Anthropocentrism (from Greek: άνθρωπος, anthropos, "human being"; and κέντρον, kentron, "center") is the idea that humans are the central concern and that humans must judge all things according to this central concern for humans: Anthropos (the term, like “human”, refers to both men and women) must be considered, looked after and cared for, above all other real, symbolic or imaginary beings.

Contents 1 Environmentalism 2 Christianity 3 Biocentrism 4 References 5 See also

Environmentalism

Anthropocentrism has been posited by some environmentalists, in such books as Confessions of an Eco-Warrior by Dave Foreman and Green Rage by Christopher Manes, as the underlying if unstated reason why humanity dominates and sees the need to "develop" most of the Earth. Environmentalism is a broad philosophy and Social movement centered on a concern for the conservation and improvement of the environment. Confessions of an Eco-Warrior is a book written in 1991 by Dave Foreman. Dave Foreman (born 1947 is a US Environmentalist and co-founder of the radical environmental movement Earth First! Early life and education The Anthropocentrism has been identified by these writers and others as a root cause of the ecological crisis, human overpopulation, and extinctions of many non-human species. Ecology (from Greek grc οἶκος oikos, "house(hold" and grc -λογία -logia) is the scientific study of Overpopulation refers to a condition where an Organism 's numbers exceed the Carrying capacity of its Habitat. In Biology and Ecology, extinction is the cessation of existence of a Species or group of taxa.

Anthropocentrism, or human-centredness, is believed by some to be the central problematic concept in environmental philosophy, where it is used to draw attention to a systematic bias in traditional Western attitudes to the non-human world (Naess 1973). Arne Dekke Eide Næss (born January 27, 1912) is widely regarded as the foremost Norwegian Philosopher of the 20th century and is the founder Val Plumwood (1993, 1996) has argued that anthropocentrism plays an analogous role in green theory to androcentrism in feminist theory and ethnocentrism in anti-racist theory. Androcentrism ( Greek, andro-, "man male" is the practice conscious or otherwise of placing male human beings or the masculine point of view at Ethnocentrism is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own Culture. Plumwood calls human-centredness "anthrocentrism" to emphasise this parallel.

Defenders of anthropocentrist views point out that maintenance of a healthy, sustainable environment is necessary for human well-being as opposed for its own sake. The problem with a "shallow" viewpoint is not that it is human centered but that according to William Grey (1993: 473) "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. "

One of the first extended philosophical essays addressing environmental ethics, John Passmore's Man's Responsibility for Nature has been repeatedly criticised by defenders of deep ecology because of its anthropocentrism, often claimed to be constitutive of traditional Western moral thought (see Routley 1980). John Passmore (1914&ndash2004 was an Australian Philosopher. Passmore was born in Manly, Sydney. Deep ecology is a recent branch of ecological Philosophy ( Ecosophy) that considers Humankind an integral part of its environment.

Christianity

Lynn White sees Christianity as the root of the anthropocentric worldview that has caused environmental degradation. Lynn Townsend White Jr ( April 29 1907 – March 30 1987) was a professor of medieval History at Princeton,

Biocentrism

Biocentrism has been proposed as an antonym of anthropocentrism. Biocentrism (from Greek βίος bio, "life" and κέντρον kentron, "center" is a term that has several meanings but is commonly defined In Lexical semantics, opposites are words that lie in an inherently incompatible binary relationship as in the opposite pairs male: female, long: short

References

• Bertalanffy, General System Theory(1993): 239-48
• Grey, W. 1993. 'Anthropocentrism and Deep Ecology' Australiasian Journal of Philosophy 71: 463-475 [1]
• Naess, A. 1973. 'The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movement' Inquiry 16: 95-100
• Passmore, J. 1974. Man’s Responsibility for Nature London: Duckworth
• 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
• 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
• White, Lynn Townsend, Jr, "The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis", Science, Vol 155 (Number 3767), March 10, 1967, pp 1203-1207 (html copy [2])

See also

Anthropic principle Biocentrism Carbon chauvinism Deep Ecology Ecocentrism Ecofeminism Nationalism Pride Chauvinism

Anthropocentric embodied energy analysis Existentialism Great Ape personhood Gynocentrism Human exceptionalism Speciesism Theocentricism Patriotism

In Physics and Cosmology, the anthropic principle states that humans should take into account the constraints that human existence imposes on the kind of theoretical Biocentrism (from Greek βίος bio, "life" and κέντρον kentron, "center" is a term that has several meanings but is commonly defined Carbon chauvinism is a relatively new term meant to disparage the assumption that Extraterrestrial life will resemble life on Earth Deep ecology is a recent branch of ecological Philosophy ( Ecosophy) that considers Humankind an integral part of its environment. Ecocentrism is a philosophy that recognizes that the Ecosphere, rather than any individual organism is the source and support of all life and as such advises a holistic and Ecofeminism is a social and political movement which attempts to unite Environmentalism and Feminism, with some currents linking Deep ecology and The term nationalism can refer to an Ideology, a sentiment, a form of Culture, or a Social movement that focuses on the Nation Pride is a lofty view of one's self or one's own Pride often manifests itself as a high opinion of one's Nation (national pride Ethnicity (ethnic pride or appearance Chauvinism (ˈʃoʊvɨnɪzəm is extreme and unreasoning Partisanship on behalf of a group to which one belongs especially when the partisanship includes malice and hatred Embodied energy refers to the quantity of energy required to manufacture and supply to the point of use a product material or service Existentialism is a philosophical doctrine which posits that individuals create the meaning and essence of their lives and that this essence follows from their existence Great ape personhood is a movement to create legal recognition of Bonobos Common chimpanzees Gorillas and Orangutans (the non- Human Gynocentrism ( Greek γυνο gyno-, "woman" χεντρον kentron, "center" is the practice conscious or otherwise of placing Human exceptionalism refers to a belief that Human beings have special status in Nature based on their unique capacities Speciesism involves assigning different values or rights to beings on the basis of their Species membership Theocentricism is the belief that God is the central aspect to our existence as opposed to for instance Anthropocentrism (centers upon man or Existentialism Patriotism is commonly defined as love of and/or devotion to one's country

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