Ecology and the poverty of humanism: a critical systems perspective

This paper explores what we might mean by the terms ‘humanism’ and ‘the ecological perspective’ using a new kind of systems model. It is argued that humanism represents an uncritical acceptance of boundaries that always prioritise individual human beings, human societies and/or human communicative systems in analyses. The contention is that this can no longer be considered legitimate. If an uncritically prioritised boundary is always placed around the human element, then that which is seen as lying beyond the human boundary (our ‘environment’) will inevitably be marginalised, and will come to be regarded as profane. What is profane is subject to abuse, much of which is ritualised. Because we now realise that there is no real separation between ‘us’ (human beings) and ‘it’ (the environment), this is not ‘just’ environmental abuse – it is self-abuse. Our ‘selves’ are wider than the uncritically prioritised boundaries of our human bodies. We therefore have to look for an alternative to humanism. One such alternative is the ecological perspective which allows choice between boundaries and refuses to prioritise the human element uncritically.