Anthropocentrism /ˌænθrɵpɵˈsɛntrɪzəm/
(from Greek: ἄνθρωπος, ánthrōpos, "human being"; and κέντρον, kéntron,
"center") is the belief that human beings are the central or most
significant species on the planet (in the sense that they are considered to
have a moral status or value higher than that of other animals), or the
assessment of reality through an exclusively human perspective. The term can be
used interchangeably with humanocentrism, and some refer to the concept as
human supremacy or "human exceptionalism". The mediocrity principle
is the opposite of Anthropocentrism. Anthropocentrism is considered to be
profoundly embedded in many modern human cultures and conscious acts. It is a
major concept in the field of environmental ethics and environmental
philosophy, where it is often considered to be the root cause of problems
created by human interaction with the environment. However, many proponents of
anthropocentrism state that this is not necessarily the case: they argue that a
sound long-term view acknowledges that a healthy, sustainable environment is
necessary for humans and that the real issue is shallow anthropocentrism.
Environmental philosophy
Anthropocentrism, also known as
homocentricism or human supremacism, has been posited by some
environmentalists, in such books as Confessions of an Eco-Warrior by Dave
Foreman and Green Rage by Christopher Manes, as the underlying (if unstated)
reason why humanity dominates and sees the need to "develop" most of
the Earth. Anthropocentrism is believed by some to be the central problematic
concept in environmental philosophy, where it is used to draw attention to a
systematic bias in traditional Western attitudes to the non-human world. Val
Plumwood has argued that anthropocentrism plays an analogous role in green
theory to androcentrism in feminist theory and ethnocentrism in anti-racist
theory. Plumwood calls human-centredness "anthrocentrism" to
emphasise this parallel.
One of the first extended
philosophical essays addressing environmental ethics, John Passmore's Man's
Responsibility for Nature has been criticised by defenders of deep ecology
because of its anthropocentrism, often claimed to be constitutive of traditional
Western moral thought. Defenders of anthropocentrist views point out that
maintenance of a healthy, sustainable environment is necessary for human
well-being as opposed for its own sake. The problem with a "shallow"
viewpoint is not that it is human-centred but that according to William Grey:
"What's wrong with shallow views is not their concern about the well-being
of humans, but that they do not really consider enough in what that well-being
consists. According to this view, we need to develop an enriched, fortified
anthropocentric notion of human interest to replace the dominant short-term,
sectional and self-regarding conception." In turn, Plumwood in Environmental
Culture: The Ecological Crisis of Reason argued that Grey's anthropocentrism is
inadequate.
It is important to take note that
many devoted environmentalists encompass a somewhat anthropocentric-based
philosophical view supporting the fact that they will argue in favor of saving
the environment for the sake of human populations. Grey writes: "We should
be concerned to promote a rich, diverse, and vibrant biosphere. Human
flourishing may certainly be included as a legitimate part of such a flourishing."
Biocentrism has been proposed as an antithesis of anthropocentrism. It has also
been proposed as a generalised form of anthropocentrism.
Christianity
In the 1985 CBC series "A
Planet For the Taking", Dr. David Suzuki explored the Old Testament roots
of anthropocentrism and how it shaped our view of non-human animals. Some
Christian proponents of anthropocentrism base their belief on the Bible, such
as the verse 1:26 in the Book of Genesis:
“ And
God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth
upon the earth. ”
The use of the word
"dominion" in the Genesis is controversial. Many Biblical scholars,
especially Roman Catholic and other non-Protestant Christians, consider this to
be a flawed translation of a word meaning "stewardship", which would
indicate that mankind should take care of the earth and its various forms of
life, but is not inherently better than any other form of life. The current
Latin Vulgate, the official Bible of the Catholic Christian church, states that
God holds man responsible for the care and fate of all earthly creatures.
The original Hebrew word in
question is וְיִרְדּוּ
stemming from the root רדה
meaning to oppress or subjugate.[citation needed] Literally understood as to
come down upon.
Human rights
Anthropocentrism becomes
problematic in regards to human rights when other humans come to be viewed as
not such. When a group of people are conceptually stripped of personhood and
come to be viewed as less human by another group, the latter then views the
former as a decentralized resource for dominion. This is how various forms for
slavery come to be viewed as justified or even righteous.
Anthropocentrism is the grounding
for some naturalistic concepts of human rights. Defenders of anthropocentrism
argue that it is the necessary fundamental premise to defend universal human rights,
since what matters morally is simply being human. For example, noted
philosopher Mortimer J. Adler wrote, "Those who oppose injurious
discrimination on the moral ground that all human beings, being equal in their
humanity, should be treated equally in all those respects that concern their
common humanity, would have no solid basis in fact to support their normative
principle." Adler is stating here, that denying what is now called human
exceptionalism could lead to tyranny, writing that if we ever came to believe
that humans do not possess a unique moral status, the intellectual foundation
of our liberties collapses: "Why, then, should not groups of superior men
be able to justify their enslavement, exploitation, or even genocide of
inferior human groups on factual and moral grounds akin to those we now rely on
to justify our treatment of the animals we harness as beasts of burden, that we
butcher for food and clothing, or that we destroy as disease-bearing pests or
as dangerous predators?"
Author and anthropocentrism
defender Wesley J. Smith from the Discovery Institute has written that human
exceptionalism is what gives rise to human duties to each other, the natural
world, and to treat animals humanely. Writing in A Rat is a Pig is a Dog is a Boy,
a critique of animal rights ideology, "Because we are unquestionably a
unique species--the only species capable of even contemplating ethical issues
and assuming responsibilities--we uniquely are capable of apprehending the
difference between right and wrong, good and evil, proper and improper conduct
toward animals. Or to put it more succinctly if being human isn't what requires
us to treat animals humanely, what in the world does?"
Critics counter that
anthropocentrism has contributed to speciesism and bioconservatism at the
expense of the natural environment, animal rights, and individual rights.
In fiction
In science-fiction, humanocentrism
is the idea that humans, as both beings and a species, are the superior
sentients. Essentially the equivalent of race supremacy on a galactic scale, it
entails intolerant discrimination against sentient non-humans, much like race
supremacists discriminate against those not of their race. This idea is
countered by anti-humanism. At times, this ideal also includes fear of and
superiority over strong AIs and cyborgs, downplaying the ideas of integration,
cybernetic revolts, machine rule and Tilden's Laws of Robotics.
Origins
Some secular proponents of human
exceptionalism point to evidence of unusual rapid evolution of the brain and
the emergence of exceptional aptitudes. As one commentator put it, "Over
the course of human history, we have been successful in cultivating our
faculties, shaping our development, and impacting upon the wider world in a
deliberate fashion, quite distinct from evolutionary processes".
Mark Twain mocked the belief in
human supremacy in Letters from the Earth.
The 2012 documentary The Superior
Human? systematically analyzes anthropocentrism and concludes that value is
fundamentally an opinion, and since life forms naturally value their own
traits, most humans are misled to believe that they are actually more valuable
than other species. This natural bias, combined with a received sense of
comfort and an excuse for exploitation of non-humans cause anthropocentrism to remain
in society.
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