Ecocentrism

Ecocentrism is a worldview, philosophy, and also the ideology of environmental protection , considering wildlife as an independent value , regardless of human criteria for benefit, and suggesting the priority of this value over the goals and needs of mankind. Ecocentrism is opposed to anthropocentrism and related humanism , and is also closely associated with naturalism . Nature, ecological balance are perceived as having intrinsic value. Supporters of ecocentrism may be characterized by the perception of nature as a subject of action , having its own goals and possessing moral rights.

In the framework of ecocentrism, the protection of wildlife is not carried out to achieve any goals of value from the point of view of humanity, but for the sake of nature itself. Thus, the creation of protected natural territories implies the absence of scientific, recreational or any other control and use of these territories and the provision of complete freedom to natural processes.

Ecocentrism goes beyond the framework of the environmental movement itself and is a key concept in the philosophy of deep ecology .

The terms ecocentrism and biocentrism are not strictly delimited. Biocentrism can be considered as a complete synonym for ecocentrism, as well as one of the trends in ecocentrism, giving living organisms and the biosphere a generally special priority compared to inanimate nature, or giving a special priority to the lives of individuals compared to the lives of biological communities and ecosystems ^[1] .