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Ecology, Community and Lifestyle

1976 · by Arne Næss

Book version of his “ecosophy”: from the norm of self-realisation, understood as identification with ever wider circles of life, it derives an ethics and politics of simple living, local community and nonviolent change; English edition revised with David Rothenberg (1989).

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Introduction

Næss published “Økologi, samfunn og livsstil” in Oslo in 1976, based on his lectures; it went through several editions. The English version, “Ecology, Community and Lifestyle” (1989), was translated and substantially revised by David Rothenberg. The book sets out Næss’s personal “ecosophy T”, a normative system derived from the single norm “Self-realisation!”, understood as identification with ever wider circles of living beings, and connects it with ecology, economics, technology and politics. It defends simple living, local communities and nonviolent forms of action, drawing on Spinoza and Gandhi. It is the fullest statement of deep ecology by its founder.

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