Resumen: Para algunos teoricos que se ocupan de los asuntos etico-medioambientales, como Singer y Taylor, la propuesta de “reencantamiento de la naturaleza” no parece ser una condicion sine qua non para el desarrollo de un principio etico que sirva de fundamento a una etica del medioambiente. En otras palabras, es posible defender una etica del respeto a la naturaleza sin necesidad de sacralizar el mundo natural. El objetivo del presente articulo es examinar, entonces, la validez de la tesis de la ecologia profunda que sostiene precisamente lo contrario. Segun Capra, uno de sus mas destacados defensores, la nueva ecologia se debe convertir en una forma de religion que siga los pasos de las grandes tradiciones espirituales del mundo. Mostrare que, lejos de resolver la cuestion del respeto a la vida, la propuesta de la ecologia profunda crea mas problemas de los que resuelve, al no permitir una defensa coherente de los valores medioambientales que ella dice defender, pues no es posible afirmar que los ecosistemas tengan derechos sobre la base de que la vida, en general, es un proceso mental o espiritual. Insistir en el caracter sacro de la vida tendria como consecuencia indeseada para la ecologia profunda, una defensa dogmatica de su propuesta etica que impediria la revision historica de ciertos valores medioambientales a la luz del desarrollo tecnico-cientifico, y la recaida en una etica heteronoma, de corte religioso, que defiende ciertos valores de manera absoluta sin tener en cuenta la autonomia y los intereses de las personas. Palabras clave: E cologia profunda, naturaleza, respeto, biotecnologia, etica del medio ambiente, reencantamiento de la naturaleza Abstract: Following several authors who study ethical-environmental issues, such as Singer and Taylor, the proposal of the “re-enchantment with nature” does not seem to be a sine qua non condition for the development of an ethical principle that serves as a basis of an environmental ethics. That is to say, it is possible to defend an ethics of respect for nature without necessarily assuming the natural world as sacred. The aim of this article is, thus, to examine the validity of the deep ecology thesis which states precisely the opposite. According to Capra, one of its most outstanding defenders, new ecology must turn into a kind of religion that follows the traces of the big spiritual traditions. This article will show that, far from solving the issue of respect for life, the proposal of deep ecology creates more problems than those which it solves, as it does not permit the coherent defense of environmental values, which it says it defends, given that it is not possible to say that ecosystems have rights, on the basis that life, in general, is a mental or spiritual construct. Insisting on the sacred character of life would have an undesirable consequence for deep ecology, the dogmatic defense of its ethical proposal that would inhibit the historical revision of certain environmental values from the perspective of technical-scientific development, and the fall into a heteronymous ethics, religious in its character, that defends a set of given values in an absolute manner without taking into account people’s interests and autonomy. Key words: Deep ecology, nature, respect, biotechnology, environmental ethics, reenchantment with nature