从西雅图的信看美洲印第安人的自然观

原始民族的自然观对现代社会在面对环境危机时重新思考人与自然的关系可以提供一些启发。从 1 9世纪一位印第安酋长的信可以看出 ,美洲印第安人的自然观有不少与西方当代环境哲学的一些重要思想 ,特别是生态学关于要破除人与自然间疆界的主张和生态系统中存在着丰富的生命联系的洞见 ,以及生物中心论与生态中心论提倡的尊重生命的思想有很多契合之处

The American Indians'''' View of Nature in the Letter by a Seattle Chieftain

The conceptions held by nature of primitive peoples can provide some inspiration for modern societies as they re-think the relationship between human beings and nature in the face of the environmental crisis. A letter by a 19th-century Indian chief helps to show that the American Indians' conception of nature is consistent with some important ideas in contemporary Western environmental philosophy, especially the position of deep ecology that the boundary between human beings and nature ought to be broken, its insight that there are rich interconnections of life in the ecosystem, and the advocacy for the respect of life by biocentricism and ecocentricism.