
Critical Realism and the Objective Value of Sustainability
Philosophical and Ethical Approaches
Gabriela-Lucia Sabau(Author)
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 29. February 2024
Book
Hardback
186 pages
978-1-032-31001-5 (ISBN)
Description
Critical Realism and the Objective Value of Sustainability contributes to the growing discussion surrounding the concept of sustainability, using a critical realist approach within a transdisciplinary theoretical framework to examine how sustainability objectively occurs in the natural world and in society.
The book develops an ethical theory of sustainability as an objective value, rooted not in humans' subjective preferences but in the holistic web of relationships, interdependencies, and obligations existing among living things on Earth, a web believed to have maintained life on Earth over the last 3.7 billion years. It proposes three pillars of sustainability ethics: contentment for the human existence given to us; justice (beyond distributive justice); and meaningful freedom (within ecological and moral limits). Using abductive reasoning, the book infers that there is an out-of-this-world Sustainer behind the Earth's sustainability acting as a metaphysical source of all being and value. It argues that sustainability value, accepted as a shared understanding of the common good, must guide individual decisions and socio-economic development efforts as a matter of deliberate choice, as well as be built on the awareness that there are non-negotiable, pre-established conditions for our planet's sustainability.
This book will be of interest to students and scholars across fields of inquiry, including sustainability, sustainable development, environmental philosophy and ethics, philosophy of science, and ecological economics, and to whoever may wonder why seasons exists and why humans have creative minds.
The book develops an ethical theory of sustainability as an objective value, rooted not in humans' subjective preferences but in the holistic web of relationships, interdependencies, and obligations existing among living things on Earth, a web believed to have maintained life on Earth over the last 3.7 billion years. It proposes three pillars of sustainability ethics: contentment for the human existence given to us; justice (beyond distributive justice); and meaningful freedom (within ecological and moral limits). Using abductive reasoning, the book infers that there is an out-of-this-world Sustainer behind the Earth's sustainability acting as a metaphysical source of all being and value. It argues that sustainability value, accepted as a shared understanding of the common good, must guide individual decisions and socio-economic development efforts as a matter of deliberate choice, as well as be built on the awareness that there are non-negotiable, pre-established conditions for our planet's sustainability.
This book will be of interest to students and scholars across fields of inquiry, including sustainability, sustainable development, environmental philosophy and ethics, philosophy of science, and ecological economics, and to whoever may wonder why seasons exists and why humans have creative minds.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Postgraduate
Illustrations
7 s/w Zeichnungen, 7 s/w Abbildungen
7 Line drawings, black and white; 7 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
467 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-032-31001-5 (9781032310015)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Gabriela-Lucia Sabau
Critical Realism and the Objective Value of Sustainability
Philosophical and Ethical Approaches
Book
06/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€67.00
Shipment within 10-20 days

Gabriela-Lucia Sabau
Critical Realism and the Objective Value of Sustainability
Philosophical and Ethical Approaches
E-Book
02/2024
1st Edition
Taylor & Francis
€60.49
Available for download

Gabriela-Lucia Sabau
Critical Realism and the Objective Value of Sustainability
Philosophical and Ethical Approaches
E-Book
02/2024
1st Edition
Taylor & Francis
€60.49
Available for download
Person
Gabriela-Lucia Sabau is Honorary Research Professor of economics and environmental studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), Canada. Her research interests are sustainability and sustainable development fuelled by scientific knowledge and value judgements; unjust un-economic growth; demand-side management of water resources; sustainable management of fisheries with a focus on small-scale fisheries; and assessing the potential for agro-ecological transition in Newfoundland and Labrador's agriculture. Gabriela co-founded MUN Grenfell Campus's first PhD program in Transdisciplinary Sustainability (2019) and continues to derive inspiration from the students she supervises in the program.
Content
Introduction 1. What is Sustainability? 2. Searching for the Truth: Research Methods 3. Sustainability as Objective Physical Reality 4. Restoring Sustainability as Objective Social Reality 5. Sustainability and What Really Matters 6. Sustainability as Justice: Beyond Distributive Justice 7. Sustainability as Freedom 8. Who is the Sustainer? Conclusion