Anthropocentrism

We are also concerned here with the idea of anthropocentrism. Anthropocentrism is a philosophical viewpoint arguing that human beings are the central or most significant entities in the world. This is a basic belief embedded in many Western religions and philosophies. Anthropocentrism is thus a current in the philosophic discipline of environmental ethics that perceives nature as the human habitat which has a merely instrumental value insofar as the wellbeing of present and future generations depends on its preservation. In this line of thinking, clearly what is considered worthy of being sustained is human well-being rather than the environment  (Breuer et al. 2019).

Apel coined the notion of Macroethics in 1990 – referring to human-nature relationships and assuming that accumulated human activities can damage the environment globally (Breuer et al. 2019). 

Ecological, social and economic developments are interrelated (Keitsch 2018). 

Human ecosystems are analogous to living, breathing organisms, whereby the overall health of the human ecosystems influences the health of the populations and individuals who are part of the biotic components of the system (Wilson 2009).

It is logically impossible to derive ethical guidelines from nature. Ethics relates to human values.  However, exploring natural system characteristics such as interdependence, diversity, complexity and their affiliation with social values such as responsibility, openness, correspondence can help integrate biocentric and anthropocentric ideas for the benefit of the SDGs. An ethical connotation of diversity can address recognition and appreciation of multiple cultures and of perspectives from various stakeholders (Keitsch 2018).