Abstract

There is no need for objective values to create an environmental ethic. The case against objective values is not new, but its force is generally ignored by advocates of environmentalism. These arguments in conjunction with an error theory that explains how the false belief in objective value is built into moral language form the case against objective values. The error theory also shows that deep ecology environmentalism is a regressive, repressive, religious dogma rather than philosophy or ethics. The intuitions of environmentalism amount to worship of homeostasis, reducing environmental ethics to destruction through 'preservation.' ;As an alternative to environmentalism, deep technology is conscious conservation, a byproduct of reconciling the human condition with nature. Such a reconciliation is energized by creative, complex scientific models of nature, i.e. myths and metaphors used to assist in the scientific modeling of nature. These scientific models serve as the core to a mythology that reconciles the human condition with nature. The human condition reveals the nature of human socialization as an incongruent synergism. The incongruent synergism is a manifestation of the symbolic clash between Apollo and Dionysus. In other words, Apollonian and Dionysian tendencies constitute the human condition, which is the source of the human spirit. This spirituality is not otherworldly or external to humans; it is the internal, dispositional byproduct of the Apollonian and Dionysian tensions, and a reconciliation of these tendencies is what defines the moral life. The deep technology reconciliation is a fragile, tempered victory by Apollo over Dionysus that prevents Apollonian stagnation and Dionysian dismemberment. The deep technology platform is a practical hypothesis for a creative, living, scientifically based model of nature. The proffered planks of the deep technology platform serve as a challenge to creative minds to develop a creative mythology that can inject a deep technology spirituality into the whole platform