Glossary of Ecosophy

Welcome to the glossary of ecosophy

Welcome to the grokkist’s guide to ecosophy, a glossary woven from the ideas, thinkers, and concepts that shape our exploration of ecosophy—a term that, at its root, means “home-wisdom.” Originally coined by Arne Naess in the context of Deep Ecology and later reinterpreted by Félix Guattari, we adopt it here as the most precise formulation of what this course is about: cultivating wisdom (sophia) about our shared earthly home (ecos).

This glossary accompanies the Ecosophy course, a journey through philosophy, ethics, and ecological thought—where ancient wisdom and contemporary critique converge to help us reimagine our relationship with the world. Here, you’ll find key concepts unpacked and connected, from absurdism to panpsychism, technologism to Deep Ecology. Some of these terms are cornerstones of eco-philosophy, others are provocations—threads that tug at assumptions and invite deeper inquiry.

Like all living lexicons, this one is an ongoing conversation. Use it as a reference, a rabbit hole, or a reflective prompt. Above all, let it help you grok the terrain of ecosophical thought—so that together, we might learn to live wisely in this world we call home.

Last updated 28 February 2025

Absurdism

A theme emerging in the context of existentialism and closely associated with the French thinker Albert Camus, absurdism is about acknowledging the apparent irrationality and meaninglessness of existence, and responding to that meaninglessness with one’s own creation of meaning. Why do anything? There’s no reason — and yet we make up a reason, and that is reason enough. There’s no injunction from God to do X, Y or Z, no moral instructions inscribed in the fabric of reality. And yet we can’t function without such instructions — and so we make them up! This is absurd — and this is what it is. Camus illustrates this perspective via the figure of Sisyphus, a Greek mythic character punished in the underworld by perpetually rolling a bolder up a hill, only for it to fall again, and then repeating the process. All our purposes are doomed to dissolve again into their meaninglessness — and yet do them anyway. In our context we might ask, “Why care about the Earth and our fellow creatures? There’s no reason” — Correct, there’s no reason. But just do it anyway, as a thing to do — and this is absurd, and this is humanity.

Animism

From the Latin “anima” (spirit, breath), this refers to philosophies, religions and beliefs that attribute the existence of soul, spirit and/or subjective experience to many or all objects in nature, even if those objects are things that are often considered “inanimate” (like a rock or a stream). It is closely related to, though not identical with, panpsychism.

Anarchism

A political philosophy that rejects hierarchically imposed authority and the institutions that enforce it, advocating instead for freely self-organizing forms of social and political order.

Animal Liberation

An influential book by the philosopher Peter Singer, originally published in 1975, arguing for the moral consideration of non-human animals on the basis that they too, like humans, have a capacity for suffering. By using the experience of pain and pleasure as the basis for its ethical framework, this belongs to the tradition of hedonistic ethics also represented by Epicureanism and utilitarianism.

Ataraxia

Literally a state of “not-being-shaken-up”, this is the term used by the ancient Epicureans to describe the state of optimal well-being, and the highest good. The Epicureans were hedonists, advocating the ethical primacy of pleasure. But pleasure for them was not about piling on ecstatic experiences; rather, it was about avoiding things that cause mental turbulence. Thus ataraxia, freedom from such turbulence, is to be obtained by pursuing “the simple life.”

Atom

These are the fundamental bits of matter that Epicureans and other ancient materialists took to be the building blocks of existence. “Atom” literally means “that which cannot be divided” – hence the concept differs from atoms in the modern sense, which, contrary to their name, can in fact be divided into subatomic parts. The Epicureans held that the entire material world is the result of the random collision and combination of these indivisible bits as they tumble through the infinite void.

Anthropocentric

From the Greek “anthropos” (human), this refers to worldviews, attitudes and philosophies that place humankind at the ethical center of the natural world. The eco-philosophical school of Deep Ecology, for instance, accused the early modern environmental movement of having an “anthropocentric” emphasis, since it focused on the negative effects of environmental degradation on human populations, rather than considering the perspective of non-human organisms and ecosystems.

