The text provides a survey of the main components of ecologism and examines elements that have been neglected in existing literature. It contains debates surrounding this aspect of political philosophy, and the author's own development of them.

The distinction between taxonomic plant geography and ecological plant geography was never absolute: it would be historically inaccurate to portray them as totally divergent. Taxonomists occasionally borrowed ecological concepts, and ecologists never completely repudiated taxonomy. Indeed, some botanists pursued the two types of geographic study. The American taxonomist Henry Allan Gleason (1882–1975), for one, made noteworthy contributions to both. Most of Gleason's research appeared in short articles, however. He never published a major synthetic work comparable in scope or influence (...) to the ecological texts of Clements, Schimper, and Warming.Despite exceptions such as Gleason, most plant geographers throughout the twentieth century have emphasized the distinction between ecological and taxonomic plant geographies. Why have these distinct traditions developed? In his book Geographical Ecology, Robert MacArthur has suggested a psychological explanation for the dichotomy: “Unraveling the history of a phenemenon has always appealed to some people and describing the machinery of the phenomenon to others... The ecologist and physical scientist tend to be machinery oriented, whereas paleontologists and most biogeographers tend to be history oriented.”46Without necessarily rejecting MacArthur's explanation, my study suggests a more complex relationship between taxonomic and ecological plant geographies. At the turn of the century a group of botanists self-consciously defined a new area of botanical research. These ecologists defined their new discipline in opposition to what they believed was a moribund, nineteenth-century, natural-history tradition. They turned from historically oriented, descriptive, taxonomic plant geography to experimental physiology. The new ecological plant geography was to focus on communities rather than on species, on proximate environmental causes rather than on historical explanations, and on physiological experiments rather than on morphological descriptions.As we look back, much of the “revolt from morphology” was rhetorical. Ecologists never completely replaced species as units of distribution, nor did they set geography on an explicitly physiological basis. Indeed, much of early ecological research was, quite simply, descriptive. Plant communities were defined in terms of dominant species, representative life forms, or general physiognomy. The underlying physiological basis for community characteristics was more often assumed than demonstrated by experiments.Despite the fact that ecological plant geography was not a truly physiological specialty, it was significantly different from more traditional taxonomic plant geography. First, ecologists were less explicitly evolutionary in their approach than were taxonomists. Following Darwin, most taxonomic plant geographers viewed distribution in historical terms. In contrast, early ecologists tended to ignore the traditional geographic problems. Most ecologists were skeptical of historical explanations, emphasizing instead the proximate, environmental causes of distribution. While some nineteenth-century biogeographers had studied the correlation between climate and vegetation, twentieth-century ecologists focused much more sharply on the interactions between plant and environment. Plant ecologists did not place biogeography on a physiological basis, but by emphasizing physiology they laid the foundation for a more detailed understanding of adaption. This emphasis on physiology and environmental causation was a second distinguishing characteristic of ecological plant geography. Finally, the idea of the plant community, articulated by Eugenius Warming in 1895, provided ecologists with a unique perspective on the distribution of plants. For early ecologists, the community was more than an assemblage of species; it was an integrated unit. The distribution of these units became the major focus of ecological plant geography. Communities never completely replaced species as geographic units, and the distinction between flora and vegetation was often blurred. Nonetheless, ecologists were innovative in studying the distribution of structurally and functionally integrated groups of plants.In the twentieth century plant geography has occupied an anomalous position in biology. It has not developed into an autonomous discipline, nor has it been incorporated into the developing discipline of ecology. Ecologists and taxonomists have pursued fairly distinct styles of geographic research, with the result that two relatively independent approaches to the study of plant distribution have persisted. (shrink)

Ecologists grapple with complex, changing situations. Historians, sociologists and philosophers studying the construction of science likewise attempt to account for (or discount) a wide variety of influences making up the scientists' "ecologies of knowledge." This paper introduces a graphic methodology, mapping, designed to assist researchers at both levels-in science and in science studies-to work with the complexity of their material. By analyzing the implications and limitations of mapping, I aim to contribute to an ecological approach to the philosophy of (...) science. (shrink)

