THEORY
intrinsic value. In practical terms, it is questionable whether the individu-
alistic focus on the self can provide a basis for the broader political trans-
formation of society that greens seek. If the aim is to reach out to a wider
human audience – to educate and persuade people of the need to raise their
ecological consciousness – then holistic perspectives need to do a better job.
One characteristic of deep ecology writing is that it is often couched in
mystical or spiritual language. Indeed, Devall ( 1990 )explicitly describes the
experiential approach as evocative of what he admits is ‘primarily a spiritual-
religious movement’ (p. 160); we are encouraged ‘to think like mountains’.
This mysticism may appeal to some people, but many will find it alienating.
Overall, holistic arguments have potentially far-reaching implications:
removing narrow human interests from centre-stage, attributing value to
non-human entities and nurturing a new ecological consciousness. They
represent a radical enterprise that seeks to push back the boundaries of con-
ventional political philosophy by replacing anthropocentric moral reasoning
with an ecocentric moral sensibility. Whether or not we judge them success-
ful in this task, they draw our attention to the importance of developing
an ecological consciousness that will encourage us to alter our relationship
with nature. Holism also shows that concepts developed in traditional lib-
eral moral philosophy do not always serve us well when we are considering
non-human nature. Each attempt to develop an ethical code of conduct has
foundered badly. Yet green political theory might benefit from identifying
aclear set of ethical principles to provide a framework for laws and poli-
cies which, in turn, could act as a powerful legitimating force to change
attitudes and behaviour towards nature. ‘Moral extensionism’ is a different
approach to producing such a code.Critical question 2
Is the quest for an ethical code of conduct based on the interdependence of
nature doomed?◗ Moral extensionism
‘Moral extensionism’ broadens the ‘moral community’ to include non-
human entities, notably animals, based on the possession of some critical
property such as sentience or the capacity to reason. The ‘expanding circle’
of moral concern is usually justified on the grounds that the morally rel-
evant property – sentience, consciousness, rationality – is a capacity that
humans share with non-humans.^10◗ Animal liberationism
Animal liberationism is the best-known example of moral extensionism. It
might appear surprising that the animal liberation literature is at the mar-
gins of green political thought.^11 After all, an advocate of animal rights