European roots of north american environmentalism - Rousseau's influence on the new world

Authors

  • Maria José Varandas Universidade de Lisboa

Keywords:

Human/nature connection, natural beauty, metaphysics of beauty, alienation, conservationism vs preservationism, environmental ethics

Abstract

This paper shows the influence of Rousseau on the New England transcendentalism, and its direct implications on Muir's environmental philosophy, which has launched the master guidelines of Environmental Ethics in the 20th century. According to this, Rousseau (together with Kant, Shaftesbury, Schelling and Schleiermacher), defined the roots and theoretical foundations of North American environmentalism - nature’s primacy, the criticism of an materialistic conception of civilization and progress, the rejection of an anthropocentric worldview, the unity of man and nature, the search for true and good, and the ethical ground of human nature.

Author Biography

Maria José Varandas, Universidade de Lisboa

Investigadora no Centro de Filosofia da Universidade de Lisboa.

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Published

2014-04-23