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- Title
- Social-ecological systems, values, and the science of "people management"
- Creator
- Piso, Zachary Amedeo
- Date
- 2017
- Collection
- Electronic Theses & Dissertations
- Description
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This dissertation interrogates a shift in environmental science, policy, and management toward conceptualizing the environment as a social-ecological system. Social-ecological systems science reflects an interdisciplinary effort to understand how individuals and communities achieve their environmental goals through the institutions that they maintain. Though the paradigmatic institutions concern economic behavior (e.g. property rights institutions), the field embraces the social sciences...
Show moreThis dissertation interrogates a shift in environmental science, policy, and management toward conceptualizing the environment as a social-ecological system. Social-ecological systems science reflects an interdisciplinary effort to understand how individuals and communities achieve their environmental goals through the institutions that they maintain. Though the paradigmatic institutions concern economic behavior (e.g. property rights institutions), the field embraces the social sciences broadly, with contributions from sociology, anthropology, geography, political science, and so on. That said, social science is fairly narrowly conceived; leaders in the field stress that they are studying social mechanisms in order to predict and manage social behavior. In a popular textbook on the subject, Fikret Berkes and Carl Folke stress that "resource management is people management" and call for a social science of this management.Social-ecological systems scientists have generally neglected the ethics of people management-for the most part they subscribe to a fairly typical fact/value dichotomy according to which scientists describe social-ecological systems while managers and policymakers prescribe actions in light of these descriptions. Following several philosophical traditions (in particular pragmatist philosophy of science), I call attention to the ways that social-ecological systems science is value-laden. I take environmental pragmatism to provide a roadmap for conducting social-ecological systems science ethically. Environmental pragmatists stress that science is always embedded in practical problem-solving activities that presuppose particular goals for, and side constraints to, inquiry. Many traditions in the philosophy of environmental science embrace social science for the specific role of facilitating this deliberation, but these traditions do not seem to anticipate the explanatory ambitions of social sciences. This leaves unaddressed several pertinent questions about how social explanations work (i.e. how functional distinction structure inquiry), which have very practical implications for which social science disciplines should be included in a collaboration and how social and ecological knowledge should be integrated. For example, most social situations are characterized by property rights institutions, cultural traditions, political alliances, and other social institutions within the purview of particular social science disciplines, but researchers are not reflexive about whether to explain environmental change according to one set of practices or another.The dissertation traverses the following terrain: the first chapter more carefully motivates the questions above regarding the need for ethics and the promise, but present inadequacy, of environmental pragmatism to meet this need. Chapter two attends to Dewey's theory of inquiry, in particular the dialogical dimension of inquiry that authorizes warranted assertions. Through reflection on Daniel Bromley's volitional pragmatism and a debate between Richard Rorty and hermeneutic social scientists, chapter three attends to the way that social science structures inquiry in order to intervene in the normative practices of a community. Chapter four analyzes social-ecological explanations in order to locate normative and evaluative assumptions that should be accountable to democratic deliberation. Finally, chapter five redescribes interdisciplinary integration as an ethical project where decisions about the centering and decentering of different sciences is as much ethical as epistemological.
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- Title
- Moral economy : claims for the common good
- Creator
- Mauritz, Elizabeth D.
- Date
- 2014
- Collection
- Electronic Theses & Dissertations
- Description
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The cases, issues, and theoretical convictions of the social science work on the concept `moral economy' are explored to develop a full understanding of what divergent theories and accounts share in common and to gauge the philosophical relevance of moral economy. The work of E.P. Thompson, James Scott, William Booth, Thomas Arnold, and Daniel Little are featured along with contemporary cases of moral economy. Conceptual clarification is guided by the categorization of common qualities...