The enduring and consistent rise of the far right has enabled its representatives to affect environmental debates on a larger scale. Although such incursions are often labeled 'eco-fascist', the term itself term may be insufficient to account for the complexity of this intersection. Building upon existing attempts to organise such discourses in a coherent sub-ideological set, 'far-right ecologism' (FRE) is suggested as an overarching term, deriving its morphology from fascism, conservatism, as well as national-populism. Therefore, values emanating from these strands, (...) such as naturalism, spirituality, mysticism, authority, organicism, autarky, nostalgia and Manicheanism, constitute FRE as a heuristic device. (shrink)

Ecologists, particularly those who consider socially generated effects in the environment, grapple with complex, changing situations. Historians, sociologists and philosophers studying the construction of science likewise attempt to account for (or discount) a wide variety of influences, which make up what historian Charles Rosenberg has called “ecologies of knowledge” (Rosenberg 1988). This paper introduces a graphic methodology, mapping, designed to assist researchers at both levels—in science and in science studies—to work with the complexity of their material. By analyzing the (...) implications and limitations of mapping, I aim to contribute to an ecological approach to the philosophy of science. Let me start with two diagrams to open up the territory I will be exploring.Dansereau’s diagram (Fig. 1) conveys a dynamic equilibrium of energy and resource import, export, flows up a trophic hierarchy, and down again to exert control over lower levels in an ecosystem (Dansereau 1973). (shrink)

Smith outlines the distinctive features of ecological thought and examines two contentious areas of environmental ethics, the obligations for present generations and the relationship of humans to non-human animals.

The Greens are the political group in which the support for the implementation of a basic income is stronger. Nevertheless, the reasons for that support are not always clear and quite often not related to environmental issues. For this reason, two different approaches to a green BI – environmental and ecological – are discussed in this article. The first could be part of a green growth strategy, whereas the second would require structural changes to the economic model, in support of (...) a post-productivist economy. Although showing some overlaps, these models are in conflict in some central aspects, such as the role of economic growth in promoting sustainability. For this reason, it might be incorrect to assume that an environmental BI is a step toward an ecological BI. We will focus on the green aspects as a consequence of implementing a BI and independently of its sources of funding – namely by looking into the amount a BI needs to be in order to support shifting activities from the market to the autonomous sphere – and on the green potential of its sources of financing. (shrink)

Volume 23, Issue 1, March 2020, Page 53-69.

For the economist Bernard Guibert it is necessary to find the justification for basic social income- one that he places at the centre of an ecological social policy - in a rehabilitation of the relationship of unearned income. Not a parasitic income but one based on its own social and productive qualities, on its own body. The regulation of this income, like that of durable development is an act of a political nature.

The attention economy — the market where consumers’ attention is exchanged for goods and services — poses a variety of threats to individuals’ autonomy, which, at minimum, involves the ability to set and pursue ends for oneself. It has been argued that the threat wireless mobile devices pose to autonomy gives rise to a duty to oneself to be a digital minimalist, one whose interactions with digital technologies are intentional such that they do not conflict with their ends. In this (...) paper, we argue that there is a corresponding duty to others to be an attention ecologist, one who promotes digital minimalism in others. Although the moral reasons for being an attention ecologist are similar to those that motivate the duty to oneself, the arguments diverge in important ways. We explore the application of this duty in various domains where we have special obligations to promote autonomy in virtue of the different roles we play in the lives of others, such as parents and teachers. We also discuss the consequences of our arguments for employers, software developers, and policy makers. (shrink)