Back to the Land

An agrarian movement that has had various manifestations from the 20th Century to the present, advocating for a return to small-scale, community-based approaches to farming and land management, and a rejection of the conventional values of industrial society. Our course has explored an analogy between this movement and Epicureanism.

Communitarianism

This may refer to any philosophy or ethical framework that places value on the life and health of the community, equal to or over that of the individual. It is often associated with socialism and anarchism.

Consequentialist

By contrast with deontological ethics, “consequentialist” ethical systems are those that make the consequence or outcome of an action the basis for its moral validity. In a general sense, this is the claim that “the ends justify the means”. Epicurean hedonism, for instance, is consequentialist in that it’s all about minimizing pain and maximizing pleasure. Nothing is inherently right or wrong, it’s just right or wrong insofar as it diminishes pain or produces pleasure for a particular living being, or living beings in general. See also Utilitarianism.

Cynicism

A philosophical school of the ancient Greco-Roman world that emphasized the impossibility of human society attaining to virtue. Even if a given philosopher has insight into how society could be ideally organized, the project of bringing that vision into reality is hopeless; hence the school’s attitude is related to our modern use of the word “cynical” in the sense of having a distrustful or pessimistic attitude toward a situation, or human affairs in general. Its founder Diogenes of Sinope was known for so radically rejecting humanity that he behaved in a “dog-like” (cynicos) manner.

Dark Ecology

This recent eco-philosophical movement, originating with thinker Timothy Morton, centers around the slogan “ecology without nature”. Morton critiques the tendency of environmental discourse to present a pristine, Romanticized “Nature” that humans have somehow ruined and need to recover. Rather, everything is nature. The radical consequence of this is that ecological policy has to start from a place of radically accepting the strange interrelatedness of all beings, even including the hydrocarbon chains of microplastics in our bloodstreams and rivers, and the nuclear radiation permeating our atmosphere ever since the first atomic bomb was tested. There is no Disney-channel, sunshine-and-flowers Nature to go back to — and even thinking that way, Morton claims, is counterproductive. This is especially applicable to the aesthetic dimensions of ecological discourse.

Deep Ecology

A philosophical movement originated by Norwegian thinker Arne Naess. Reacting to the “shallow ecology” of the environmental movement in the mid-20th century, Deep Ecology sought to reposition ecological philosophy in terms of the organic interrelation of all living entities, rather than just humans in their environment. A related and in some ways synonymous term would be “non-anthropocentric”.

Deontological

From the Greek deon meaning “what is right, correct, fitting”, this term refers to an ethical system that derives its validity from the inherent rightness of its moral proposition(s). Something is just inherently “right” (or wrong) by virtue of some intrinsic property — e.g. “because God said so” (the Ten Commandments), or “because of the inherent nature of the human mind and rationality itself” (Kant’s moral imperative). It can be contrasted with consequentialist ethics.

Descartes, René

An extremely influential 17th-Century French philosopher who held that mind and matter are two distinct substances. (Contrast this Cartesian dualism with panpsychism and its contrary materialism). Mind is a substance that thinks and freely acts; matter is a substance that just is, and is deterministically acted upon. The latter, he argues, obeys strictly mechanical laws – as such, his theory provides a basis for the modern physical sciences. Relatedly, some point to Descartes’ thought as a pivotal, if accidental, instigator of modern ecological crises. His claim that only humans possess mind, and that the rest of nature, even other animals, is merely a mechanical process, has been seen as the basis for ethical indifference to the non-human world in Eurocentric thought and policy. See anthropocentrism and mechanism.

