Origin and Development of Ecological Philosophy

The above text tries to describe the birth and development of environmental philosophy and environmental ethics. These disciplines refer to the legacy of many centuries of philosophical thought, mainly the philosophy of nature; however, these disciplines acquired the developed form as late as in the period between 1960s and 1980s in the United States. The article describes 19th century influences that inspired thinking about the protection of natural environment (R.W. Emerson, H.D. Thoreau), and then shows the stages of development of evironmental philosophy and environmental ethics, mainly the standpoints and their representatives such as J. Muir, Aldo Leopold, J. Baird Callicot,  Holems Rolston III, P.W. Taylor, J. Passmore, Arne Naess, H. Skolimowski and others. The other part of this article deals with the emergence and development of environmental philosophy and environmental ethics in Poland. It pinpoints the directions and standpoints of environmental philosophy and environmental ethics, presents their main representatives and also describes the achievements of Polish ecophilosophical thought.