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on man’s role was already prevalent in Western thought (see the chapter on Religion
and Ecology). Descartes further reinforced this position by scientifically “verifying”
that the human being is not part of the natural processes but, by virtue of reason
and will, is superior to them.' The philosopher Roger Gottlieb also confirms that
the ideas of several philosophers supported or laid the basis for the profound
alienation of humans from the non-human world. In his book of studies, The
Ecological Community (Gottlieb 1997), he places the emphasis on two authors
who laid the foundations for modern sociological and political thought: Locke
and Marx. Locke’s basic theses are: 1. the only value of nature is to serve man’s
interest; 2. if you change nature through your labor, it becomes yours. By contrast,
Marx recognized and explored the destructive impact of capitalism on nature, and
the environmental problems generated by the reduction of complex ecosystems
to commodities, ie., mere objects. However, he did not take this process of thought
beyond humanity’s interests. Accordingly, he encouraged the social domination
of nature in man’s interest (Gottlieb 1997: IX-XIM).
This approach has been criticized by the key texts of the prehistory of
environmental philosophy. First among them is the great classic work Walden, or
Life in the Woods (Thoreau 1854) by the American writer Henry David Thoreau
(1817 — 1862). Walden “laid the foundation for modern environmental philosophy”
(Hubbell — Ryan 2022: 116). Thoreau spent two years in solitude by Lake Walden,
taking care of all his living conditions (house, food, etc.) alone. In addition to
physical chores, he spent his days observing nature and writing. The book is a
diary of voluntary simplicity and a chronicle of exodus from society. He is said to
be the first American environmentalist and the thinker who laid the philosophical
basis for civil disobedience (see idem: On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, 1849).
Also outstanding among the antecedents of ecophilosophy are the book Nature
by Thoreau’s teacher Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), published in 1836,
and John Muir’s (1838-1914) My First Summer in the Sierra. Both emphasize
nature’s intrinsic rights and humankind’s moral duty to the environment.
The works from the middle and second half of the 20% century that are discussed
in the following pages coincide with the consolidation of environmental philosophy.
They were already motivated by, and were reflections upon, the active
environmentalist movement. The main idea of Aldo Leopold’s (1887-1948) land
ethic’ is that humans are equals and not oppressors of the earth’s living community;
nature is not a thing and not a property; further, the notion of ethnic community
must be extended to the entire ecosystem. He stresses that love of nature is not
only an emotional but also an intellectual process based on ecological consciousness
and conscience (see Töth 2005: 125-138).
Several contemporary thinkers hold that Descartess natural philosophy, Locke’s economic philosophy
and Adam Smith’s economics jointly created the modern worldview which led to the environmental
— and, in parallel, the social, economic and ethical — crisis. The basic tenets of this worldview are:
natural goods have no inherent value; they are both plentiful and free; the free natural elements
available in infinite volume acquire their value through being processed by man (labor-value
theory).
The term land ethic comes from the title of the last chapter (The Land Ethic) in Leopold’s book
Sand County Almanac (1948).