Far-Right Ecologism explains how the ongoing mainstreaming of the far right has prompted greater engagement with a range of topics, including the environment. Behind the façade of vote-winning strategies, the far right has provided a substantive ideological engagement with the natural environment. Building on the nationalist bent of early green thought and the perceived nexus of pristine nature and cultural purity, Far-Right Ecologism has ideologically adopted the green elements of other ideologies, such as conservatism and fascism, but also of those (...) considered to be 'thin-centred', such as nationalism and populism. Through an authentic experience of learning from the Eastern European, post-socialist realms, this book explores the ideology, ecological discourse, and policy proposals behind the increasing impact of far-right actors on environmental politics in Hungary and Poland. Each chapter begins with stories from the interviewees to illustrate how the far right in Hungary and Poland attempts to permeate environmental politics and even forge partnerships with green actors through specific, local-based policy contributions. Drawing on the findings from a range of sources, such as electoral programs, ideological texts and manifestos, social media and public speeches, policy proposals, and more than forty in-depth interviews with far-right representatives, this book also assesses epistemological and methodological challenges in examining the environmental dimension of far-right, post-socialist politics. The book will be valuable reading for researchers with an interest in the far right, environmental politics and Central Eastern Europe. (shrink)

Four papers of John Bellamy Foster have been brought together in a short book entitled Marx écologiste. Foster is a theorist of ecosocialism who puts forward an original interpretation of Marx’s work. The latter is frequently presented as a scientist conception the effect of which was to stifle subsequent attempts within the communist movement to apprehend capitalism’s destruction of nature. Foster shows that such an interpretation is not valid. He claims that Marx has an ecologist consciousness. To support his claim, (...) Foster uses three arguments. Firstly, Marx elaborates the concept of metabolism, that is to say the relations between human activities and nature. Secondly, while the word sustainability is not to be found in Marx’s Capital, the idea is indeed present. Thirdly, Marx has understood that nature and the human societies move simultaneously. Foster’s demonstration is convincing. At the least, it will relaunch the discussion about the integration of the ecology in Marxism. (shrink)

Apparent conflicts between human jobs and welfare and the interests of wildlife can frequently be resolved if man is perceived as part of Nature rather than in opposition to it. However, social and scientific paradigms emphasize individuality at the expense of connectedness, and competition at the expense of co-operation. Ecologists are well placed to address the important questions of how fast human societies can adapt to change; which cultures are most adaptable, and how satisfactory given adaptations are likely to (...) prove in the longer term. A new perception of time is needed, with serious questioning of such practices as discounting the future. Ecologists may be able to help predict the long term effects of climate change, not only on the environment, but also on human social systems. (shrink)

Le Manifeste accélérationniste de Srnicek et Williams pourrait facilement être disqualifié comme une fuite en avant follement technophilique ou comme un retour en arrière vers la verticalité autoritaire du Komintern. Nous pensons qu’il vaut la peine de lui donner le crédit d’une analyse lucide des débandades d’une gauche écologiste écartelée entre nostalgie fordiste et complaisance minoritaire. Pourquoi ne pas focaliser nos combats sur la sphère mass-médiatique pour accélérer notre sortie du capitalisme?

An analysis is made of Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si from a general systems approach. A call is made for a dialogue between theologians and environmental scientist. A parallel is found between the Pope’s identification of rapidification as a root cause of global warming and McLuhan’s notion of the speedup of modern life due to the emergence of electric technology. An analysis of Hebrew Scriptures is made, suggesting that rather than subduing the earth, the translation of Gen 1:28 seems to (...) indicate that the intention was to occupy and tend the land. The Jewish notion of Bal Tashchit one of the 613 mitzvos or commandments from Scripture, supports this interpretation as it calls for stewardship of G-d’s gifts. (shrink)

