Arne Næss

Who was Arne Næss?

Arne Dekke Eide Næss was a Norwegian philosopher who coined the term Deep Ecology and was an important intellectual and inspirational figure within the environmental movement of the late twentieth century.

Næss averred that while western environmental groups of the early post-war period had raised public awareness of the environmental issues of the time they had largely failed to have insight into and address what he argued were the underlying cultural and philosophical background to these problems. Naess believed that the environmental crisis of the twentieth century had arisen due to certain unspoken philosophical presuppositions and attitudes within modern western developed societies which remained unacknowledged. He thereby distinguished between what he called deep and shallow ecological thinking. In contrast to the prevailing utilitarian pragmatism of western businesses and governments he advocated that a true understanding of nature would give rise to a point of view that appreciates the value of biological diversity understanding that each living thing is dependent on the existence of other creatures in the complex web of interrelationships that is the natural world.