Abstract
Pope Francis made significant headlines when he published an encyclical letter in June 2015, entitled Laudato Sí, in which he squarely addressed the increasing destruction of our ‘Common Home’, the planet earth. He spoke out against toxic pollution, waste and the throwaway culture, as well as uncontrolled global warming, and the rapid destruction of biodiversity. He addressed, as the United Nations has also done, the growing economic gulf between the rich and the poor, and the seeming inability of nearly all countries to reduce this gap. He deplored the fact that many efforts to seek concrete solutions to the environmental crisis have proved to be ineffective, not only because of powerful opposition but also because of a more general lack of interest.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Pope Francis (2015).
- 2.
Ibid. paragraphs 14 and 20.
- 3.
l.c. paragraph 195.
- 4.
l.c. paragraph 114; italics ours.
- 5.
- 6.
- 7.
Weeramantry (2009).
- 8.
- 9.
Korten (2014).
- 10.
Ibid., p. 40.
- 11.
Ibid. pp. 25–27 and 87–97.
- 12.
King and Schneider (1991).
- 13.
Francis Fukuyama. 1989 and 1992, l.c.
- 14.
See, e.g. von Weizsäcker et al. (2005).
- 15.
Sinn (2003).
- 16.
Vitali et al. (2011).
- 17.
Maxton and Randers (2016).
- 18.
Ibid.
- 19.
Ziegler (2014).
- 20.
Stiglitz (2012).
- 21.
Piketty (2014).
- 22.
Wijkman and Rockström (2012).
- 23.
- 24.
Brynjolfsson and McAfee (2014).
- 25.
- 26.
Ostry et al. (2016).
- 27.
Obermayer and Obermaier (2016).
- 28.
Henry (2012)
- 29.
Obermayer and Obermaier. l.c.
- 30.
Smith first introduced the notion in his The Theory of Moral Sentiments (Edinburgh, 1759).
- 31.
Wolfgang Streek (2011) The crisis of democratic capitalism . Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières.
- 32.
To be sure, conventional economists are less impressed by such “changes”. A perfect example is Baldwin (2010); his emphasis on technological differences is worth deeper consideration.
- 33.
Ricardo (1951).
- 34.
For further discussion, see Daly and Farley (2004).
- 35.
Darwin (1859).
- 36.
- 37.
Eldredge and Gould (1972).
- 38.
Wagner (2015).
- 39.
For an early but comprehensive description including of applications, see Hsu et al. (2014).
- 40.
NAS (2016).
- 41.
An Action group originally on ‘Erosion, Technology and Concentration’ (ETC). It works to address the socio-economic and ecological issues surrounding new technologies impacting the world’s most vulnerable people.
- 42.
Originally, the concept of non-discriminatory was introduced in the context of human rights, protecting the weak!
- 43.
ISIPE (International Student Initiative for Pluralism in Economics) 2014; www.isipe.net, Open Letter.
- 44.
Jackson (2009).
- 45.
Victor (2008).
- 46.
- 47.
E.g. Heisenberg (1930).
- 48.
Quote needed!
- 49.
- 50.
IPBES (2016).
- 51.
Bateson (1979).
- 52.
Capra and Luisi (2014).
- 53.
Maturana and Varela (1972).
- 54.
Capra and Luisi, l.c., p 204–207.
- 55.
Ibid. p. 282–285.
- 56.
Steindl-Rast (1990).
- 57.
Weber (2016).
- 58.
- 59.
Léon Walras and William Stanley Jevons.
- 60.
Björkman (2016).
- 61.
Koopmans (2015).
- 62.
Sloterdijk (2009).
- 63.
Tame (1998).
- 64.
- 65.
Mark Cartwright (2012) Yin and Yang. Definition. Ancient History Encyclopedia.
- 66.
Capra (1975).
- 67.
de Grauwe and Asbury (2017).
- 68.
1987. San Francisco: Harper Collins.
- 69.
Eisler (2007).
- 70.
Wilkinson and Pickett (2009).
- 71.
Summarized in a book by Mingels (2017).
- 72.
On the decline of violence , see also Pinker (2012).
- 73.
Natarajan (2014).
