The Philosophy Book

282

THINK LIKE

A MOUNTAIN

ARNE NAESS (1912–2009)

IN CONTEXT

BRANCH

Ethics

APPROACH

Environmental philosophy

BEFORE

C. 1660 Benedictus Spinoza

develops his philosophy of

nature as an extension of God.

1949 Aldo Leopold’s The Sand

County Almanac is published.

1960 British scientist James

Lovelock first proposes his

“Gaia hypothesis”, exploring

the natural world as a single,

self-regulating system.

1962 American biologist

Rachel Carson publishes

Silent Spring, which becomes

an important influence on

Naess’s thinking.

AFTER

1984 Zen master and teacher

Robert Aitken Roshi combines

deep ecology with the ideas

of the Japanese Buddhist

philosopher D ̄ogen.

T

he injunction to think like

a mountain has become

closely associated with the

concept of “deep ecology”—a term

coined in 1973 by the Norwegian

philosopher and environmental

campaigner, Arne Naess. He uses

the term to stress his belief that we

must first recognize we are part of

nature, and not separate from it, if

we are to avoid environmental

catastrophe. But the notion of

thinking like a mountain goes back

to 1949, when it was expressed by

American ecologist Aldo Leopold

in The Sand County Almanac.

Working as a forester in New

Mexico in the early part of the

20th century, Leopold shot a female

wolf on the mountainside. “We

reached the old wolf in time to

watch a fierce green fire dying in

her eyes," he wrote. “I realized then,

and have known ever since, that

there was something new to me in

those eyes—something known only

to her and to the mountain.” It was

from this experience that Leopold

came to the idea that we should

think like a mountain, recognizing

not just our needs or those of our

fellow humans, but those of the

Thinking like

a mountain is...

We must think about the

long-term interests of the

environment as a whole.

...realizing that we are part

of the biosphere.

...realizing our responsibilities

to all other living things.