Work Classification Layer
Compare Works
Pick two or more works to set their attribute fingerprints, dimension-by-dimension passages, and shared school embodiments side by side. Especially useful for author-stage comparisons (Wittgenstein early vs late) and for setting a single tradition's foundational texts against each other.
Ecology, Community and Lifestyle
The expanded Self: ecological well-being as the extension of self-identification to the wider community of life
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Ecology, Community and Lifestyle (Late (Næss's mature statement; the systematic expansion of his 1973 "shallow vs deep ecology" essay)) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Infinite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Non-Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Cyclical |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Infinite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | Flat |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Local |
| Matter · Extent | Infinite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Single |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Immediate |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Partial |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Cosmic-ordering |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| Observer · Theological Method | Mystical |
| Energy · Extent | Infinite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Reversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | Non-conserved |
| Information · Granularity | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Ecology, Community and Lifestyle
Cyclic ecological time; the seasonal-evolutionary rhythms.
Space
Ecology, Community and Lifestyle
Substantival but relationally constituted; the bioregion is the natural unit.
Matter
Ecology, Community and Lifestyle
Substantival; biotic and abiotic interpenetrate.
Observer
Ecology, Community and Lifestyle
Plural ecological selves; the expanded Self transcends the individual organism. Cosmic-ordering.
Energy
Ecology, Community and Lifestyle
Reversibly cycled within ecological communities.
Information
Ecology, Community and Lifestyle
No personal afterlife; the species and ecosystem are the carriers of continuity.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Deep ecology has been criticized from postcolonial and indigenous-rights quarters as a Western-philosophical appropriation of insights long carried by indigenous traditions, and from feminist quarters (Plumwood, Warren) for inadequate engagement with the gendered dimensions of human-nature dualism. Næss himself acknowledged these critiques and worked to refine the framework.