•  59
    Relational Values
    Balkan Journal of Philosophy 8 (1): 19-38. 2016.
    In this paper I develop a framework for environmental philosophy on the ground of what I call a radical relationalism based on Whitehead’s thought. Accordingly, relations are ontologically prior to and constitutive of entities rather than being conceived as external link(ing) between them. On this ground an alternative, relational axiology can be developed that challenges the current environmental ethics debate and its dichotomy between intrinsic and instrumental values. In the last section, I s…Read more
  •  54
    One main issue within environmental ethics is the so-called Demarcation Problem, i.e. the question of which entities are members of the moral community and hold intrinsic value. I argue that the demarcation problem relies mainly on Kantian moral philosophy. While the Kantian framework offers a strong and immediately deontological argument for moral agents holding inherent moral values, it presents problems when stretched beyond its original scope and lacks an adequate ground for addressing relat…Read more
  •  40
    Decroissance: A Project for a Radical Transformation of Society
    Environmental Values 22 (2): 147-169. 2013.
    Décroissance has established itself in Southern Europe as a significant and heterogeneous societal movement, which fosters a renaissance of traditional streams of thought in social and political philosophy while opening a field for new actualisations. While the term Décroissance can be traced back to an authorised translation of Georgescu-Roegen’s ‘declining state’, the idea of Décroissance – as it is widely employed by social movements – encompasses more than the critique of GDP as a measure fo…Read more
  •  23
    Against the background of the current discussion about self-organization theories and complexity theories and their application within biology and ecology, the question of teleology gains a new significance. Some scholars insist on the total elimination of any reference to teleology from the realm of the natural sciences. However, it seems especially hard to eradicate teleological expressions from scientific language when the issue of understanding living beings is at stake. For this reason, oth…Read more
  •  17
    In his works Whitehead never directly addresses the topic of ecology, so we must first explain the fundamental relevance of this term for process thought as well as the essential contribution of Whitehead’s philosophy of organism for an ecological approach. It is no overstatement to assert that Whitehead’s metaphysic can provide a coherent and adequate theoretical support for a hard-core ecological worldview. Whitehead offers both a challenging framework for ecology as both a science and an ethi…Read more
  •  9
    Why nature matters: A systematic review of intrinsic, instrumental, and relational values
    with A. Himes, C. B. Anderson, S. Athayde, T. Beery, M. Cantú-Fernández, D. González-Jiménez, R. K. Gould, A. P. Hejnowicz, J. Kenter, D. Lenzi, R. Murali, U. Pascual, C. Raymond, A. Ring, K. Russo, A. Samakov, S. Stålhammar, H. Thorén, and E. Zent
    In this article, we present results from a literature review of intrinsic, instrumental, and relational values of nature conducted for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, as part of the Methodological Assessment of the Diverse Values and Valuations of Nature. We identify the most frequently recurring meanings in the heterogeneous use of different value types and their association with worldviews and other key concepts. From frequent uses, we dete…Read more
  •  4
    Planetary Boundaries
    with Ulrich Brand, Éric Pineault, Marlyne Sahakian, Anke Schaffartzik, Andreas Novy, Christoph Streissler, Helmut Haberl, Viviana Asara, Kristina Dietz, Miriam Lang, Ashish Kothari, Tone Smith, Clive Spash, Alina Brad, Melanie Pichler, Christina Plank, Giorgos Velegrakis, Thomas Jahn, Angela Carter, Qingzhi Huan, Giorgos Kallis, Joan Martínez Alier, Gabriel Riva, Vishwas Satgar, Emiliano Teran Mantovani, Michelle Williams, Markus Wissen, and Christoph Görg
    In Nathanaël Wallenhorst & Christoph Wulf (eds.), Handbook of the Anthropocene, Springer. pp. 91-97. 2023.
    The planetary boundaries concept has profoundly changed the vocabulary and representation of global environmental issues. The article starts by highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of planetary boundaries from a social science perspective. It is argued that the growth imperative of capitalist economies, as well as other particular characteristics detailed below, are the main drivers of the ecological crisis and exacerbated trends already underway. Further, the planetary boundaries framework…Read more
  •  4
    Building on Spash's critiques of monetary valuation to suggest ways forward for relational values research
    with Rachelle K. Gould, Austin Himes, Lea May Anderson, Paola Arias Arévalo, Mollie Chapman, Dominic Lenzi, and Marc Tadaki
    Environmental Values 33 (2): 139-162. 2024.
    Scholars have critiqued mainstream economic approaches to environmental valuation for decades. These critiques have intensified with the increased prominence of environmental valuation in decision-making. This paper has three goals. First, we summarise prominent critiques of monetary valuation, drawing mostly on the work of Clive Spash, who worked extensively on cost–benefit analysis early in his career and then became one of monetary valuation's most thorough and ardent critics. Second, we, as …Read more
  •  3
    Societal Boundaries
    with Ulrich Brand, Éric Pineault, Marlyne Sahakian, Anke Schaffartzik, Andreas Novy, Christoph Streissler, Helmut Haberl, Viviana Asara, Kristina Dietz, Miriam Lang, Ashish Kothari, Tone Smith, Clive Spash, Alina Brad, Melanie Pichler, Christina Plank, Giorgos Velegrakis, Thomas Jahn, Angela Carter, Qingzhi Huan, Giorgos Kallis, Joan Martínez Alier, Gabriel Riva, Vishwas Satgar, Emiliano Teran Mantovani, Michelle Williams, Markus Wissen, and Christoph Görg
    In Nathanaël Wallenhorst & Christoph Wulf (eds.), Handbook of the Anthropocene, Springer. pp. 1647-1653. 2023.
    The notion of societal boundaries aims to enhance the debate on planetary boundaries. The focus is on capitalist societies as a heuristic for discussing the expansionary dynamics, power relations, and lock-ins of modern societies that impel highly unsustainable societal relations with nature. While formulating societal boundaries implies a controversial process – based on normative judgments, ethical concerns, and socio-political struggles – it has the potential to offer guidelines for a just, s…Read more