Philippine E-Journals

Anthropocentric Ecocentrism: Why Anthropocentrism is Compatible with an Environmentally-centered Ethics?

Redentor A. De La Rosa

 

Abstract:

This paper demonstrates that Anthropocentrism is compatible with an environmentally-centered ethics, that is, anthropocentrism is actually ecocentric and ecocentrism is anthropocentric; or properly, anthropocentrism is a subset of ecocentrism. It shows how antianthropocentric theories misrepresent anthropocentrism and how such antianthropocentric theories as Deep ecology, Biocentrism, etc., are practically and logically anthropocentric, albeit, in distorted forms. Thus, this paper introduces a more adequate theory of anthropocentrism that establishes the possibility of reconciling it with an ecocentric ethics and, at the same time, improves the existing anthropocentric theory by correcting or eliminating some characteristics/features that are wrongly construed as part of the said theory. By doing so, this paper offers an improved environmentally-centered (ecocentric) ethics.