Arne Næss born - January 27, 1912

On this day in 1912, Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss was born. 

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class. It's a production of I
Heart Radio. Hey, I'm Eves, and you're listening to This
Day in History Class, a podcast where we bring you
a slice of history every day. Today is January. The

(00:26):
day was January nineteen twelve Norwegian philosopher Arna Deccia eyed
Ness was born. Ness was known for being an influential
figure in the environmental movement and coining the term deep ecology.
Ness was born in slim Doll, near Oslo, Norway, to
a wealthy family. His father, Ragnar, died before he turned

(00:50):
one year old. Arna found an early interest in nature
and philosophy. By the time he was a teenager, he
had already become an adept mountaineer. He also began attending
university lectures. Ness did undergraduate work at the Sorbonne in
Paris and graduate work at the University of Vienna and

(01:11):
the University of California Berkeley. In Vienna, he worked with
the Vienna Circle, the school of philosophers who developed the
movement of logical positivism. Nest got his doctorate in philosophy
from the University of Oslo in ninety eight. Nest finished
building a hut in the Halling Scott of the mountains
he called the hut Te verga Stein, and for much

(01:34):
of his life he lived and spent time here developing
his philosophical ideas. Soon after graduating, he became the youngest
ever professor of philosophy at the University of Oslo. He
was also the only professor of philosophy in Norway at
the time. Once appointed, he made the history of ideas
a prerequisite for all academic fields in his book Truth

(01:57):
as Conceived by Those who are not Professional philosophy. Rs.
Ness was one of the first people to use statistical
methods and questionnaires to survey philosophical beliefs. But Nazi Germany
invaded Norway in nineteen forty. Influenced by Gandhi's active non
violent resistance, Ness advocated for the same. He stayed on

(02:18):
the faculty at the University of Oslo, but he was
not passive. He worked for the Norwegian intelligence agency XU
during the occupation and he collaborated with members of the resistance.
After the war. He even mediated conversations between torturers and
the families of torture victims. Nest was also influenced by

(02:40):
the work of Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza, a prominent rationalist
in the seventeenth century. After the war, Nest continued to
work on language and communication and published more works. Yunesco
invited him to lead a project to explore controversies between
the East and West over the terms democracy and freedom.

(03:03):
He also founded the journal Inquiry about Philosophy, Science and Society.
Ness Lad the first expedition up tirich Mur, the highest
mountain in the Hindu Kush Range, in nineteen fifty four.
Nest was influenced by Rachel Carson's nineteen sixty two book
Silent Spring, about the environmental effects of pesticides. Norway's culture

(03:26):
is also deeply rooted in nature. Nest became heavily involved
in environmental activism in the nineteen sixties. He remained an
avid mountaineer. He retired from his professorship in nineteen sixty nine,
and he coined the terms deep ecology movement and acosophy
in the nineteen seventy three article The Shallow and the

(03:46):
Deep Long Range Ecology Movement a summary. In his view,
the shallow ecology movement provided short term technological solutions to
environmental issues. Deep ecology stressed the importance of changing norms,
values and practices, and environmental decision making. And acosta fee

(04:07):
is a personal philosophy or wisdom grounded in attention to
the earth that guides a person's actions toward and beliefs
about nature and human beings. Nest called his acosta f
e t the T standing for to Vergustein, and he
traveled around the world encouraging others to develop their own
acosta fees. Nest went on to run for office with

(04:28):
the Norwegian Green Party and became the first chairman of
Green Peace Norway. He died in Oslo in two thousand nine.
I'm each Jeff Cote and hopefully you know a little
more about history today than you did yesterday. You can
find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t d
I h C podcast. We also accept electronic letters at

(04:53):
this day at I heart media dot com. Thanks again
for listening and have a fantastic tony four hours until
we see you again. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.