Ecosophy

Ecosophy or ecophilosophy (a portmanteau of ecological philosophy) is a philosophy of ecological

harmony or equilibrium. The term was coined by the French post-structuralist philosopher and
psychoanalyst Félix Guattari and the Norwegian father of deep ecology, Arne Næss.

Contents
Félix Guattari
Næss's definition
See also
Notes
References
External links

Félix Guattari
Ecosophy also refers to a field of practice introduced by psychoanalyst, poststructuralist philosopher, and
political activist Félix Guattari. In part Guattari's use of the term demarcates a necessity for the proponents
of social liberation, whose struggles in the 20th century were dominated by the paradigm of social
revolution, to embed their arguments within an ecological framework which understands the
interconnections of social and environmental spheres.

Guattari holds that traditional environmentalist perspectives obscure the complexity of the relationship
between humans and their natural environment through their maintenance of the dualistic separation of
human (cultural) and nonhuman (natural) systems; he envisions ecosophy as a new field with a monistic
and pluralistic approach to such study. Ecology in the Guattarian sense, then, is a study of complex
phenomena, including human subjectivity, the environment, and social relations, all of which are intimately
interconnected. Despite this emphasis on interconnection, throughout his individual writings and more
famous collaborations with Gilles Deleuze, Guattari has resisted calls for holism, preferring to emphasize
heterogeneity and difference, synthesizing assemblages and multiplicities in order to trace rhizomatic
structures rather than creating unified and holistic structures.

Without modifications to the social and material environment, there can be no change in
mentalities. Here, we are in the presence of a circle that leads me to postulate the necessity of
founding an "ecosophy" that would link environmental ecology to social ecology and to
mental ecology.

— Guattari 1992

Guattari's concept of the three interacting and interdependent ecologies of mind, society, and environment
stems from the outline of the three ecologies presented in Steps to an Ecology of Mind, a collection of
writings by cyberneticist Gregory Bateson.
Næss's definition
Næss defined ecosophy in the following way:

By an ecosophy I mean a philosophy of ecological harmony or equilibrium. A philosophy as a

kind of sofia (or) wisdom, is openly normative, it contains both norms, rules, postulates, value
priority announcements and hypotheses concerning the state of affairs in our universe. Wisdom
is policy wisdom, prescription, not only scientific description and prediction. The details of an
ecosophy will show many variations due to significant differences concerning not only the
'facts' of pollution, resources, population, etc. but also value priorities.

— A. Drengson and Y. Inoue, 1995, page 8

While a professor at University of Oslo in 1972, Arne Næss, introduced the terms "deep ecology
movement" and "ecosophy" into environmental literature. Næss based his article on a talk he gave in
Bucharest in 1972 at the Third World Future Research Conference. As Drengson notes in Ecophilosophy,
Ecosophy and the Deep Ecology Movement: An Overview, "In his talk Næss discussed the longer-range
background of the ecology movement and its connection with respect for Nature and the inherent worth of
other beings." Næss's view of humans as an integral part of a "total-field image[1]" of Nature contrasts with
the alternative construction of ecosophy outlined by Guattari.

The term ecological wisdom, synonymous with ecosophy, was introduced by Næss in 1973. The concept
has become one of the foundations of the deep ecology movement. All expressions of values by Green
Parties list ecological wisdom as a key value—it was one of the original Four Pillars of the Green Party
and is often considered the most basic value of these parties. It is also often associated with indigenous
religion and cultural practices. In its political context, it is necessarily not as easily defined as ecological
health or scientific ecology concepts.

See also
Ecology
Global Greens Charter
Green syndicalism
Simple living
Spiritual ecology
Sustainable living
Yin and yang
Environmental philosophy

Notes
1. Næss, Arne. (1972): Shallow and the Deep. Oslo: Inquiry.

References
Drengson, A. and Y. Inoue, eds. (1995) The Deep Ecology Movement: An Introductory
Anthology. Berkeley: North Atlantic Publishers.
 Guattari, Félix: »Pour une refondation des pratiques sociales«. In: Le Monde Diplomatique
(Oct. 1992): 26-7.
Guattari, Félix: »Remaking Social Practices«. In: Genosko, Gary (Hg.) (1996): The Guattari
Reader. Oxford, Blackwell, S. 262-273.
Maybury-Lewis, David. (1992) "On the Importance of Being Tribal: Tribal Wisdom."
Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World. Binimun Productions Ltd.
Næss, Arne. (1973) The Shallow and the Deep Long-Range Ecology Movement: A
Summary". Inquiry, 16:95-100
Drengson A. & B. Devall (2008) (Eds) The Ecology of Wisdom. Writings by Arne Naess.
Berkeley: Counterpoint
Levesque, Simon (2016) Two versions of ecosophy: Arne Næss, Félix Guattari, and their
connection with semiotics. Sign Systems Studies 44(4): 511-541.
http://dx.doi.org/10.12697/SSS.2016.44.4.03

External links
Ecophilosophy, Ecosophy and the Deep Ecology Movement: An Overview by Alan
Drengson (http://www.ecospherics.net/pages/DrengEcophil.html) Ecospherics.net.
Accessed 2005-08-14.
Transversalising the Ecological Turn: Four Components of Felix Guattari’s Ecosophical
Perspective by John Tinnell (http://eighteen.fibreculturejournal.org/2011/10/09/fcj-121-transv
ersalising-the-ecological-turn-four-components-of-felix-guattari’s-ecosophical-perspective/)
Fibreculturejournal.org. Accessed 2012-02-04.
The Trumpeter (http://trumpeter.athabascau.ca/index.php/trumpet), A Journal of Ecosophy.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ecosophy&oldid=1013399693"

This page was last edited on 21 March 2021, at 12:36 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.