Show moreThe cases, issues, and theoretical convictions of the social science work on the concept `moral economy' are explored to develop a full understanding of what divergent theories and accounts share in common and to gauge the philosophical relevance of moral economy. The work of E.P. Thompson, James Scott, William Booth, Thomas Arnold, and Daniel Little are featured along with contemporary cases of moral economy. Conceptual clarification is guided by the categorization of common qualities including the scope of application, whether it is used historically or normatively, relevant time frame, nature of the community, goals that motivate practitioners, and how people are epistemically situated in relation to the moral economy under consideration. Moral economy is identified here as a community centered response, arising from a sense of common good, reinforced by custom or tradition, to an unjust appropriation or abuse of land, labor, human dignity, natural resources, or material goods; moreover, it is the regular behaviors producing social arrangements that promote just relations between unequal persons or groups within a community to achieve long-term social sustainability. I argue that the moral economists are right to insist that people regularly make collective claims and take action on behalf of their communities for reasons that are not primarily self-interested. Furthermore, I demonstrate that social ethics and political behavior are culturally and temporally contextual, i.e. non-ideal. Moral economy must be understood as economic through behaviors and relationships of exchange not limited to the market or following (neo)classical economics. Importantly, moral economy recognizes that this system of exchange is embedded within the larger society. Building upon that, I maintain that all communities are embedded to some degree, so moral economy is not limited to peasant contexts or historical periods. It is not an ethical theory, but a system of practice. Moral economy is guided by a commitment to the ethos of the common good. The debate between moral economy and political economy is laid out and special attention is given to the disagreements between their two most identifiable figures, James C. Scott and Samuel L. Popkin. While moral economy and political economy may have originated from the same general considerations regarding the political and economic influence on individuals and society, they have taken distinctly different trajectories. Later moral economy is compared with several political philosophies including Liberalism, Socialism, and Anarchism. While moral economy may have more in common with Anarchism and Socialism, I contend it is more compatible in practice with Liberalism.
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- Title
- Working with : expanding and integrating the pragmatic method for a wicked world
- Creator
- Lake, Danielle
- Date
- 2014
- Collection
- Electronic Theses & Dissertations
- Description
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This dissertation argues the burgeoning scholarship on wicked problems is both highly compelling and applicable to many of the public problems we confront. It is compelling because it articulates strategies for realizing a more comprehensive understanding of many of the problems we face today as a public; it is highly applicable because it provides us with a fruitful means of addressing these problems. The scholarship - as it stands in 2014 however - needs to be broadened and deepened,...
Show moreThis dissertation argues the burgeoning scholarship on wicked problems is both highly compelling and applicable to many of the public problems we confront. It is compelling because it articulates strategies for realizing a more comprehensive understanding of many of the problems we face today as a public; it is highly applicable because it provides us with a fruitful means of addressing these problems. The scholarship - as it stands in 2014 however - needs to be broadened and deepened, especially given how many dangerous wicked problems we face. The wicked problems field can be deepened by reviewing and consolidating its recommendations and through this work delving more deeply into a methodology that best supports collaboratively meliorating such problems. For instance, the various processes most recommended for tackling these problems - processes like bottom-up participation, to trans-disciplinarity, to situational and experiential learning - not only descend from the Pragmatic Method, but could also currently prosper from a more systematic engagement with Pragmatism, especially as conceptualized through a feminist lens where problems of power are systematically addressed. In the end, I argue effective responses to wicked problems require context-sensitive, dialogue-driven, action-based engagement models. Through a series of case studies the value of the recommendations within becomes apparent, suggesting there is a need to reimagine both the role of expertise and the boundary spaces between our institutions (as well as the structure of our institutions themselves). The potential for our collective future is quite exciting: potential to prepare future world citizens for engaging one another across their differences as well as the potential to encourage the re-envisioning of our institutions (and the creation of new) so they are more intentionally aimed at bridging our current, isolating gaps and thus fostering collective creativity and ingenuity.
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- Title
- The role of evidence in animal welfare science and standards : an ethical analysis
- Creator
- List, Monica
- Date
- 2019
- Collection
- Electronic Theses & Dissertations
- Description
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The development of the field of animal welfare science in recent decades, together with growth in public interest and ethical concerns for the welfare of animals has arguably led to an increase in regulation, both public and private, in the production and use of farmed animals. Animal welfare regulation, in the form of legislation, directives, industry guidelines and private standards is characterized by its reliance on scientific evidence to justify the conditions under which farmed animals...
Show moreThe development of the field of animal welfare science in recent decades, together with growth in public interest and ethical concerns for the welfare of animals has arguably led to an increase in regulation, both public and private, in the production and use of farmed animals. Animal welfare regulation, in the form of legislation, directives, industry guidelines and private standards is characterized by its reliance on scientific evidence to justify the conditions under which farmed animals should be bred, raised, transported, and slaughtered. One of the important roles scientific evidence plays in discussions around the regulation of farmed animal welfare is providing a seemingly ethically neutral understanding of how animals should be treated, in other words, it sidesteps ethical arguments for the treatment of animals, using science as a justification. However, per the dominant philosophy of science discourse on the role of values in science, no science can be considered value-free, and furthermore, there are acceptable roles for social and ethical values in scientific practice. These roles are not just acceptable, but necessary for the direction, interpretation, and application of science. This work argues that: a) given the broad range of ethical views regarding how we should treat animals, animal welfare science provides robust and credible guidance; b) furthermore, that animal welfare science is not only inspired or informed by animal ethics concepts and frameworks, but also has embedded social/ethical and cognitive values throughout; c) thus, in order to fulfil its purpose as a socially mandated science, animal welfare science should engage in intentional processes to determine adequate roles for various kinds of values underlying all stages of the scientific process and the interpretation and implementation of findings. This intentional examination of the role of values can be supported by more effective interdisciplinary collaboration. While animal welfare science is characterized in part by its interdisciplinary nature, it is important to question to what extent the research is truly interdisciplinary in the sense of fostering epistemic integration. Philosophical tools and analyses, beyond the typical uses of ethical frameworks as a starting point, can be valuable in facilitating effective interdisciplinary work, leading to a better understanding of the normative dimensions of animal welfare science.
