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Visions and Scenarios: Heilbroner's Worldly Philosophy, Lowe's Political Economics, and the Methodology of Ecological Economics

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  • Mathew Forstater

Abstract

Ecological economics is a transdisciplinary alternative to mainstream environmental economics. Attempts have been made to outline a methodology for ecological economics and it is probably fair to say that, at this point, ecological economics takes a "pluralistic" approach. There are, however, some common methodological themes that run through the ecological economics literature. This paper argues that the works of Adolph Lowe and Robert Heilbroner can inform the development of some of those themes. Both authors were aware of the environmental challenges facing humanity from quite early on in their work, and quite ahead of time. In addition, both Lowe's 'Economics and Sociology' (and related writings) and Heilbroner's "Worldly Philosophy" (itself influenced by this work of Lowe) recognized the endogeneity of the natural environment, the impact of human activity on the environment, and the implications of this for questions of method. Lowe and Heilbroner also became increasingly concerned with issues related to the environment over time, such that these issues became of prime importance in their frameworks. This work deals directly with ecological and environmental issues; both authors also dealt with other issues that relate to the environmental challenge, such as technological change. But it is not only their work that explicitly addresses the environment or relates to environmental challenges that is relevant to the concerns of ecological economists. Both Heilbroner's "Worldly Philosophy" and Lowe's "Political Economics" offer insights that may prove useful in developing a methodology of ecological economics. Ecological economists have taken a pluralistic approach to methodology, but the common themes in this work regarding the importance and nature of vision, analysis (including structural analysis), scenarios, implementation, the necessity of working backwards, the role for imagination, rejecting the positive/normative dichotomy, and so on, all are issues that have been elaborated in Lowe's work, and in ways that are relevant to ecological economics. The goal of the paper is actually quite modest: to make ecological economists aware of the work of the two authors, and get them interested enough to explore the possible contribution of these ideas to their methodological approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Mathew Forstater, 2004. "Visions and Scenarios: Heilbroner's Worldly Philosophy, Lowe's Political Economics, and the Methodology of Ecological Economics," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_413, Levy Economics Institute.
  • Handle: RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_413
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    1. Mathew Forstater, 1999. "Working Backwards: Instrumental analysis as a policy discovery procedure," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 5-18.
    2. Norgaard, Richard B., 1989. "The case for methodological pluralism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 37-57, February.
    3. Philip Arestis & Malcolm Sawyer, 1992. "A Biographical Dictionary of Dissenting Economists," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 20.
    4. Robert L. Heilbroner, 1994. "Vision in Economic Thought," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 325-329, June.
    5. Robert Costanza, 1997. "Frontiers in Ecological Economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1160.
    6. Heilbroner, Robert, 1990. "Analysis and Vision in the History of Modern Economic Thought," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 28(3), pages 1097-1114, September.
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    Cited by:

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    2. O'Hara, Phillip Anthony, 2009. "Political economy of climate change, ecological destruction and uneven development," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 223-234, December.
    3. Kashwan, Prakash, 2017. "Inequality, democracy, and the environment: A cross-national analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 139-151.
    4. March, Hug & Therond, Olivier & Leenhardt, Delphine, 2012. "Water futures: Reviewing water-scenario analyses through an original interpretative framework," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 126-137.
    5. Roberta Sisto & Edgardo Sica & Giulio Mario Cappelletti, 2020. "Drafting the Strategy for Sustainability in Universities: A Backcasting Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-12, May.
    6. Daniyal Khan, 2014. "Economics as a Science, Economics as a Vocation: A Weberian Examination of Robert Heilbroner's Philosophy of Economics," Economic Thought, World Economics Association, vol. 3(1), pages 1-56, March.

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