Beyond Positivist Ecology: Toward an Integrated Ecological Ethics |
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Authors: | Bryan G Norton |
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Institution: | (1) School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, 685 Cherry St., Atlanta, GA 30332-0345, USA |
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Abstract: | A post-positivist understanding of ecological science and the call for an “ecological ethic” indicate the need for a radically
new approach to evaluating environmental change. The positivist view of science cannot capture the essence of environmental
sciences because the recent work of “reflexive” ecological modelers shows that this requires a reconceptualization of the
way in which values and ecological models interact in scientific process. Reflexive modelers are ecological modelers who believe
it is appropriate for ecologists to examine the motives for their choices in developing models; this self-reflexive approach
opens the door to a new way of integrating values into public discourse and to a more comprehensive approach to evaluating
ecological change. This reflexive building of ecological models is introduced through the transformative simile of Aldo Leopold,
which shows that learning to “think like a mountain” involves a shift in both ecological modeling and in values and responsibility.
An adequate, interdisciplinary approach to ecological valuation, requires a re-framing of the evaluation questions in entirely
new ways, i.e., a review of the current status of interdisciplinary value theory with respect to ecological values reveals
that neither of the widely accepted theories of environmental value—neither economic utilitarianism nor intrinsic value theory
(environmental ethics)—provides a foundation for an ecologically sensitive evaluation process. Thus, a new, ecologically sensitive,
and more comprehensive approach to evaluating ecological change would include an examination of the metaphors that motivate
the models used to describe environmental change.
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Keywords: | Environmental valuation Reflexive modeling Ecological ethics |
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