Anthropocentrism

Abstract

The term anthropocentrism refers to any view that asserts the centrality, primacy, or superiority of human beings in the scheme of things that claims the purpose of nature is to serve human needs and wants; or that posits the greater value of human life and interests relative to the lives and interests, if any, of nonhumans. Such views are highly characteristic of modern civilization and are frequently implicated in discussions of the world environmental crisis, the abuse of animals, and threats of species extinction. From the anthropocentric standpoint, other species - and nature as a whole - exist in a subservient relationship to our own species. This relationship may be rationalized by some kind of metanarrative, such as a story about divinely ordered creation (and humans' bearing the image of God), the great chain of being, or a putative evolutionary hierarchy, or it may merely be asserted as the natural outcome of human development and exploitative skill. In other words, the concept of human superiority may be understood in either a 'de jure' (justified) or a 'de facto' (happenstance) manner.