International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—Compelling evidence reveals that exponential growth of human activities as a result of science and technological advancement over the past few decades has been driving planetary change at an unprecedented pace and magnitude. The cumulative anthropogenic environmental pressure threatening human long-term existence calls for urgent and immediate mitigating measures. The challenge here is to raise human environmental awareness based on an empirical assessment of human-driven environmental changes, and to examine the moral causes of environmentally destructive human practices rooted in the Baconian stance of human supremacy over nature. To orient further analysis towards this line of thought, the article attempts to craft a philosophical framework of nature drawing from Albert Schweitzer’s reverence for life ethics that will deepen our understanding of human environmental behaviour and ethical engagement with, and stewardship responsibility to, nature. It is concluded that nurturing a sustainable world requires the human race to uphold strong ethical commitment to protect and conserve non-human nature.

Index Terms—Albert Schweitzer, biocentrism, conquest of nature, ecocentrism, Francis Bacon, reverence for life ethics.

Choy Yee Keong is with the Faculty of Economics, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan (e-mail: choy3293@ gmail.com).

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Cite: Choy Yee Keong, "Nurturing a Sustainable Earth System in the Age of Science and Technology: From Francis Bacon’s Conquest of Nature to Albert Schweitzer’s Ethics of Reverence for Life," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 110-114, 2018.