Ethics & the Environment

Abstract:

Ecological Holism—and 'radical environmentalism' more broadly—has often attracted the charge of embodying 'ecofascism.' The reason is that holism allegedly implies that it would sometimes be morally permissible—and perhaps even morally required—for fundamental individual human interests to be trumped by the interests of the ecological whole. This paper is an attempt to clarify what 'ecofascism' precisely is, and which form of it is invoked to make this objection plausible. From here, the paper goes on to argue that given the extent of the impending environmental catastrophe, even the most austere anthropocentrist is in ever-growing danger of becoming a de facto ecofascist, rendering the initial objection effectively redundant.