From Ecology to Ecosophy

For the last four decades we notice a significant change in the direction of Deep environmentalism: metaphysical or ontological issues are gradually drawing more attention than the normative ones. At its initial stage it was satisfied with suggesting norms to guide our interaction with the Nature. Later it is realised that the isolated ethical concerns about the environment will not do unless and until they are supplemented by the underlying ontological concerns or in other words by some ‘ecosophy’. By ‘ecosophy’ Naess refers to any integrated philosophy of Nature—an ‘earth-wisdom’—of ecological harmony that contains both norms rules postulates value-priority announcements and hypotheses concerning states-of-affairs in our universe inspired by ecology and Deep Ecology movement. Naess finds it important ‘to move from ethics to ontology and back’ in his philosophy of environmentalism. For an adequate philosophy of ecology we must have a Self-realisation or an Identification with the whole of Nature in addition to admitting its intrinsic or inherent value.