Ecosophy T and environmental ethics on Yoga Sutras: A comparative analysis

Because of the human activities the ecological balance is distrupted. The classical environmental protectionist approaches are inadequate to solve the environmental problems. For this reason, the radical ecological approaches have emerged against environmental protectionist approaches. The deep ecology is one of the radical ecological approaches. Firstly, deep ecology that has developed by Arne Naess differs from classical environmental protectionist approaches in aspects such as pollution, the usage of sources and population. According to the deep ecology, approaches to environmental problems are basically divided in two as shallow and deep ones. The shallow ecology is mostly characterized human-based environmental perspective. On the other hand, the deep ecology suggests that deeper connections must be established between human and the nature. According to Naess, deep ecology must be supported with ecosophies that a kind of personal philosophies. Naess, named his ecosophy as Ecosophy T. Concenpts such as self-realization, identification and biospheric equality come to the fore in Ecosophy T. At the same time, the concepts used in Ecosophy T are very similar to the concepts used in yoga, which is a kind of self-realization path. Yoga Sutras is one of the foundational text of yoga. Yoga practice, basic steps and rules of yoga are explained in the Yoga Sutras written by Patanjali. Fort his reason, in this study, similarities in Ecosophy T and Yoga Sutras are determined. The aim of study is to examine similar concepts in Ecosophy T and Yoga Sutras. In this context, deep ecology and Ecosophy T are examined firstly in this study. Afterwards, yoga and Yoga Sutras are emphasized. Finally, the similarities and differences between Ecosophy T and Yoga Sutras are mentioned and detailed.