Beyond Reductionism : A Passion for Interdisciplinarity

ISBN-13: 9780415470148 / Angielski / Twarda / 2012 / 344 str.

Katharine N. Farrell;Sybille van den Hove;Tommaso Luzzati

Opis

The field of ecological economics, now just over twenty years old, operates at the interface between the two sciences of ecology and economics and is, by definition, concerned with the interplay between two types of complex living systems. It lies, therefore by definition, beyond reductionism – that dominant scientific methodology which dates back to Descartes.

In this respect, the story of how ecological economic methods have developed over time is also one of how new scientific methods that lie beyond reductionism have
developed.

Telling that story is the first basic aim of this book and this is then developed into a state of the art assessment of ecological economics as well as its likely future direction. The tone is defiantly pluralistic and inclusive and the contributors include many of the leading names in the field including Richard Norgaard, Arild Vatn and Malte Faber.

Spis treści

Preface 1: Beyond the Argument Culture Robert Costanza Preface 2: Embracing Fewer Answers Richard Norgaard 1. Introduction 2. Social Metabolism, Ecological Distribution Conflicts and Languages of Valuation Joan Martínez-Alier 3. What Lies Beyond Reductionism? Taking stock of inter-disciplinary research in ecological economics Katharine N. Farrell, Tommaso Luzzati and Sybille van den Hove 4. The Maturing of the Structural Contradictions of Modern European Science: An exploratory sketch Jerome R. Ravetz 5. Beyond Reductionism: Understanding the "ecology" of human nature Mary E. Clark 6. Building a Career in the Epistemological No Man's Land John Barry and Katharine N. Farrell 7. How Ecofeminists Use Complexity in Ecological Economics Ariel Salleh, Mary Mellor and Katharine N. Farrell 8. Two Conceptual Tools for Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM): "Multi-Purpose Grammars" and "Impredicative Loop Analysis" Mario Giampietro, Kozo Mayumi and Jesús Ramos-Martín 9. Looking for a Place to Anchor: Confusing thoughts along an interdisciplinary dissertation journey Minna Santaoja, Raphael Treffny, Cordula Mertens and Catherine Jolibert, with Katharine N. Farrell 10. Probing the Boundaries of Resilience Science in Practice Brian H. Walker and C.S. Holling 11. Beyond Reductionism: Issues for future research on sustainability Arild Vatn