From “Deep” to “Dark”: The Revision of the Anthropological Foundations of an Environmental Entity

The paper focuses on the philosophical foundations of the problem of the relationship between humans and the environment. The authors analyze the interpretations existing in the contemporary intellectual discourse. The authors search for an adequate concept of a current ecological subject. Based on the study of the principles of “deep ecology” by A. Naess and the main provisions of the “dark ecology” project by T. Morton, the authors reveal the critical aspects of the criticism of ecological egocentrism. It consists in the fact that humanity always thought of themselves as the center and the highest link in the evolutionary development of the Universe, not recognizing the autonomy of nature. Moreover, all values projected onto nature are initially anthropocentric and presuppose an orientation towards serving people’s interests. The authors argue that a complimentary program of approaches is the call for the transformation of ecological thinking and its ethical reorientation. However, these approaches have fundamental differences. “Deep ecology” focuses on recognizing the intrinsic value of all life forms on the Earth and proposes a strategy of active, responsible attitude to the ecosystem. In turn, “dark ecology” removes the concept of “nature” from the ecological discourse and orientates a person to the praxis of non-interference and passive, contemplative existence in the world of complex “strange” objects.