
This chapter argues that African Environmental ethics or African beliefs regarding the environment (which includes plants, animals and the immaterial objects) is not as anthropocentric as Kai Horsthemke (US-China Educ Rev 6(10):22–31, 2009) has argued for it to be. Instead African Environmental ethics proves itself to be biocentric in nature. In this chapter, I first argue against the views supported by anthropocentrism. My aims are to show how Tempels ‘force thesis’ allows us to see how African beliefs/views regarding the environment are not anthropocentric. Having said that, the chapter questions whether biocentric views like Father Placide Tempels force thesis are uniquely African?. I gesture towards the view that such arguments are not uniquely African. That is, we cannot talk about a unique African thinking/approach about the environment. Instead, I argue for a “Southern Environmental Ethics”. Here South refers both to the geographic South and the South within the North. The argument for “Southern Environmental Ethics” refers to individuals who are located on the marginal side of the Abyssal line as theorised by Boaventura de Sousa Santos (2016).
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 4 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Average |
