Washington, Haydn, Piccolo, John, Gomez-Baggethun, Erik, Kopnina, Helen and Alberro, Heather (2021) The Trouble with Anthropocentric Hubris, with Examples from Conservation. Conservation, 1 (4). pp. 285-299. ISSN 2673-7159
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Abstract
Anthropocentrism in Western (modern industrial) society is dominant, goes back hundreds of years, and can rightly be called ‘hubris’. It removes almost all moral standing from the nonhuman world, seeing it purely as a resource. Here, we discuss the troubling components of anthropocentrism: worldview and ethics; dualisms, valuation and values; a psychology of fear and denial; and the idea of philosophical ‘ownership’. We also question whether it is a truly practical (or ethical) approach. We then discuss three troubling examples of anthropocentrism in conservation: ‘New’ conservation; ecosystem services; and the IPBES values assessment. We conclude that anthropocentrism is fuelling the environmental crisis and accelerating extinction, and urge academia to speak out instead for ecocentrism.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | anthropocentrism, hubris, ecocentrism, conservation, human supremacy, worldview, denial, ethics, ownership, practicality |
| Subjects: | F900 Others in Physical Sciences |
| Department: | Faculties > Business and Law > Newcastle Business School |
| Depositing User: | John Coen |
| Date Deposited: | 04 Oct 2021 11:21 |
| Last Modified: | 12 Oct 2021 09:13 |
| URI: | http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/47416 |
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