The advent of eco-criticism coupled with a concern for ecological wellbeing engendered
varied approaches to the twin notions of “nature” and “culture”, which are usually linked,
respectively, with “non-anthropocentrism” and “anthropocentrism”. Phillips (1999, p. 577)
asserts the interrelatedness of nature and culture in general: “Nature is thoroughly implicated
in culture, and culture is thoroughly implicated in nature.” Anthropocentrism chiefly
promotes the interests of man as a matter of primary significance asserting that
humans are worthy of moral consideration for their own sake and that we
should preserve the environment solely for the sake of the humans who inhabit
it, and on the other hand, approaches described variously as ‘biocentric,’ ‘ecocentric,’
even ‘cosmocentric’ which ascribe moral considerability to some or all
of non-human nature. (Hughes, 2000, pp. 16-17)
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