A social scientific survey on visions of human/nature relationships in western Europe shows that the public clearly distinguishes not only between anthropocentrism and ecocentrism, but also between two nonanthropocentric types of thought, which may be called "partnership with nature" and "participation in nature." In addition, the respondents distinguish a form of human/nature relationship that is allied to traditional stewardship but has a more ecocentric content, labeled here as "guardianship of nature." Further analysis shows that the general public does not subscribe to an ethic of "mastery over nature." Instead, practically all respondents embrace the image of guardianship, while the more radical relationships of partnership and participation also received significant levels of adherence. The results imply that ethicists should no longer assume that the ethics of the public are merely anthropocentric. Finally, they call into question the idea of a single form of ecocentrism and favor a hermeneutic virtue ethics approach to the study of the interface between ethics and action.

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Dutch river management is moving from traditional dike reinforcements toward “room for river” measures to assure flood protection and to serve other societal goals. With that, the engineering paradigm shifts from mastership over nature to a more partnership‐like attitude toward nature. Are these values shared by Dutch riverside residents? Are the measures proposed under the new paradigm accepted? This paper investigates these two questions on the basis of semistructured interviews and a survey in communities along the floodplain of the river Waal (i.e., Rhine). The analyses show that even though their visions of nature are remarkably ecocentric, partnership with nature is not the dominant idea within that ecocentric realm. Partly as a consequence of that and partly because the respondents do not perceive the measures as natural, the investigated room for river measures are not endorsed.