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Scientific paper

Text

Socio-Cultural Construction of Reality and Ecological Overshoot

Author:
Sebastian Brand

Entry type:
Scientific paper

Year of publication:
2014

Publishers:
Degrowth Conference Leipzig 2014

Language:
English

Abstract: Current social and cultural constructions of reality are a co-cause of ecological overshoot, i.e. the way we think and perceive the world’s ecosystems and their resources is a major reason why we as a species exceed the ecological limits to growth. These socio-cultural "Ways of Worldmaking" (Goodman) are therefore a major obstacle for a more ecological economy and a more sustainable society. A post-growth society requires modified and new ways of worldmaking. It would have to find different ways to construct reality, to generate information and to assign meaning. It needs structures of worldmaking in which meaningful information on crucial ecologial resources and their limits play a central role. In my presentation I will argue for this position from a systemic and (epistemic-) constructivist view. My argument can be regarded as an attempt at a constructivist synthesis of existing criticisms regarding a.o.: economic indicators, signal flows in society-nature relations, and in particular Georgescu-Roegen’s criticism of widespread “fallacies of misplaced concreteness” (Whitehead) in economic theory and practice.

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