Visions, Values, Valuation, and the Need for an Ecological Economics

Abstract

Practical problem solving in complex, human-dominated ecosystems requires the integration of three elements: (1) active and ongoing envisioning of both how the world works and how we would like the world to be, (2) systematic analysis appropriate to and consistent with the vision, and (3) implementation appropriate to the vision. Scientists generally focus on only the second of these steps, but integrating all three is essential to both good science and effective management. Subjective values enter in the vision element, both in terms of the formation of broad social goals and in the creation of a preanalytic vision, which necessarily precedes any form of scientific analysis.