Arne Naess

Arne Naess, "the founder of Deep Ecology and one of Norway's best known Philosophers, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Oslo. Born in 1912 in Oslo, and graduated at the University of Oslo in 1933, he then studied in Paris and Vienna. He gained his doctorate in 1936 with a thesis that was entitled, Erkenntnis und wissenschaftliches Verhalten.

"Arne Naess was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oslo from 1939 to 1969, then free-lance philosopher, and from 1970 onwards environmental activist. He has lectured in Bali, Beijing, Berkeley, Bucharest, Canton, Chengdu, Devon, Dubrovnik, Hangzhou, Helsinki, Hongkong, Japan, Jerusalem, London, Melbourne, Reykjavik, Santa Cruz, Taiwan, Tartu (Estonia), Tromsø, Vancouver, and Warsaw.

"Naess was the Leader of UNESCO's project on the East/West Controversy (Cold War), in Paris from 1948 to 1949. He founded Inquiry, an inter-disciplinary journal of philosophy. Professor Næss participated in the peace movement, especially in the years 1940 to 1955, and "the deep ecology movement" from 1970 onwards, adamantly supporting "green" politics." In our annual meeting in 2003, in Paris, Arne emphasized his stance that all human beings, without any exception, first and foremost are human beings. He explained how he used to invite people from prison into class, so as to demonstrate to his students that "there are no muderers" - rather, "these are human beings, who have murdered."

"On 27th January 2007, Arne turned 95 years, and celebrated this with publishing a book Livsviktig (Important for Life). He furthermore was honoured by the Norwegian state ( i februar i 2006 ble han utnevnt til Kommandør med stjerne av Den Kongelige Norske St. Olavs Orden for samfunnsnyttig innsats)."

• Global Advisory Board, Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies
• Member, Alliance for Wild Ethics

Resources and articles

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