Searching for Sustainability

Abstract

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.

Indigenous knowledge and its contribution to biodiversity conservation

“…Norton () and Sarkar () stand in the middle of the two positions, and favour more nuanced forms of anthropocentrism that accepts a plurality of values (Norton ).…”

Experiencing Biodiversity as a Bridge over the Science–Society Communication Gap

“…A sense of wonder and surprise has even had its historical importance in the construction of our contemporary scientific knowledge. The importance that the philosophies of nature developed by, for example, Thoreau and Leopold grants to this aesthetic aspect of biodiversity contributed to the emergence of the field of conservation biology (Norton ). Even more importantly, the fact that the “diversity of life forms clashes with the regularity of mathematical models of nature lies at the heart of the naturalist's curiosity” (Larrère & Larrère ), which has propelled the work of many natural historians, such as Linné, Jussieu, and Humboldt.…”

Split Decision

“…He then turns around and denigrates those who make this argument. These are the kinds of hard practical questions that the best work in environmental ethics (Rolston 1994; Norton 2003) addresses philosophically, not rhetorically or ad hominem . Sarkar's inability to do so further illustrates the weakness of his overall approach.…”