Ecocentrism

Ecocentrism is an environmental ethic that assigns moral significance to ecological wholes, including species, ecosystems, and the biosphere, rather than judging nature only by its value to humans.

Environmental ethics: The branch of ethics that examines human duties and values concerning the natural environment. Ecocentrism is one position within this broader debate about moral duties to nature.
Anthropocentrism: An ethical or philosophical outlook that treats human interests as the primary or sole source of value. Ecocentrism rejects making human interests the exclusive measure of nature's value.
Conservation biology: A scientific discipline that studies biodiversity and develops methods to protect species, habitats, and ecosystems. Ecocentric values can support conserving ecological communities beyond immediate human benefit.
Aldo Leopold: An American ecologist and conservationist whose writing helped shape modern land ethics. His land ethic makes the biotic community a direct object of moral concern.
Intrinsic value: Value something has in itself, rather than value derived solely from its usefulness to something else. Ecocentrism treats ecological entities as morally significant beyond their usefulness to humans.
Biocentrism: An environmental ethic that grants inherent moral significance to living organisms. Biocentrism centers individual living beings, while ecocentrism also values ecological wholes.
Ecosystem-based management: A management approach that considers whole ecosystems, their interactions, and human activities together. Its system-wide focus can translate ecocentric concern into resource-management decisions.
Arne Næss: A Norwegian philosopher who founded the deep ecology movement in the early 1970s. His deep ecology helped popularize a non-anthropocentric environmental outlook related to ecocentrism.
Moral standing: The status of an entity whose interests or existence warrant direct moral consideration. Ecocentrism extends moral consideration to ecological wholes and their members.
Sentientism: The ethical view that the capacity for conscious experience grounds moral consideration. Sentientism ties moral standing to experience; ecocentrism can include nonsentient systems.

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