The purpose of the project is

(1) to re-examine the present critique of the Enlightenment legacy as a main source of environmental crises;

(2) to explore the thought and representations of pre-modern Renaissance humanism, especially its underestimated sceptical, pluralist and ecological aspects;

(3) to determine the ways in which Renaissance ideas of the relationship between humanity, nature and science provide a starting point for a renewal of environmental ethics and for rethinking ideas of sustainability.

A partial aim is to extend the range of humanist studies of the environment, which have been neglected in Norwegian post-Næssian thought and discourse.

The inspiration for the project is the present deadlock in elaborating satisfactory foundations for environmental ethics, and in finding a compelling story which promotes the values of sustainability and modesty in patterns of consumption.

Our central argument is that the modernist agenda (including both Enlightenment and Romanticism) has contributed not only to the death of nature but also to the gradual abolition of humanity. The research develops an alternative approach aimed at renewing environmental ethics by drawing on the inspirations of Renaissance humanism. The project thus attempts to reconcile the humanist and the environmentalist agendas while retaining the best aspects of each.