Arne Dekke Eide Naess (1912?2009) was a Norwegian philosopher who coined the term "deep ecology" & was an important figure within the enviro movement of the late 20th century. Naess cited Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring as being a key influence in his vision of deep ecology. Naess combined his ecological vision with Gandhian nonviolence and on several occasions participated in direct action.
Naess averred that while western enviro groups of the early post-war period had raised public awareness of the enviro issues of the time, they had largely failed to have insight into & address what he argued were the underlying cultural &
philosophical background to these problems. Naess believed that the enviro crisis of the 20th century had arisen due to certain unspoken philosophical presuppositions & attitudes within modern western developed societies which remained unacknowledged.
He thereby distinguished between what he called deep & shallow ecological thinking. In contrast to the prevailing utilitarian pragmatism of western businesses & governments, he advocated that a true understanding of nature would give rise to a point of view that appreciates the value of biological diversity, understanding that each living thing is dependent on the existence of other creatures in the complex web of inter- relationships that is the natural world.
Naess argued for adhering to the following rules to make discussions as fruitful & pleasant as possible:
Avoid tendentious irrelevance Examples: Personal attacks, claims of opponents' motivation, explaining reasons for an argument.
Avoid tendentious quoting Quotes should not be edited regarding the subject of the debate.
Avoid tendentious ambiguity Ambiguity can be exploited to support criticism.
Avoid tendentious use of straw men Assigning views to the opponent that he or she does not hold.
Avoid tendentious statements of fact Info put forward should never be untrue or incomplete, & one should not withhold relevant info.
Avoid tendentious tone of presentation Examples: irony, sarcasm, pejoratives, exaggeration, subtle (or open) threats.
For many years these points were part of two compulsory courses in philosophy taught in Norwegian universities ("Examen philosophicum" and "Examen facultatum").