Diogenes of Sinope

This 4th century BCE philosopher is considered the founder of cynicism, so called for his “dog-like” (cynicos) behavior, in which he engaged as a deliberate and performative rejection of society. He is alleged to have lived a life of voluntary poverty, homelessness and violent rejection of social norms. Like Plato, he was influenced by Socrates’ emphasis on ethics and virtue, but rejected Plato’s attempts to systematize the virtuous life and instantiate it in human social organization.

Dionysius II of Syracuse

This 4th-Century BCE Sicilian ruler was a pupil of Plato, providing the latter with an opportunity to try out the training of a real-life philosopher-king. Unfortunately, the young tyrant proved to be quite recalcitrant, and Plato’s experiment was a failure.

Ecosophy

Literally “home-wisdom”, this is a term used by Arne Naess to characterize the philosophy of Deep Ecology. Independently, the term was also employed by postmodern philosopher Félix Guattari. Our course has appropriated ecosophy as the most precise formulation for what we’re up to: cultivating Wisdom (sophia) about the terrestrial-universal Home (ecos).

Environment

Literally “that which surrounds”, this term originally had a more general meaning, and only came to refer to the surrounding ecological conditions in the mid-20th century.

Ecos

The “eco-” prefix comes from the Greek οἶκος (ecos), meaning “house” or “home”.

Ecofeminism

“Ecofeminism” can refer to a range of concepts in the intersection of feminist theory and environmental philosophy. Most pertinent to our discussions here is the notion that there is a link between capitalism and patriarchy as intertwined forms of domination, expressing themselves in both economic and environmental contexts. In Staying Alive and other works, Vandana Shiva asserts this link, as well as asserting an essential link between femininity and care for the land. Other thinkers in the ecofeminist tradition push back against such “essentialism”, noting that the gender-associations of such terms as “Earth” and “Matter” with “Mother” and “Female” are constructions that are to be critiqued or rejected.

Ecology

Coined in the late 19th century by German zoologist Ernst Haeckel, “ecology” can have both broad and narrow meanings. In the narrow sense, it refers to the modern physical science that studies how living organisms interact with their environment. But in the broader sense, it refers to the philosophical study of the whole web of organic relationships that constitute nature.

Empiricism

A philosophical theory that emphasizes the primacy of sense-experience. In its most radical manifestations, it would claim that everything we know is ultimately derived from our senses. It may be contrasted with rationalism.

Empedocles

A Sicilian Presocratic philosopher from the 5th century BCE, credited with the conception of the four classical elements (earth, water, air and fire). Like other philosophers of this early period, he was equal parts thinker, poet, showman and cult leader.

Epicureanism

The school of philosophy founded by 4th century BCE Athenian Epicurus. On the basis of the materialist claim that everything in existence is reducible to the random conglomeration of atoms in the void, the Epicureans held that pleasure is the highest good (hedonism), and that this consists in the absence of pain. Because of this, Epicurus and his followers rejected the hustle and bustle of Athenian political life, and lived a simple and communitarian one. The school remained a prominent philosophical force in the Greco-Roman world for centuries.

Ethics of Care

Ethics of Care, often specifically associated with feminist and environmental philosophy, reconfigures traditional Western conceptions of the foundations of ethics. Rather than being derived from metaphysics (the ultimate nature of things) or epistemology (our knowledge of things), ethics is rooted in the primary and immediate encounter with the Other. The very presence of the other — another person, another creature, even another object — implies a sort of relationship and mutual moral responsibility.

Existentialism

A philosophical current emerging in the 19th and 20th centuries, characterized by addressing existence “as it is”, rejecting the assumptions of rationalism in the foregoing philosophical tradition. We’re just here, existing, and there is no overarching “meaning” or “purpose” — except the meaning(s) that we as individuals create for ourselves. A closely related concept is existential absurdism.

Hedonism

Any ethical theory that asserts that Pleasure (from the Greek hedone) is the basis for ethical conduct. Connotatively, “hedonistic” tends to evoke “sex, drugs and rock’n’roll” – in philosophy however, this is not necessarily the case. Though sometimes it is. See Epicureanism and utilitarianism.