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- Title
- Outline for a metaphysics of caution : an analysis of theoretical work on animal minds
- Creator
- Noll, Samantha
- Date
- 2016
- Collection
- Electronic Theses & Dissertations
- Description
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The amount of research on non-human animals has grown exponentially over the last fifteen years, with philosophers bringing unique insights to questions concerning duties owed to non-human animals (ethics) and animal capabilities (metaphysics), such as if animals possess reason or use concepts. The two fields focused on the later questions are animal metaphysics and post-humanism. This dissertation project is firmly situated at the nexus between ethics and metaphysics, as it grapples with the...
Show moreThe amount of research on non-human animals has grown exponentially over the last fifteen years, with philosophers bringing unique insights to questions concerning duties owed to non-human animals (ethics) and animal capabilities (metaphysics), such as if animals possess reason or use concepts. The two fields focused on the later questions are animal metaphysics and post-humanism. This dissertation project is firmly situated at the nexus between ethics and metaphysics, as it grapples with the fundamental metaphysical frameworks that form the foundations of philosophical work on animal minds and draws connections between this work and the application of ethics in human-animal contexts.The purpose of this dissertation is to further develop an outline for what I call a “metaphysics of caution” or the practice of being attentive to potentially harmful assumptions and biases that could be incorporated into theories of animal capabilities. While work in animal metaphysics and post-humanism has remained theoretical, theories coming out of these schools inform applied philosophical branches and help guide human action towards non-human others. For this reason, we need to be careful when exploring such questions, as this work has real world implications. Specifically, this dissertation 1) explores how work on animal capabilities is influenced by metaphysical, normative, and epistemological assumptions and 2) draws upon feminist philosophy of science to illustrate how this school of thought can help address issues of bias. The project of critiquing animal metaphysics and post-humanism is an important first step, as it helps us to identify commitments that could bias theories of animal capabilities.
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- Title
- COMPOSING OTHER WAYS : STRUCTURALISM, REALISM, AND THE TECHNICS OF CONTROL AND RESISTANCE
- Creator
- Brown, Michael Philip
- Date
- 2018
- Collection
- Electronic Theses & Dissertations
- Description
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This dissertation synthesizes concepts from three different realist philosophies in order to understand stabilities that structure scientific practices and the historical transformations in our capacities to exert power over matter through technologies. I explore the impacts tools and techniques have on the evolution of selves and society and I direct specific attention to technologies of writing and composition. I present archival material from poets and artists formerly and currently...
Show moreThis dissertation synthesizes concepts from three different realist philosophies in order to understand stabilities that structure scientific practices and the historical transformations in our capacities to exert power over matter through technologies. I explore the impacts tools and techniques have on the evolution of selves and society and I direct specific attention to technologies of writing and composition. I present archival material from poets and artists formerly and currently incarcerated that shows the power of poetry and artistic expression to resist forms of social control that harm persons’ abilities to thrive and exist. This dissertation shows how groups of knowers can collectively activate agency in order to navigate structures that function capture and eliminate, and it provides recommendations for those seeking to abolish the social function of carcerality.
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- Title
- Cross-disciplinary integration : through argumentation and for sustainability
- Creator
- Laursen, Bethany
- Date
- 2020
- Collection
- Electronic Theses & Dissertations
- Description
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Today's sustainability problems require wisdom that can only come by integrating different ways of knowing for each situation. When academic researchers undertake sustainability work, many of these ways of knowing come from different disciplines. However, years of cross-disciplinary research and practice have yielded only metaphorical or abstract understandings of what researchers actually do to integrate disciplinary contributions. Without a clear understanding of the actions researchers...
