Ecology as a Challenge to Philosophy

Abstract

In the 19th century ecology comprised the connections between organisms and the outer world surrounding them. Meanwhile our understanding of it has widened. At present we understand by ecology the man-nature ratio as a whole. With that understanding, ecology has received philosophical dimensions. These concern the responsibility of men for a humane shaping of nature, the understanding of nature in the dispute between humanism and antihumanism, the preservation of the natural conditions of human existence, and the protection of nature. In those of his publications I know, P. Feyerabend is interested in this field of problems. (...)