Ecological research and conservation practice frequently raise difficult and varied ethical questions for scientific investigators and managers, including duties to public welfare, nonhuman individuals (i.e., animals and plants), populations, and ecosystems. The field of environmental ethics has contributed much to the understanding of general duties and values to nature, but it has not developed the resources to address the diverse and often unique practical concerns of ecological researchers and managers in the field, lab, and conservation facility. The emerging field of (...) “ecological ethics” is a practical or scientific ethics that offers a superior approach to the ethical dilemmas of the ecologist and conservation manager. Even though ecological ethics necessarily draws from the principles and commitments of mainstream environmental ethics, it is normatively pluralistic, including as well the frameworks of animal, research, and professional ethics. It is also methodologically pragmatic, focused on the practical problems of researchers and managers and informed by these problems in turn. The ecological ethics model offers environmental scientists and practitioners a useful analytical tool for identifying, clarifying, and harmonizing values and positions in challenging ecological research and management situations. Just as bioethics provides a critical intellectual and problem-solving service to the biomedical community, ecological ethics can help inform and improve ethical decision making in the ecology and conservation communities. (shrink)

Les aspirations libertaires-communautaires des mouvements étudiants de la fin des années 1960 ont rencontré un terrain politique institutionnel plus incitatif à leur application en RFA qu’en France, notamment sous forme d’entreprises dites alternatives. Celles.ci, beaucoup plus nombreuses en RFA, vont concourir à l’émergence d’un milieu contre-culturel ancré au quotidien des villes ouest-allemandes ; lequel milieu va à son tour contribuer à l’apparition et l’extension bien au-delà des seules villes d’un mouvement social contestataire : celui des « Initiatives de Citoyens ». (...) Ce mouvement, inédit en France, fournira dans la décennie 1970 une force d’appoint primordiale au mouvement écologiste ouest-allemand, et catalysera la mutation ou la création d’organisations qui joueront un rôle important dans la production et la diffusion d’idées écologistes ; de telle sorte que le mouvement écologiste tel qu’il s’est déployé en RFA y a rencontré un meilleur écho que celui qui s’est formé en France.The libertarian-communitarian aspirations of the students’ movements by the end of the 1960s met with a more open political context to their application in West Germany than in France : many more alternative enterprises were created at that time. This will contribute to the emergence of counterculture circles in West German cities. These circles will in turn bring about a social movement unknown in France : « the Initiatives of Citizens ». In the 1970s, this movement will considerably strengthen the West German ecology movement and will catalyse the mutation or birth of organizations which will play a great part in the emergence and spreading of environment ideas. So that the ecology movement, such as it spread in West Germany, was better received there than in France. (shrink)

