Arne Dekke Eide Naess (1912€“2009) was a Norwegian philosopher
who coined the term "deep ecology" & was an important figure
within the enviro movement of the late 20th century. Naess
cited Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring as being a key
influence in his vision of deep ecology. Naess combined his
ecological vision with Gandhian nonviolence and on several
occasions participated in direct action.

Naess averred that while western enviro groups of the early
post-war period had raised public awareness of the enviro
issues of the time, they had largely failed to have insight
into & address what he argued were the underlying cultural &

philosophical background to these problems. Naess believed
that the enviro crisis of the 20th century had arisen due to
certain unspoken philosophical presuppositions & attitudes
within modern western developed societies which remained
unacknowledged.

He thereby distinguished between what he called deep & shallow
ecological thinking. In contrast to the prevailing utilitarian
pragmatism of western businesses & governments, he advocated
that a true understanding of nature would give rise to a point
of view that appreciates the value of biological diversity,
understanding that each living thing is dependent on the
existence of other creatures in the complex web of inter-
relationships that is the natural world.

Naess argued for adhering to the following rules to make
discussions as fruitful & pleasant as possible:

Avoid tendentious irrelevance
Examples: Personal attacks, claims of opponents' motivation,
explaining reasons for an argument.

Avoid tendentious quoting
Quotes should not be edited regarding the subject of the debate.

Avoid tendentious ambiguity
Ambiguity can be exploited to support criticism.

Avoid tendentious use of straw men
Assigning views to the opponent that he or she does not hold.

Avoid tendentious statements of fact
Info put forward should never be untrue or incomplete, & one
should not withhold relevant info.

Avoid tendentious tone of presentation
Examples: irony, sarcasm, pejoratives, exaggeration, subtle
(or open) threats.

For many years these points were part of two compulsory
courses in philosophy taught in Norwegian universities
("Examen philosophicum" and "Examen facultatum").