The Great Earth Sangha: A Non-Anthropocentric Moral Imagination

This article explores the ways in which Zen master Dgen's writings on Zen practice, in dialogue with Friedrich Nietzsche and Gary Snyder, can help assist, as Jason Wirth suggests, the cultivation of a non-anthropocentric moral imagination so as to address and mitigate environmental problems that are directly tied to anthropocentric value commitments. To set the stage for this inquiry, I proceed by following the lead of John Nolt, who attempts to refute anthropocentrism by appealing to arguments against ethical egoism, specifically the good Samaritan argument. By highlighting the limitations of this "truth-seeking" argument, I propose that a "way-seeking" moral imagination, specifically Dgen's, is more fruitful for bringing about a cultural shift towards a more non-anthropocentric way-of-life. In doing such, I show how Dgen's Zen, in dialogue with Nietzsche and Snyder, contributes to the nonanthropocentric perspective of ecocentrism, vis--vis a non-dual conception of 'wildness'.