Perhaps the most animated debate in green political thought-the subdiscipline of political theory devoted to the relations between humanity, politics and environment-addresses the question of the compatibility of ecologism and liberal democracy, more particularly the liberal aspects of the latter. The present article affirms and further elaborates earlier suggestions that existing approaches to this matter are either flawed or, when defensible, prone to produce trivial conclusions. Incompatibility of the two theories is always to be expected, in one form or another. (...) It is argued that a characterization of political theories as families growing and changing over time, a notion partly derived from Wittgenstein’s family concept, allows us to understand ecologism and liberalism as evolving theories, and to anticipate the development of both-which may lead to far more surprising conclusions. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Book Reviews 133 Beyond the Outer Shores: The Untold Odyssey of Ed Ricketts, the Pioneering Ecologist Who Inspired John Steinbeck and Joseph Campbell BY ERIC ENNO TAMM New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2004 REVIEWED BY GEORGE MEADOWS How do you write a biography of someone who is best known as a fictional character? This is the challenge Erik Tamm has taken on in his recent biography of Edward Ricketts, (...) Beyond the Outer Shores. While some may know Ricketts as a pioneering ecologist and the author of the classic marine biology text, Between Pacific Tides, most know him as the model for “Doc” in the popular John Steinbeck novel Cannery Row, and the eponymous film adaptation. Much of the challenge arises from the fact that the fictional Doc as portrayed in Cannery Row is one of the most endearing characters in Steinbeck’s works. And according to all sources, Ed Ricketts shared many of Doc’s best qualities, and many of the incidents, people, and places in the novel are based on things Ed did and the people he knew. I would guess that many would be satisfied with knowing Ed Ricketts as Doc. It’s very tempting to do just that. The Monterey Peninsula, the location for the novel, is a beautiful place and it’s hard not to sense the presence of both Doc and Ed there. You might see them in Rickett’s restored laboratory/home, just a few feet from the entrance to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, or in the bronze statue of Ricketts placed near the site of his untimely death at the age of fifty-­ one. There’s also a Steinbeck monument in Steinbeck Plaza depicting the writer, Ed Ricketts, and several figures who play important roles in Cannery Row. The tide pools, which play such an important role in both Ed and Doc’s work are nearby and easily accessible. As a reader (and re-­reader) of Cannery Row and a frequent visitor to the Monterey Peninsula, I find it tempting to let Ed be Doc. To do so though would largely ignore the role he played in the development of ecology. Tamm’s book does focus on these achievements, and it does so in a way that would make sense to an ecologist: examining place and the ENVIRONMENT, SPACE, PLACE / VOLUME 13 / ISSUE 2 / 2021 134 relationships among individuals as they are influenced by that place. Thus, we have chapters titled “The Lab,” “The Great Tide Pool,” and “Clayoquot, Stubbs Island.” Other chapters deal with collecting trips to the Gulf of California and Juneau, Alaska. Each of these chapters provides a great deal of information about Ricketts’s ecological work in the area but also discuss his personal relationships as they developed in that space. This makes for interesting reading when we consider that these relationships involved such people as John Steinbeck, Henry Miller, and Joseph Campbell. The best example of this comes during the description of Ricketts’s 1932 collecting trip to Juneau with a young Campbell. The pair spent three months observing and collecting samples of marine life from the coastal areas. They also engaged in a number of discussions integrating ecology, biology, mythology, and religion. The discussion would continue for some time after, largely by mail, and their relationship takes up again in the final chapters of the book. While this approach does provide much of value, it can also make for a challenging read. The linear sequence that we might expect in a biography is somewhat absent in this book, to the degree that other reviewers describe the book as “nonlinear and disorganized,” or “confusing in sequence.” The focus on place and relationships, central to ecology, is difficult to mesh with the focus on an individual that we expect in biography, and this can be a difficult conflict to resolve. Individual organisms might be interesting, but that interest arises from the organism’s physical and social place. Ed Ricketts as an individual is not all that important. Our understanding of Ed should derive from his presence in certain locations and the relationships he had in those places. Or, as Michael Lannoo notes in Leopold’s Shack and Ricketts... (shrink)

Green political theory has a problem: it fails to account for human ingenuity. As a result, it has always struggled to refute the technologically optimistic notion that, in an era of rapid technological development, new technologies will materialise to resolve environmental ills. From ecologism’s first emergence, this idea has been its opponents’ ultimate recourse. It is especially significant because it denies the constitutive claim of ecologism that environmental problems require political solutions. It is in this claim that the green alternative (...) to modernity and its ideologies is advanced. Yet, green scholars have never successfully refuted technological optimism; indeed, ecologism has always lost the scholarly battles over technological change, even as technology has failed to mitigate environmental catastrophe in the real world. This article’s green theory of technological change alters this: it shows that the green belief that technological development is unpredictable is in fact well-founded. In so doing, it buttresses the green challenge to modern political ideologies and justifies the movement for ecologism in the world. In short, it reasserts the claim that the natural is political and reinforces the need for a distinctly green version of political theory. (shrink)

At first sight, the ecologist voters in Wallonia present some remarkable characteristics : they are much younger, better educated, less religious and less interested in polities than the 'average' voter.When one constructs three- or four ways cross-tables, the high level of education among ecologist voters appears mainly as a 'by-product' of their very low average age. On the contrary, general interest for politics and religious attitudes maintain an effect on their own. So the model that fits the data best is (...) the one that retains those three variables.Those characteristics bring some support to the idea that ecologist vote is mainly a protest vote. On the other side, it may be considered that Ecolo contributes to maintain in the 'electoral field' a potentialy abstentionist population. (shrink)