Holon

From the Greek word for “whole”, a holon is anything that is simultaneously a whole unto itself, and also a part of something else. The term was coined by Arthur Koestler and significantly developed by the Integral Theory of Ken Wilber and others. Individual organisms can be seen as holons – entities comprised of communities of smaller entities, and combining with others to comprise larger ones. For instance, I myself am a community of cells, those cells of molecules, those molecules of atoms, etc. – and in turn, I (may) form part of a larger ecosystem which can also be considered an independent entity in its own right. Thus, instead of “hierarchies” one may think in terms of “holarchies”.

Idealism

In philosophy, specifically in metaphysics, this refers to the notion that mind is prior to matter – or that indeed everything in existence is ultimately a product of the mind, or of one universal mind or spirit-substance. It is not to be confused with the word “idealist” in the more colloquial sense, which refers to naïve social or political optimism.

Marcus Aurelius

A Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher from the 2nd century CE, known for his journal of philosophical musings now called the Meditations. A plausible candidate for a rare realization of Plato’s philosopher-king – though while he did do both of those things, it is debatable whether he did them simultaneously, and in a manner consistent with the synthesis that Plato prescribed.

Materialism

A philosophy that holds that everything in existence is ultimately reducible to matter (rather than mind, spirit, soul or some other immaterial substance). In many ways this is the fundamental assumption of the modern physical sciences. It is not to be confused with the social behavior of placing eminent value on commodities and physical comforts, though some may argue that that phenomenon is related to this metaphysical attitude. It is to be contrasted with panpsychism and idealism.

Mechanism

Associated with Descartes, Newton and other early modern thinkers, this refers to the notion that the physical world obeys observable, regular and predictable patterns. In the same way that we can understand how a machine works by seeing how its parts interact, and thus even predict how it will behave, so we can observe and make reliable predictions about the functioning of the universe. This outlook underpins modern physics, and in turn the advances that made possible the industrial revolution. Some argue that it is precisely this attitude – that all of nature is effectively a machine – that also underlies ecological devastation. Challenges to the mechanistic view are mounted by philosophy (how can mechanism account for subjective experience, feeling, etc.?) and by science itself (quantum mechanical phenomena appear to defy our very notions of observation and prediction, etc.)

Metaphysics

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that deals with the ultimate principles and categories of existence – “being”, “time”, “space”, “mind”, “matter”, “existence” itself. While inquiries into such things have traditionally been central to Western philosophy, modern philosophy has in some cases given up such discussion, and “metaphysics” has sometimes become an unwelcome subject. Recently however there has been a return to metaphysics in some contexts, arguably because the ecological crisis has made us aware of the need to radically reexamine the fundamental concepts by which we orient ourselves to the world.

Metafication

The layering of self-presentation and virtual re-presentation to the point that it obscures reality and our ability to fully be.

I coined the term metafication to describe the strange and suffocating effect of living in an era where self-presentation stacks upon itself in endless layers, where the reflection overtakes the thing reflected. It’s not just mediation—it’s a recursive loop in which every act, every identity, every moment is recontextualized, captioned, analyzed, and optimized until what was once immediate and vital becomes something else: content.

This process is at the heart of the viral-vital dilemma. Social media incentivizes metafication by rewarding representation over reality, branding over being. We don’t just experience things—we document them, shape them for an audience, package them into narratives that suit the logic of the algorithm. And so, the more we strive to be seen, the harder it becomes to see—to actually feel, think, and move in the world without first passing through the hall of mirrors we’ve built for ourselves.

I don’t exempt myself from this dynamic. I’ve felt it in my own work—the impulse to turn my own thoughts and creations into an ever-tightening spiral of commentary upon commentary, until I can barely tell where the thing itself begins and where my response to it ends. This is the trap of metafication: even the critique of it risks becoming just another layer. So the real question becomes—how do we break the loop? How do we step out of the endless chain of self-referentiality and into something that simply is?