Show moreToday's sustainability problems require wisdom that can only come by integrating different ways of knowing for each situation. When academic researchers undertake sustainability work, many of these ways of knowing come from different disciplines. However, years of cross-disciplinary research and practice have yielded only metaphorical or abstract understandings of what researchers actually do to integrate disciplinary contributions. Without a clear understanding of the actions researchers take to accomplish integration, we have been left with confusion, inconsistent proxy measures, or lengthy learning by trial and error. This has left sustainability and other wicked problems either in the hands of veterans with decades of experience or subject to unreliable integrative attempts by newer investigators. To aid practice through clearer understanding, I open the black box of cross-disciplinary integration, explicating one the main processes that investigators use to integrate disciplinary contributions into cross-disciplinary insights: reasoning together.Through three articles, the dissertation shows that (1) as a field, argumentation studies provides valuable, actionable insights into cross-disciplinary integration, (2) one of the main processes of cross-disciplinary integration is reasoning together, and (3) the details of cross-disciplinary reasoning specify and clarify two existing, more abstract models of cross-disciplinary integration. Thus, overall, the dissertation clarifies what has been an urgent but confusing process in sustainability investigations, and, in doing so, it points the way to practical improvements in sustainability research policies, norms, and education.
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- Title
- RADICAL CO-LABORATION ACROSS THE MULTIPLE AMERICAN WESTS : IMAGINING PLACE-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE
- Creator
- Talley, Jared L.
- Date
- 2021
- Collection
- Electronic Theses & Dissertations
- Description
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The grand landscapes of the American West are iconic and critical to the history of environmental conservation, yet they are also highly conflicted. A history of destructive extraction has left many of these landscapes in a state of disrepair, worsened by an increasingly variable climate, continued mis-management, and that these lands are publically owned thereby requiring decision making processes that are accountable to the diverse values that the public holds. This dissertation focuses on...
Show moreThe grand landscapes of the American West are iconic and critical to the history of environmental conservation, yet they are also highly conflicted. A history of destructive extraction has left many of these landscapes in a state of disrepair, worsened by an increasingly variable climate, continued mis-management, and that these lands are publically owned thereby requiring decision making processes that are accountable to the diverse values that the public holds. This dissertation focuses on the last of these, namely that collaborative decision making in the environmental governance of the American West is beneficial yet itself understudied and conflicted. Simply, if the public wishes to collaborate in the governance of Western lands, then special attention needs to be paid to the context, opportunities, and obstacles of Western collaboration in order to better navigate diverging values, knowledges, and worldviews.This argument begins with the premise that the ideal collaborator is often conceived as rational and discursive, able to aptly articulate their positions, wrestle with other’s arguments, and come to consensus over conflict. “Values” and “knowledge” are nested in a web of “beliefs” and “attitudes,” all of which reflect the cognitive dimensions of our worlds. This is not wrong, as it seems a requirement of collaboration to navigate the complexities of our worlds through discussion of values, beliefs, attitudes, knowledges, etc. However, I argue that the focus on the cognitive dimensions of collaboration obscures the materiality of collaborators – their own bodies, the places they exist in, and the ways that these structure their worlds. Building from the works of Mark Johnson and John Dewey, I develop a theory of the embodied imagination and the role of embodied and sociocultural experience in order to explore the ways in which Western landscapes condition our environmental beliefs. These diverging beliefs – or, as I term them, environmental imaginaries – are themselves embodied, occurring as much in our minds as in our bodily performances and experiences. I argue that the places we experience are integral to the beliefs that we hold. The reflexive place-belief process leads to the American West being a multiplicity of American and Indigenous Wests where the same landscape is experienced and perceived so differently as to provide considerable obstacles to collaboration in environmental governance. Through discussions of environmental imaginaries, Western places, the experience of various fencing in the West, and the experience of scientific measurement and grouping – and its concomitant impact on environmental governance – I argue that collaborative scholars and practitioners should take seriously the ways that place, experience, and the imagination impact the potential of collaborative environmental governance. This dissertation ends with a discussion of collaboration itself, arguing that a renewed focus on the embodiment of collaborators is better understood as radical co-laboration, or that organizing Western environmental governance around collaborative principles that take seriously the emplaced body is a radical divergence from the governance philosophies currently employed in the West, namely those that that prefer top-down governance that relies on our cognitive expertise in lieu of our embodied experience. I end with a discussion of structural changes that are required in order to enact co-laboration that recognizes the imaginatively derived, embodied experience of place in hopes that Western landscapes can be better governed, conserved, and protected through public, co-laborative processes.
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