian Medico-Legal Society. ISSN 1030-570X. Archived from the original(PDF) on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-22.
- Watson, Paul (June 2016). "Human Lives Are Not More Important Than Animal Lives".
- White, Lynn Townsend, Jr, "The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis", Science, Vol 155 (Number 3767), 10 March 1967, pp 1203–1207
- Human supremacism: why are animal rights activists still the "orphans of the left"?. New Statesman America. April 30, 2019.
- Human Supremacy: The Source of All Environmental Crises? Psychology Today December 25, 2021