Sharks Versus The Cult of Anthropocentrism It strikes me that there is more at play here than our fear of monsters of the deep. What needs to be challenged here is not just the logic or ethics of ‘culling’ sharks, but the logic and ethics behind our anthropocentric worldview. Human societies have done an impressive job of protecting their people from death or injury to such an extent that we now consider the occasional death as a result of transgression into predator territory as utterly abhorrent. We cannot accept that we are a part of the natural world, and our arrogant, narcissistic, anthropocentric view of ourselves as ‘the pinnacle of evolution’ (or creation – pick your story) prevents us from accepting our place in natural ecosystems. It is beyond our comprehension – and certainly unacceptable to us mere mortals – that we should not be above the food chain, but somewhere within it, providing food for predators just as our factory-farmed animals provide food for us. We have worked too hard to secure our mythical spot at the apex of the natural world to chuck it all in and accept a dynamic position within it. Read more: theoverthinker.org/sharks-versus-the-cult-of-anthropocentrism/ Image credit: Colin Barnett’s Shark-Feeding Frenzy: a sand sculpture by Tim Darby of Ecoburbia
Posted on: Sat, 08 Mar 2014 09:03:03 +0000
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