MethodsTowards a centerpiece for ecological economics
Section snippets
Proposing a hypothesis relative to a common goal
We share a common goal in establishing ecological economics with the implication of a world-wide scope, and agree with Söllner (1997, p. 196), “it is doubtful whether things will change for the better unless a new social value theory is postulated which is indispensable as the centerpiece…” of that economics. In going for this goal, the primary problem faced is not a strictly scientific one. We do not sequentially develop a single point of view inductively or deductively. Nothing new in science
Ego as present root metaphor and world theory
Ego, in the broad sense of Descartes’ famous formula Cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am) is considered the cornerstone for modern philosophy, as self-interest is to partisan politics, ego is to psychology, homo economicus is to neoclassical economics and subtly selfish is to biology. And, “like a rose…”, ego by any other name is still ego (i.e. I, cogito, das Ich, Geist, self-interest, ...Ego), the dynamo at the middle of modernism implying a theory worldwide in scope.
In a nutshell, we
Hypothetical scope with the analogical method
With cogito, Descartes introduced a method for investigating single objects to initiate theoretical treatment of a complex reality with a logical function, otherwise impossible. Generally, the rational method separates all external influences to regard a single object with reference to a purpose, and is rightly considered one of the great positive conscientious uses of the ego root metaphor. Hegel's Geist is another—though Smith's ‘self-interest’ is the outright champion contributor to world
Corroborating with theory of moral sentiment
In returning to the root of systematic economics in history, we review Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations (1776/1784) from the standpoint of Ego and The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759/1790) from the standpoint of Empathy. Rather than strictly separating the Inquiry from the Theory we take the view that they are two parts of an overall system—we connect the two sides to support the Hypothesis. Smith accomplished this connection through the notion of the ‘third station’ and the
Centering with ego and empathy
With all the complex swirl of simultaneous sequencing of a view around a pivotal point, what do we simply mean by ego and empathy? When a baby first intentionally reaches for an object the situation presupposes a separation between object and child. That separation, grasping and manipulating simply defines ego, primitive objective thinking, the crux of cogito, considered crucial for individuality to develop and for reason to flourish. With empathy the father observes an empathetic mother
The bridge of neuroscience
Cory sees neuroscience as the connecting discipline, bridging across evolutionary biology and behavioral ecology through evolutionary, cognitive psychology and other social sciences, and, ultimately, connecting to the humanities. Cory, 1999, Cory, 2004 brings neuroscience to the table, especially MacLean (1990), deciphering it for us as social scientists, suggesting the evolutionary path for each human involves the continued development of a triune brain.
At the core of the brain is the earliest
Empirical testing of the Ego’n’Empathy hypothesis
We seek a way to integrate the foregoing ideas to further theory, support the Hypothesis, and to point to an empirical approach used in testing it. The metaeconomic model has been subjecting the root metaphor to the test with respect to explaining conservation and eco-farming behavior in North American farming populations. Neoclassical economics persists in the fallacious economic story that farmers are in an egoistic–hedonistic pursuit of maximum profits. Our statistical evidence suggests,
Conclusions
Our project is ambitious. We propose to put heart into standard neoclassical economics, complementing what has gone before. Where the primary premise of economics is applied to egoism, we hypothesize the same principle applied to ego and empathy in structuring the Ego’n’Empathy Hypothesis. Further, we assert the third part, an emergent value from them working together.
There appear to be good grounds for adding empathy as a complement to the economic model, and thereby transforming it. We rally
Acknowledgements
This is the University of Nebraska, Agricultural Research Division Journal Series Number 13543. We would like to thank the three different sets of anonymous reviewers and the encouragement of two different sets of editors, all helping to bring many substantive improvements in this paper.
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