Traditionally, Western thought has conceived of the environment as a set of natural elements that can be domesticated by man for his benefit. A philosopher like John Stuart Mill writes, for example, that even the most advanced industrial techniques can not be judged unnatural.
All incorporate the laws of physics, biology or chemistry in the service of human needs. Man is just as natural as the living beings with whom he competes. One can not base a morality on nature without being banal. The man who, for millennia, uses pesticides to eradicate species hostile to his food security, acts as naturally as the plants that produce toxic substances against their predators.
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The same goes for the farmer who converts a forest into a field of genetically modified crops in the name of food security.
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But to support these companies, we must adhere to the postulate of the primacy of man over other living species. But this postulate is attacked by the disciples of “deep ecology.” They have integrated the need to destroy the moral pillar of the western civilization of anthropocentrism to dismantle industrial capitalism.
[Editor’s note: This article was published in French. This summary was prepared with Google Translate and lightly edited for clarity.]
Read full, original article: Are environmentalists misanthropic?
