Anthropocentrism

Encyclopedia of Science, The, October, 2005

Anthropocentrism is a world view that considers humans to be the most important factor and value in the Universe. In contrast, the biocentric world view considers humans to be no more than a particular species of animal , without greater intrinsic value than any of the other species of organisms that occur on Earth . The ecocentric world view incorporates the biocentric one, while additionally proposing that humans are a natural component of Earth's ecosystem , and that humans have an absolute and undeniable requirement of the products and services of ecosystems in order to sustain themselves and their societies.

There are a number of important implications of the anthropocentric view, which strongly influence the ways in which humans interpret their relationships with other species and with nature and ecosystems. Some of these are discussed below:

The anthropocentric view suggests that humans have greater intrinsic value than other species. A result of ...