Deep Ecology - An Atheist Philosophy

Deep Ecology fits in well within an atheist philosophy. In this worldview man is nothing more than the most evolved, most self conscious animal. Deep Ecology says that this is no justification for us to claim ownership of the planet and everything on it. It belongs to all things and all things have value in themselves regardless of their usefulness to humans.

Our culture tells us we have evolved beyond nature. That we have evolved from mere bipedal apes and into something different altogether.

The standard atheist philosophy is that we went from Australopithecus to Homo Habilis to Homo Erectus to Homo Sapiens. And then we took a mighty leap, we left nature behind us and we became Homo Civilization.

Civilization Cannot Transcend Biology

There would not be a single biologist on the planet who would argue that we are not a member of Earth’s ecosystem. We may be the most intelligent, the most resourceful and the most self conscious creature on Earth but the fact remains that we are still a creature of the Earth. We cannot evolve beyond that.

We are but a mere creature of Earth.

We can create the grandest and most complex societies but eventually we will die and rot in the ground like everything else.

Evolution wasn’t a race to see who could evolve the quickest in order to develop the means to enslave the rest of the world and claim ownership of it. The existence of our species is no more or no less valuable to the ecosystem as a whole. We are part of the food chain but we do not own the food chain. Being at the top does not mean we can deny any other species the right to life.

Our safe position at the top of the food chain requires the rest below us to be functioning effectively. We have every right to compete for resources with other species but we have no right to enslave them or to annihilate them because they compete for our food.

The World Wasn't Made For Man

With an atheist philosophy man is merely an equal among the creatures of the earth. We cannot say the world is made for man any more than we could say the world was made for jellyfish or for antelope or for plankton. Evolution has created a diverse ecosystem and it is due to the diversity that it is flourishing and surviving.

Being merely one animal we have no grounds for claiming ownership of the earth and all its resources. Yet that is exactly what we do.

We think that being the most evolved means that the world belongs to us. It is that belief that leads to actions which cause the extinction of 200 species a day.

It is a gradual weakening of the ecosystem that will ultimately lead to crisis for all.

With God out of the equation then the responsibility of the Earth rests entirely on the shoulders of the creatures that inhabit it. And more specifically on the culture that is destroying it. The planet could function and has in the past functioned perfectly well without human civilization living on it.

Our challenge is to find a way to fit back in with the community of life. To live as a part of the world, not apart from the world. This doesn't need to be a new age spiritual pursuit. It can be an atheist philosophy.

Related Articles From Deep Ecology Hub:

• Deep Environmental Philosophy For Monotheists
• The Story Of Civilization
• We Think Evolutionary Law Doesn't Apply To Us
• The Great Forgetting
• Increased Leisure Time Is Not A Characteristic Of Civilization

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