The Historical Development of an Ethical Perspective of Environmental Thought

Abstract

Various ethical perspectives of environmental thought have influenced the ideologyof contemporary environmental protection movements to a significant degree and,consequently also, national, European and global politics. The politics of internationalorganizations and most world countries today have a sustainable perspectivefor it has been proven that climate change and environmental degradation have led tothe so–called sixth great extinction in which there is a high possibility that the humanspecies will become extinct. This is evident from various international conventionsand documents, particularly the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climategoals, and the European Green Deal. Environmental movements have playeda key role in informing, raising awareness, and persuading the public and political entities of the necessity for a more environmentally and socially sustainable policy.Moreover, world–wide acceptance of the concept of sustainable development as away out of the current crisis is primarily a result of their work. However, environmentalmovements are not homogeneous: there are significant differences among them,and proposals for solving ecological problems differ as well. Today’s environmentalmovements can be divided into two categories, namely, those with an anthropocentricand those with a biocentric perspective. This paper provides a cross–section ofthe historical development of the ethical perspective of environmental thought with aparticular emphasis on anthropocentric and biocentric perspectives.