References
Armstron K (2014) Fields of blood: religion and the history of violence. Knopf, Toronto
Baldwin R (2010) Thinking about offshoring and trade: an integrating framework. http://voxeu.org/article/thinking-clearly-about-offshoring
Bateson G (1979) Mind and nature, a necessary Unity. Bantam Books, New York
Björkman T (2016) The market myth. Cadmus 2(6):43–59
Brynjolfsson E, McAfee A (2014) The second machine age. Work, progress, and prosperity in a time of brilliant technologies. W.W. Norton, New York
Capra F (1975) The Tao of physics. In: An exploration of the parallels between modern physics and eastern mysticism. Shambhala, Boulder
Capra F, Luisi PL (2014) The systems view of life. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Daly H, Farley J (2004) Ecological economics (chapter 18). Island Press, Washington, DC
Darwin C (1859) The origin of species by means of natural selection. John Murray, London
de Grauwe P, Asbury A (2017) The limits of the market. The pendulum between government and market. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Dobzhansky T (1937) Genetics and the origin of species. Columbia University Press, New York. (3rd revised ed. 1951)
Eisler R (2007) The real wealth of nations: creating a caring economics. Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco
Eldredge N, Gould SJ (1972) Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism. In: Schopf TJM (ed) Models in paleobiology. Freeman Cooper, San Francisco, pp 82–115
Francis P (2015) Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ of the Holy Father Francis 2015 On Care For Our Common Home (official English-Language text of encyclical), Vatican
Giovannini E, Hall J, d’Ercole MM (2007) Measuring well-being and societal progress. OECD, Paris
Harari YN (2011) Sapiens. A brief history of humankind. Harper Collins, New York
Harari YN (2017) Homo deus. A brief history of tomorrow. Harper Collins, New York
Harris R (1997) The plan to end planning: The founding of the Mont Pèlerin society. National Review, June 16
Heisenberg W (1930) The physical principles of the quantum theory. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Higgs K (2014) Collision course: endless growth on a finite planet. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Hsu PD, Lander ES, Zhang F (2014) Development and applications of CRISPR-Cas9 for genome engineering. Cell 157(6):1262–1278. ISSN:1097-4172
Huxley J (1942) Evolution: the modern synthesis. Allen & Unwin, London
IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) (2016) Summary for policy makers: pollination assessment. IPBES Secretariat, Bonn
Jackson T (2009) Prosperity without growth: economics for a finite planet. Earthscan, London
King A, Schneider B (1991) The first global revolution. A report by the Council of the Club of Rome. Pantheon, New York
Klein A-M, Vaissiere BE, Cane JH, Steffan-Dewenter I, Cunningham SA, Kremen C, Tscharntke T (2007) Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops. Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 274(1608):303–304
Koopmans R (2015) Religious fundamentalism and hostility against out-groups: a comparison of Muslims and Christians in Western Europe. J Ethn Migr Stud 41(1):33–57
Korten D (2014) Change the story, change the future. A report to the Club of Rome. Berrett-Koehler, Oakland
Maturana H, Varela F (1972) Autopoiesis: the organization of the living. In: Maturana and Varela (1980) Autopoiesis and cognition. Reidel, Dordrecht
Maxton G, Randers J (2016) Reinventing prosperity. Managing economic growth to reduce unemployment, inequality, and climate change. Greystone Books, Vancouver/Berkeley
Mingels G (2017) Früher war alles schlechter. DVA, Munich
NAS (The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine) (2016) Gene drives on the horizon. Advancing science, navigating uncertainty, and aligning research with public values. National Academies Press, Washington, DC
Natarajan A (2014) The conscious individual. Cadmus 2(3):50–54
Obermayer B, Obermaier F (2016) The Panama papers: breaking the story of how the rich and powerful hide their money. Oneworld, London
OECD (2015) Measuring well-being. OECD, Paris
Ostry JD, Loungani P, Furceri D (2016). Powerful Hide Their Money IMF’s periodical. Finance and Development, June, pp 38–41
Philippe BUC (2015) Holy war, martyrdom, and terror, Christianity, violence, and the west. Univ of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia
Piketty T (2014) Capital in the twenty-first century. Harvard University Press, Cambridge/London. (French original: 2013)
Pinker S (2012) Better angels of our nature. Penguin, London
Raskin P (2014) A great transition? Where we stand. Great transition initiative. Tellus Institute, Boston
Raskin P, Banuri T, Gallopín G, Hammond A, Swart R, Kates R, Gutman P (2002) Great transition: the promise and lure of the times ahead. Tellus, Boston
Ricardo D (1951) In: Sraffa P (ed) Principles of political economy and taxation, vol 11. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p 136
Singh RP, Prasad PVV, Reddy KR (2013) Impacts of changing climate and climate variability on seed production and seed industry. In: Sparks DL (ed) Advances in agronomy, vol 118. Academic, Oxford, p 79
Sinn HW (2003) The new systems competition. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, p 2003
Sloterdijk P (2009) God’s zeal: the battle of the three monotheisms. Wiley, Hoboken. ISBN: 978-0-7456-4506-3
Steindl-Rast D (1990) Spirituality as common sense. The Quest 3:2
Stiglitz J (2012) The price of inequality: how Today’s divided society endangers our future. W. W. Norton, New York
Tame CR (1998) The new enlightenment: the revival of libertarian ideas, Philosophical notes, vol 48. Libertarian Alliance, London. ISSN: 0267-7091. ISBN: 1-85637-417-3
Victor P (2008) Managing without growth. Slower by design, Advances in ecological economics. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham
Vitali S, Glattfelder J, Battison S (2011) The network of global corporate control. PLoS One 6(10). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0025995
von Weizsäcker EU, Young O, Finger M (2005) Limits to privatization. How to avoid too much of a good thing. A report to the Club of Rome. London, Earthscan
Wagner A (2015) Arrival of the fittest. Penguin Random House, New York
Weber A (2016) The biology of wonder. Aliveness, feeling and the metamorphosis of science. New Society Publishers, Gabriola
Weeramantry CG (2009) Tread lightly on the earth: religion, the environment and the human future. Stamford Lake, Pannipitiya
Wijkman A, Rockström J (2012) Bankrupting nature: denying our planetary boundaries. A report to the Club of Rome. Earthscan, London
Wilber K (1996) A brief history of everything. Shambala, Boston, pp 129
Wilkinson R, Pickett K (2009) The spirit level. Why greater equality makes societies stronger. Bloomsbury, New York
Ziegler J (2014) Retournez les fusils!: Choisir son camp. Le Seuil, Paris
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Science+Business Media LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
von Weizsäcker, E.U., Wijkman, A. (2018). C’mon! Don’t Stick to Outdated Philosophies!. In: Come On! . Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7419-1_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7419-1_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-7418-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-7419-1
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)