METAPHYSICS AS A BASIS FOR DEEP ECOLOGY: AN ENQUIRY INTO SPINOZA’S SYSTEM

Abstract

Recently, Deep Ecology has gained a new impetus because of the current state of affairs threatening the planet and because of intellectual changes in the field. One of these crucial intellectual changes came about as theorists gained a better understanding of what Naess meant by the concepts ‘Deep Ecology’ and ‘ecosophy’ in his talk in Bucharest in 1972 – the first part will focus on this. The second part will focus on the use by Deep Ecology supporters of Spinoza’s metaphysical system as a foundation to their own views, and it identifies problems and proposes solutions through an alternative reading of Spinoza’s metaphysics, especially his concepts of monism and conatus.