Searching for Sustainability: Interdisciplinary Essays in the Philosophy of Conservation Biology

by Bryan G. Norton

• ISBN13: 9780521007788
• ISBN10: 052100778X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-10-21
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book examines from a multidisciplinary viewpoint the question of what we mean - what we should mean - by setting sustainability as a goal for environmental management. The author, trained as a philosopher of science and language, explores ways to break down the disciplinary barriers to communication and deliberation about environment policy, and to integrate science and evaluations into a more comprehensive environmental policy. Choosing sustainability as the keystone concept of environmental policy, the author explores what we can learn about sustainable living from the philosophy of pragmatism, from ecology, from economics, from planning, from conservation biology and from related disciplines. The idea of adaptive, or experimental, management provides the context, while insights from various disciplines are integrated into a comprehensive philosophy of environmental management. The book will appeal to students and professionals in the fields of environmental policy and ethics, conservation biology, and philosophy of science.

Table of Contents

General Introduction: An Interdisciplinary Experiment	1	(9)
I. PRAGMATISM AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL PHILOSOPHY	9	(96)
The Constancy of Leopold's Land Ethic	13	(17)
Thoreau and Leopold on Science and Values	30	(17)
Integration or Reduction: Two Approaches to Environmental Values	47	(31)
Convergence Corroborated: A Comment on Arne Naess on Wolf Policies	78	(10)
Pragmatism, Adaptive Management, and Sustainability	88	(17)
II. SCIENCE, POLICY, AND POLICY SCIENCE	105	(60)
What Is a Conservation Biologist?	107	(3)
Biological Resources and Endangered Species: History, Values, and Policy	110	(20)
Leopold as Practical Moralist and Pragmatic Policy Analyst	130	(6)
Improving Ecological Communication: The Role of Ecologists in Environmental Policy Formation	136	(29)
III. ECONOMICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY	165	(112)
Sustainability, Human Welfare, and Ecosystem Health	168	(15)
Economists' Preferences and the Preferences of Economists	183	(18)
Evaluating Ecosystem States: Two Competing Paradigms	201	(24)
Sustainability: Ecological and Economic Perspectives	225	(24)
Michael A. Toman
The Evolution of Preferences: Why `Sovereign' Preferences May Not Lead to Sustainable Policies and What to Do about It	249	(28)
Robert Constanza
Richard C. Bishop
IV. SCALING SUSTAINABILITY: ECOLOGY AS IF HUMANS MATTERED	277	(96)
Context and Hierarchy in Aldo Leopold's Theory of Environmental Management	280	(8)
Scale and Biodiversity Policy: A Hierarchical Approach	288	(17)
Robert E. Ulanowicz
Ecological Integrity and Social Values: At What Scale?	305	(23)
Change, Constancy, and Creativity: The New Ecology and Some Old Problems	328	(17)
Democracy and Sense of Place Values in Environmental Policy	345	(28)
Bruce Hannon
V. SOME ELEMENTS OF A PHILOSOPHY OF SUSTAINABLE LIVING	373	(84)
Caring for Nature: A Broader Look at Animal Stewardship	375	(21)
Can There Be a Universal Earth Ethic? A Reflection on Values for the Proposed Earth Charter	396	(24)
Intergenerational Equity and Sustainability	420	(37)
VI. VALUING SUSTAINABILITY: TOWARD A MORE COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL EVALUATION	457	(92)
Commodity, Amenity, and Morality: The Limits of Quantification in Valuing Biodiversity	460	(7)
The Cultural Approach to Conservation Biology	467	(11)
Evaluation and Ecosystem Management: New Directions Needed?	478	(15)
What Do We Owe the Future? How Should We Decide?	493	(21)
Environmental Values and Adaptive Management	514	(35)
Anne Steinemann
Index	549