Open AccessEnvisioning a Successful Steady-State Economy
Author(s) -
Herman E. Daly
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the journal of population and sustainability
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2398-5496
pISSN - 2398-5488
DOI - 10.3197/jps.2018.3.1.21
Subject(s) - argument (complex analysis) , naturalism , neoclassical economics , economics , dissipative system , value (mathematics) , rest (music) , capitalism , darwinism , positive economics , mathematical economics , epistemology , philosophy , mathematics , political science , law , physics , biochemistry , chemistry , statistics , quantum mechanics , politics , acoustics
There are two interacting types of argument for a steady-state economy: its biopyhsical necessity, and its ethical desirability. The first argument is made in terms of the finitude, entropy, and physical maintenance requirements of “dissipative structures” (populations of human bodies and their exosomatic extensions). The second argument considers that the evolution of the human species is now purpose-driven, no longer random, if indeed it ever was. Purpose introduces value judgments of right and wrong regarding how our economy should relate to the rest of creation – judgments ignored by both neoclassical economics and neo-Darwinist naturalism.