Mysticism

This refers to the belief in, or pursuit of, union with the Divine or the Absolute. It is an aspect of many religions and philosophies.

Nature

Like ecology, the word “nature” can have both broad and narrow definitions. Like its Greek equivalent physis, from which we get “physics”, the word literally means “process” – the process of all the ongoing and interrelated things in existence. In the narrower sense, it has come to mean what’s “outside” the human realm, the opposite of the “artificial” – birds, bees, forests, rivers, etc. The friction between these definitions, and the contradictions implicit in the latter, are among the themes of Dark Ecology.

Nihilism

From the Latin “nihil”, meaning “nothing”, this refers to the view that there is no meaning, purpose or objective value in life or existence. It often has a negative connotation, but does not necessarily merit it – indeed, from its own perspective, its connotation should be neither negative nor positive! It is related to, but not synonymous with, existentialism.

Organicism

Often considered in opposition to mechanism, this mode of thought conceives of reality, especially the physical world, as a self-organizing process where the parts compose the whole by virtue of their interrelations. As opposed to the mechanistic view associated with Descartes, the organic view of reality is often associated with Spinoza. Arguably, the mechanistic paradigm has predominated over the organic throughout much of modern thought, which is sometimes asserted as an underlying cause of the ecological crisis and disconnection.

Panpsychism

From the Greek pan (“all”) and psyche (“mind”, “soul”), philosophies of panpsychism assert that all material existence possesses an aspect of mind, soul or subjectivity. This need not imply that all supposedly inanimate things – including rocks, donuts, dongles and quarks – are “conscious” in the way a human or a dog appear to be; but it does imply that all things, or the constituent elements of things, have some kind of feeling, sentience or experience. It is the metaphysical claim that underlies Stoicism, and has also been enjoying a recent resurgence in modern Western philosophy. It is related to but not identical with animism.

Philosophy

“Philosophia”, allegedly coined by the Greek Pythagoras in the 6th century BCE, literally means the “Love of Wisdom” (see sophia). In the context of this course the term is usually used in the specific sense, referring to the tradition of thought originating in the Greek-speaking world in the 6th-5th centuries BCE, and continuously cultivated through the Roman, Islamic, European and Anglophone worlds to the present day. However, the word is also applied to other wisdom-traditions that developed independently of this (e.g. Indigenous American philosophies, Aboriginal Australian philosophies, Indian philosophy, Chinese philosophy, etc.). In its broadest use it refers to the practice of formulating and cultivating fundamental truths about reality. One of the principal aims of this course is to reintegrate the theoretical aspects of “Western” philosophizing with their practical application in society, individual behavior and ecological infrastructure. (See praxis).

Philosopher-King

In his Republic, the Greek philosopher Plato makes the claim that society will never be ideally ordered until it is ruled by a philosopher. The philosopher is that exceedingly rare person who understands the true nature of things – what truly exists, and what is truly good. Our course examines the pertinence of this notion to organizing the ideal ecological nation-state.

Plato

Athenian philosopher from the 5th-4th centuries BCE, a student of Socrates, and author of numerous, colossally influential philosophical dialogues, including the Republic and Timaeus. Our course examines how Plato’s inquiries were fundamentally ecological, even though he didn’t have that word. He represents the human individual as an organism, within the larger organism of human society, in turn within the organism of the universe itself. As such, his work sets the precedent for holon theory, and for the project of organizing an ecologically optimized society.

Praxis

Praxis is the Greek word for “doing”, or “action” (hence the English “practical”) – it is the complement to, and application of, “theory”. In a specific sense, it means the process of putting a theory or an idea into action. It is often associated with Marxism, anarchism and related social philosophies that aspire to actualize theoretical principles in revolutionary political change. By contrast, the majority of academic philosophy in the modern era has placed less emphasis on the practical application of its ideas to individual behavior and social organization. One of the main aims of this course is to emphasize and reintegrate praxis, not just as a conceptual theme, but as a behavioral reality and collaborative project.

