5

The sections about biocentrism are meant to present two contrasting ideas, however, I think that I agree with both viewpoints in that there are parts of each that I agree with. First of all, biocentrism is defined as the idea that all life has meaning and value (79). This is a pretty simple statement that I can agree with. Albert Schweitzer is introduced to us as someone who was not concerned with saving nature as much as he was with merely doing good not evil. Thus, he wrote Reverence for Life in which he states that showing reverence toward all life is key. In essence, it is wrong to destroy nature because that is not a sacred act. I agree with Schweitzer because he also goes on to say how evil is a mystery and how his task is not to solve all problems. I feel that he is stressing the importance of each person doing their own small part which will, in turn, help solve the problem as a whole. It is all about not avoiding our responsibility and living up to our role in society.

Aldo Leopold's viewpoint is expressed which also relates to biocentrism. He believes that respect for life is no longer enough. Taking into account the whole community of nature--we must care for the harmony of all life. Therefore, we must balance the whole system of nature and view ourselves as living in accordance with nature. I can agree with Leopold, however, the idea of coexisting does not seem to be working in today's world. As discussed before in the text, humans tend to have feelings of superiority over animals which leads them to do whatever they want in order to gain personal happiness. I guess you could say that goes along with "thinking like a mountain" in that humans think they are these huge mountains towering over the rest of the world and all else is inferior....but I don't think that's exactly what Leopold meant.

In closing, although I can agree with parts of each argument, I can't agree with Kohak's statement about suppressing the human population because it is the source of ecological problems. Life is a precious gift - all life for that matter, humans and animals. I do not think we can think that killing (animals or humans) will be a good way to stop the ecological problems.