The transformative value of ecological pragmatism. An introduction to the work of Bryan G. Norton

Abstract

In the space of only a few years, Bryan Norton has become one of the essential actors of environmental ethics through his launching of what has become one of its dominant trends: environmental pragmatism. Environmental pragmatism refuses to take a stance in the dispute between the defenders of anthropocentrist ethics and the supporters of nonanthropocentrist ethics. Instead, Norton prefers to distinguish between "strong anthropocentrism" and "weak-or extended-anthropocentrism" and develops the idea that only the latter is capable of not under-estimating the diversity of instrumental values that humans may derive from the natural world. The practical difference between these two kinds of theories is considerable. © Author(s) 2008.