Environmental science and environmental philosophy — part 1 environmental science and environmentalism

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Abstract
Several recent critiques of Western, science‐based, technological society call for a shift away from the present paradigm of reductionism to one of holism. One manifestation of this would be the development of a new kind of science which is non‐interventionist, non‐manipulative, and much more environmentally aware. The object of Part 1 of this paper is to assess the development of Environmental Science over the last twenty years, in order to test how far it fulfills the above role. Environmental Science is therefore considered in the wider context of Environmentalism, and its relationship to this larger social movement is examined. As presently constituted, most U.K. Environmental Science/Studies courses are part of what O'Riordan1 calls Technocentrism, a brand of Environmentalism which subscribes to concepts of rationality, management and control. As such it can be characterised as part of the environmentalism of the present social paradigm. Part 2 of this paper, which explores the nature of (Environmental) Science in a possible future social paradigm, will appear in a future issue of this Journal.

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