An Ecological Theory of Value

An ecological theory focuses on the relation of subject and world as mutually dependent moments of a whole and on the development and history of entities rather than on their present properties and dispositions. Values are an aspect of the relation between organism and environment that cannot be reduced to properties of organism or environment taken as separate entities. The theory of value developed on this ontological basis can roughly be categorised as a rather robust fallibilist, non-holist realism regarding values that leads to a nonrelativist, pluralist rule-utilitarianism regarding norms. Some Preliminary Remarks The article is restricted to the theory of value, so I will not make any statement with regard to what is actually good or bad, but only with regard to what it is that can be good or bad and how we can come to know about its being good or bad. I will set out by identifying the entity which can carry value. Then I will turn to epistemology and shed some light on knowledge of value, decision making and norms. In the process I will gradually move from individual to social reason. An account of ideals based on the epistemological considerations will conclude this article. I will draw on different positions somewhat eclectically, but they can all be brought under the heading "ecological". I will establish a systematic account of the abstract common basis of these positions in the future. The purpose of this article is to break some ground in a more concrete field.