Searching For Sustainability

Cambridge University Press
0521809908 - Searching for Sustainability: Interdisciplinary Essays in the Philosophy of

Conservation Biology
Bryan G. Norton
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Searching for Sustainability

Interdisciplinary Essays in the Philosophy of Conservation Biology
This book examines from several disciplinary viewpoints 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, searches through multiple disciplines for insights necessary to
develop a comprehensive and integrated concept of sustainable living. This
book explores ways to break down the disciplinary barriers to communication and deliberation about environmental policy, and to integrate science and
evaluations into a more effective environmental strategy. Choosing sustainability as the key 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.
Bryan G. Norton is Professor of Philosophy, Science, and Technology at the
School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology.
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Bryan G. Norton
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cambridge studies in philosophy and biology

General Editor
Michael Ruse Florida State University
Advisory Board
Michael Donoghue Yale University
Jean Gayon University of Paris
Jonathan Hodge University of Leeds
Jane Maienschein Arizona State University
Jesus Mostern Instituto de Filosofa (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 Darwinisms Struggle for Survival

Jane Maienschein and Michael Ruse (eds.)
Ethics
Jack Wilson
Biology and the Foundation of
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.)
Concept of the Gene in Development and Evolution
The
David Hull Science and Selection

James G. Lennox Aristotles 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
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Bryan G. Norton
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Interdisciplinary Essays in the
Philosophy of Conservation Biology
BRYAN G. NORTON
Georgia Institute of Technology
www.cambridge.org

Bryan G. Norton
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published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge

The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom
cambridge university press

The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA
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http://www.cambridge.org

C Bryan G. Norton 2003
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the 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 2 [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 conservation
biology / 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 2002
333.95 16 dc21
2002017404
ISBN 0 521 80990 8 hardback
ISBN 0 521 00778 X paperback
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Contents
General Introduction: An Interdisciplinary Experiment
i. pragmatism as an environmental philosophy
page 1
9
1. The Constancy of Leopolds Land Ethic
13
2. Thoreau and Leopold on Science and Values
30
3. Integration or Reduction: Two Approaches to Environmental

Values
47
4. Convergence Corroborated: A Comment on Arne Naess on Wolf

Policies
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 Ecologists

in 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, with

Michael A. Toman
225
vii
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Contents
14. The Evolution of Preferences: Why Sovereign Preferences

May Not Lead to Sustainable Policies and What to Do about
It, with Robert Constanza and Richard C. Bishop
249
iv. scaling sustainability: ecology as if humans mattered
277
15. Context and Hierarchy in Aldo Leopolds Theory of

Environmental Management
280
16. Scale and Biodiversity Policy: A Hierarchical Approach, with

Robert E. Ulanowicz
288
17. Ecological Integrity and Social Values: At What Scale?
305
18. Change, Constancy, and Creativity: The New Ecology

and 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 Values

for the Proposed Earth Charter
396
22. Intergenerational Equity and Sustainability
420
vi. valuing sustainability: toward a more comprehensive

approach to environmental evaluation
457
23. Commodity, Amenity, and Morality: The Limits of

Quantification in Valuing Biodiversity
460
24. The Cultural Approach to Conservation Biology
467
25. Evaluation and Ecosystem Management: New Directions

Needed?
478
26. What Do We Owe the Future? How Should We Decide?
493
27. Environmental Values and Adaptive Management, with Anne

Steinemann
514
Index
549
viii
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Bryan G. Norton
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Interdisciplinary Essays in the Philosophy of Conservation Biology
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0521809908 - Searching for Sustainability: Interdisciplinary Essays in the Philosophy of