The foundations of Slovak critical environmentalism laid with his work Juraj Kučírek (1955 – 2000), who is also the author of the first ever monograph focused on the philosophical reflection of the causes and possible consequences of the global environmental crisis in Slovakia. Kučírek pointed out the need to combine reflection on subsequent solution of the global environmental crisis with the problems of social inequality and oppression. In the context of the Slovak public discourse of the 1990s, this unconventional approach itself termed environmental anthroponcentrism. Thus, he took a critical stance on biocentric concepts, which gained a dominant position in the Slovak environmental discourse. His work was followed by Ivan Dubnička (1961 – 2014), who extended Kučírek´s position to include cultural, political, and religious aspects of the causes of environmental devastation. His research was focused on the relationships of sociobiological and sociocultural determinants that shape human behaviour as a result of biological and cultural evolution. Based on evolutionism and anthropocentrism, he developed the concept of environmental pragmatism. By combining the reflection of the environmental crisis with the reflection of socio-political inequalities and injustices and also sociocultural determinants, they both significantly exceeded the too narrowed direction of Slovak academic as well as political environmentalism, focused mainly on environmental ethics. This focus did not allow an adequate response to industrialism, consumerism and economism as the dominant narratives legitimizing the post-1989 regime. Thus, it significantly contributed to the marginalization of the Slovak Green Party as well as non-governmental environmental organizations in Slovak public discourse. The devastation of the environment has thus reached an unprecedented extent in the last 30 years, even though the green movement has been an important part of the opposition to the Communist former regime.

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