Presocratics

So named because they happen to have operated prior to Socrates, these early philosophers of Greece, Asia Minor and Italy in the 6th-5th centuries BCE were primarily concerned with inquiry into the ultimate principles of nature. While they aimed to provide a rational account of this, they still had one foot planted in the poetic, mythological tradition that preceded them. See Thales and Empedocles.

Socrates

5th century BCE Athenian philosopher known for his inquisitiveness and wit, as well as his capacity for integrating cosmic concerns with down-to-earth ethical matters. He composed no texts; but his question-and-answer style of philosophical inquiry has been immortalized by its representation in the dialogues written by his student Plato.

Sophia

Typically translated as “wisdom”, the Greek sophia originally had a broad range of associations, including “practical knowledge”, “skill”, “art” and “poetry”. The point to emphasize is that this was not merely abstract, mountain-top-sitting Wisdom, though it entailed that too – it was wisdom as a thing inherently integrated into actual life.

Sophist

Public intellectuals who arose in the milieu of early Greek philosophy. While they were not inherently bad actors, controversy surrounded them as being potentially unreliable, and as capable of misleading the public for personal gain. Hence, much like “influencers” and “thought leaders” in today’s context, the term “sophist” began to take on a negative connotation (as retained in the English “sophistry”).

Spinoza, Baruch

17th century Dutch philosopher known for his thesis that God is nature. In this he draws on and revives aspects of ancient Stoicism and panpsychism.

Rationalism

A type of philosophical theory that asserts the primacy of Reason (Latin ratio) over experience in providing a foundation for knowledge and authority. Rationalists tend to put great stock in the reality and reliability of logic, mathematics, formal principles and patterns. Some locate these patterns and principles in the human mind; some consider them as fundamental attributes of nature itself. Rationalism is often contrasted with empiricism, which instead gives primacy to sensation and experience.

Stoicism

A school of philosophy that attained tremendous popularity and influence in the ancient Greco-Roman world, from its inception in the 4th century BCE to its absorption into Christianity in the 3rd century CE. Beginning from a panpsychist metaphysics, Stoicism held that individual rational agents are essentially in service to the divine rationality that governs the universe. Individuals’ pleasure and pain are matters of indifference, in contrast with the highest good, which consists in accepting the cosmic order of things (hence the adjective “stoic” in modern English – being even tempered, not subject to fluctuations of mood).

Technologism

Technologism, also referred to in this course as “technological solutionism”, “technocracy” and “techno-optimism”, refers to the belief that ecological and social problems can be adequately addressed through the introduction of new technologies into human society. In a broader sense, these terms refer to belief in the power and effectiveness of technology in general. Much of environmental philosophy is critical of this assumption, for instance the French philosopher Jacques Ellul and his infamous disciple Ted Kaczynski (the Unabomber). Can we really put a technological bandaid on a problem caused by technology in the first place? Then again, technologies like solar power and electric vehicles are attractive and perhaps inevitable aspects of ecological policy. Because of this, and because of the fact that creating technology seems to be a fundamental characteristic of our species, technologism is an ongoing tension in ecosophical thought.

Thales

6th century BCE Presocratic philosopher from Asia Minor (modern Turkey), who held that the ultimate principle of nature was water. A good example of the practical, ecological applicability of ancient philosophy, he allegedly used his physical theories to revolutionize agricultural practice.

Utilitarianism

A modern ethical philosophy asserting that right actions are those that promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number. It originates with English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (18th-19th centuries). It is a form of hedonism.

Virtue Ethics

In contrast with deontological ethics which supposes that certain things can be inherently right or wrong, and consequentialist ethics that focuses on the outcome of actions, Virtue Ethics emphasis the character of the moral agent, and their manifestation of certain virtuous traits (like honesty, wisdom, courage, etc.) It is especially associated with early Greek philosophy.