%0 Journal Article %T The transformative value of ecological pragmatism: an introduction to the work of Bryan G. Norton %A H.-S. Afeissa %J Surveys and Perspectives Integrating Environment and Society (SAPIENS) %D 2008 %I %R 10.5194/sapiens-1-51-2008 %X In the space of only a few years, Bryan Norton has become one of the essential actors of environmental ethics through his launching of what has become one of its dominant trends: environmental pragmatism. Environmental pragmatism refuses to take a stance in the dispute between the defenders of anthropocentrist ethics and the supporters of nonanthropocentrist ethics. Instead, Norton prefers to distinguish between "strong anthropocentrism'' and "weak- or extended- anthropocentrism'' and develops the idea that only the latter is capable of not under-estimating the diversity of instrumental values that humans may derive from the natural world. The practical difference between these two kinds of theories is considerable. %U http://www.surv-perspect-integr-environ-soc.net/1/51/2008/sapiens-1-51-2008.html