Spiritual Ecology

On the Way to Ecological Existentialism

Bibliographic Data

ID3324433
AuthorsSam Mickey (0009-0001-0467-2870, University of San Francisco, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume11
Issue11
Pages580
Publication date2020-11-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel11110580
OpenAlexW3096510552
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited20

Spiritual ecology is closely related to inquiries into religion and ecology, religion and nature, and religious environmentalism. This article presents considerations of the unique possibilities afforded by the idea of spiritual ecology. On one hand, these possibilities include problematic tendencies in some strands of contemporary spirituality, including anti-intellectualism, a lack of sociopolitical engagement, and complicity in a sense of happiness that is captured by capitalist enclosures and consumerist desires. On the other hand, spiritual ecology promises to involve an existential commitment to solidarity with nonhumans, and it gestures toward ways of knowing and interacting that are more inclusive than what is typically conveyed by the term "religion." Much work on spiritual ecology is broadly pluralistic, leaving open the question of how to discern the difference between better and worse forms of spiritual ecology. This article affirms that pluralism while also distinguishing between the anti-intellectual, individualistic, and capitalistic possibilities of spiritual ecology from varieties of spiritual ecology that are on the way to what can be described as ecological existentialism or coexistentialism

Biology · Environmental ethics · Environmentalism · Epistemology · Existentialism · Political science · Sociology · Spirituality · Environmental Philosophy and Ethics · Law · Philosophy · Religion, Ecology, and Ethics · Theological Perspectives and Practices · Ecology

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Open DOIOpen Access