Deep ecology and the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas

The importance of moving from biocentric responsibility to environmental justice

Bibliographic Data

ID12858331
AuthorsPehuén Barzola Elizagaray (0000-0003-4752-1156, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, corresponding author), Ofelia Agoglia (0000-0001-9907-6301, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas)
Year2024
Volume24
Pages31-45
Publication date2024-01-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthics in Science and Environmental Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1611-8014 • E-ISSN: 1863-5415
PublisherI nt er-R es ea rc h (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.3354/esep00211
OpenAlexW4391126414
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited20

Environmental theory and practice can benefit greatly from Emmanuel Levinas’ non-ontological philosophy of the Other in order to address the current global environmental crisis. From this viewpoint, this article focuses on 2 major positions within deep ecology. We discuss the significance of transitioning from one of them, which represents biocentric responsibility, to the other, which seeks to achieve environmental justice by challenging the hegemony of institutionalised environmentalism. In Levinasian terms, this is represented by moving from the anarchic realm of ethics (face-to-face) to the totalising realm of politics (humanity), where the naked face of the Other becomes visible in the presence of a Third, and decision-making and concrete disputes resolution becomes necessary. Within this framework, historical and current inequalities compel the global North to degrow in order to allow the Others to weather the consequences of resource overconsumption and inequality

Biology · Economic Justice · Environmental ethics · Environmental justice · Political science · Sociology · Law · Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism · Ecology

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