The Economy of the Earth
Philosophy, Law, and the Environment

Sagoff draws on the last twenty years of debate over the foundations of environmentalism in this comprehensively revised second edition.

Mark Sagoff (Author)

9780521687133, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 3 December 2007

280 pages
22.7 x 15.1 x 1.7 cm, 0.38 kg

"The new editions of The Economy of the Earth does go much farther than anything else Sagoff has given us in the way of a positive statement of his environmental philosophy and of its links to other sources in the philosophical canon. It merits a careful reading by environmental philosophers..."
Environmental Ethics, Paul B. Thompson, Michigan State University

Mark Sagoff draws on the last twenty years of debate over the foundations of environmentalism in this comprehensive revision of The Economy of the Earth. Posing questions pertinent to consumption, cost-benefit analysis, the normative implications of neo-Darwinism, the role of the natural in national history, and the centrality of the concept of place in environmental ethics, he analyses social policy in relation to the environment, pollution, the workplace, and public safely and health. Sagoff distinguishes ethical from economic questions and explains which kinds of concepts, arguments, and processes are appropriate to each. He offers a critique 'preference' and 'willingness to pay' as measures of value in environmental economics and defends political, cultural, aesthetic, and ethical reasons to protect the natural environment.

1. Introduction
2. At the shrine of Our Lady of Fatima
or, why political questions are not all economic
3. The allocation and distribution of resources
4. Values and preferences
5. Can we put a price on nature's services?
6. Do we consume too much?
7. Is an environmental ethic compatible with biological science?
8. Settling America or the concept of place in environmental ethics
9. Natural and national history
10. Environmentalism: death and resurrection.

Subject Areas: The environment [RN], Philosophy of science [PDA], Environmental economics [KCN], Social & political philosophy [HPS]