Political Theory and Ecological Values - Softcover

Hayward, Tim

9780312218768: Political Theory and Ecological Values

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312218761 ISBN 13: 9780312218768

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999

Tim Hayward makes a compelling case for the incorporation of environmental questions into the heart of mainstream political theory--rather than seeing these issues as an optional add-on or the preserve of specialized green political theorists; he also argues that the core arguments of more radical, ecologistic thinking--the search for intrinsic value and moral foundations in ecology and the rejection of anthropocentrism--are more likely to provide a compelling basis for doing so. However, the natural relations that humans beings enter into with their environment including non-humans, the natural limits of human development and the natural capacities of human beings have significant implications and constraints for what the account political theory provides for: the treatment of non-humans, rights and notion of the good and the good life. This book explores the ways in which those constraints impact upon political theory in those areas.

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From the Back Cover:

This book shows why political theorists must take account ofecological concerns as part of their core enterprise, and how theycan do so. It mounts a challenge to the received wisdom, ofpolitical theorists and their ecological critics alike, thatspecifically ecological values go against human interests.

In Part I, Hayward criticizes those accounts of ecological valueswhich appeal to nature′s ′intrinsic value′ or advocate a′non–anthropolocentric′ ethic. Such appeals are bound to fail, heargues, not because their moral impulse is too demanding butbecause ′values′ unrelated to human interests are conceptuallyincoherent. Insisting on them is politically counterproductive.

Part II reveals how it is actually in humans′ interests tointegrate ecological concern into political institutions andpolicies. Following a nuanced discussion of ′self–interest′,Hayward goes on to show how some ecological problems can be solvedby harnessing humans′ rational self–interest to market–based andfiscal policies, and others by using more enlightened interests inthe provision of social goods. The argument regarding ecologicalproblems that affect non–humans more directly than humans is thathumans have an interest in self–respect and integrity whichprovides reasons to respect non–human beings and theirenvironmental interests.

The concluding chapter indicates how the articulation ofecological values in terms of interests makes it possible tointegrate them into a political theory of basic socialinstitutions.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars in politicaltheory and environmental studies.

About the Author:

Tim Hayward is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Politics at the University of Edinburgh.

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