中国古代的生态伦理思想和西方建立在生态科学基础上、彰显外学特征的现代生态伦理学有着很大的不同。中国传统生态伦理思想建立的基础是境界观,而非生态观;体现的是一种境界追求,而非科学规范。但这种境界观对现代环境伦理学的深层观念的变革及其理论新思路的探索,有一定的启发和借鉴意义。当代新儒家代表人物冯友兰将人生境界分为自然、功利、道德和天地四种境界,有助于人们深入理解中国传统生态观的境界层次。
There is a great difference between the thoughts of ancient Chinese ecological ethics and the Western modern ecological ethics being based on the ecological science and manifesting the characteristic of the Western culture. The thoughts of Chinese traditional ecological ethics were built on the view of realm, not view of ecology, which embody an ideal pursuit, not the norm of science. However, there is certain illumination and reference for such a view of realm to the transformation in the deep notion of the modern environmental ethics and its exploration of the new theoretical ideas. Feng Youlan, the representative of modem neo-confucianism, divides the realm of life into four kinds of realms - the nature, utility, morality and universe, which contributes to understand the levels of realm for the view of Chinese traditional ecology.