searching for sustainability

Searching for Sustainability

Interdisciplinary Essays in the Philosophy of Conservation Biology

This book examines from several disciplinary viewpoints the question of whatwe mean – what we should mean – by setting sustainability as a goal for en-vironmental management. The author, trained as a philosopher of scienceand language, searches through multiple disciplines for insights necessary todevelop a comprehensive and integrated concept of sustainable living. Thisbook explores ways to break down the disciplinary barriers to communica-tion and deliberation about environmental policy, and to integrate science andevaluations into a more effective environmental strategy. Choosing sustain-ability as the key concept of environmental policy, the author explores whatwe 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, man-agement provides the context, while insights from various disciplines areintegrated into a comprehensive philosophy of environmental management.

The book will appeal to students and professionals in the fields of environ-mental policy and ethics, conservation biology, and philosophy of science.

Bryan G. Norton is Professor of Philosophy, Science, and Technology at theSchool of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology.

© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press0521809908 - Searching for Sustainability: Interdisciplinary Essays in the Philosophy ofConservation BiologyBryan G. NortonFrontmatterMore information

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cambridge studies in philosophy and biology

General EditorMichael Ruse Florida State University

Advisory Board

Michael Donoghue Yale UniversityJean Gayon University of Paris

Jonathan Hodge University of LeedsJane Maienschein Arizona State University

Jesus Mosterın Instituto de Filosofıa (Spanish Research Council)Elliott Sober University of Wisconsin

Alfred I. Tauber The Immune Self: Theory or Metaphor?

Elliott Sober From a Biological Point of View

Robert Brandon Concepts and Methods in Evolutionary Biology

Peter Godfrey-Smith Complexity and the Function of Mind in Nature

William A. Rottschaefer The Biology and Psychology of Moral Agency

Sahotra Sarkar Genetics and Reductionism

Jean Gayon Darwinism’s Struggle for Survival

Jane Maienschein and Michael Ruse (eds.) Biology and the Foundation ofEthics

Jack Wilson Biological Individuality

Richard Creath and Jane Maienschein (eds.) Biology and Epistemology

Alexander Rosenberg Darwinism in Philosophy, Social Science, and Policy

Peter Beurton, Raphael Falk, and Hans-Jorg Rheinberger (eds.) TheConcept of the Gene in Development and Evolution

David Hull Science and Selection

James G. Lennox Aristotle’s Philosophy of Biology

Marc Ereshefsky The Poverty of the Linnaean Hierarchy

Kim Sterelny The Evolution of Agency and Other Essays

William S. Cooper The Evolution of Reason

Peter McLaughlin What Functions Explain

Steven Hecht Orzack and Elliott Sober (eds.) Adaptationism and Optimality







Interdisciplinary Essays in thePhilosophy of Conservation Biology

BRYAN G. NORTONGeorgia Institute of Technology






published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridgeThe Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom

cambridge university pressThe Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, AustraliaRuiz de Alarcon 13, 28014 Madrid, SpainDock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa


C© Bryan G. Norton 2003

This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exceptionand to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,no reproduction of any part may take place withoutthe written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2003

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

Typeface Times Roman 10.25/13 pt. System LATEX 2ε [TB]

A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Norton, Bryan G.Searching for sustainability : interdisciplinary essays in the philosophy of conservationbiology / Bryan G. Norton.p. cm. – (Cambridge studies in philosophy and biology)Includes bibliographical references (p.).ISBN 0-521-80990-8 (hb) – ISBN 0-521-00778-X (pb)1. Conservation biology – Philosophy. I. Title. II. Series.QH75 .N66 2002333.95′16 – dc21 2002017404

ISBN 0 521 80990 8 hardbackISBN 0 521 00778 X paperback






Contents

General Introduction: An Interdisciplinary Experiment page 1

i. pragmatism as an environmental philosophy 9

1. The Constancy of Leopold’s Land Ethic 13

2. Thoreau and Leopold on Science and Values 30

3. Integration or Reduction: Two Approaches to EnvironmentalValues 47

4. Convergence Corroborated: A Comment on Arne Naess on WolfPolicies 78

5. Pragmatism, Adaptive Management, and Sustainability 88

ii. science, policy, and policy science 105

6. What Is a Conservation Biologist? 107

7. Biological Resources and Endangered Species: History, Values,and Policy 110

8. Leopold as Practical Moralist and Pragmatic Policy Analyst 130

9. Improving Ecological Communication: The Role of Ecologistsin Environmental Policy Formation 136

iii. economics and environmental sustainability 165

10. Sustainability, Human Welfare, and Ecosystem Health 168

11. Economists’ Preferences and the Preferences of Economists 183

12. Evaluating Ecosystem States: Two Competing Paradigms 201

13. Sustainability: Ecological and Economic Perspectives, withMichael A. Toman 225

vii






Contents

14. The Evolution of Preferences: Why ‘Sovereign’ PreferencesMay Not Lead to Sustainable Policies and What to Do aboutIt, with Robert Constanza and Richard C. Bishop 249

iv. scaling sustainability: ecology as if humans mattered 277

15. Context and Hierarchy in Aldo Leopold’s Theory ofEnvironmental Management 280

16. Scale and Biodiversity Policy: A Hierarchical Approach, withRobert E. Ulanowicz 288

17. Ecological Integrity and Social Values: At What Scale? 305

18. Change, Constancy, and Creativity: The New Ecologyand Some Old Problems 328

19. Democracy and Sense of Place Values in Environmental Policy,with Bruce Hannon 345

v. some elements of a philosophy of sustainable living 373

20. Caring for Nature: A Broader Look at Animal Stewardship 375

21. Can There Be a Universal Earth Ethic? A Reflection on Valuesfor the Proposed Earth Charter 396

22. Intergenerational Equity and Sustainability 420

vi. valuing sustainability: toward a more comprehensiveapproach to environmental evaluation 457

23. Commodity, Amenity, and Morality: The Limits ofQuantification in Valuing Biodiversity 460

24. The Cultural Approach to Conservation Biology 467

25. Evaluation and Ecosystem Management: New DirectionsNeeded? 478

26. What Do We Owe the Future? How Should We Decide? 493

27. Environmental Values and Adaptive Management, with AnneSteinemann 514

Index 549

viii







Interdisciplinary Essays in the Philosophy of Conservation Biology






searching for sustainability

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