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Mark Sagoff

The Economy of the Earth: Philosophy, Law, and the Environment (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Public Policy) First Edition

by Mark Sagoff (Author)

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Part of: Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Public Policy (12 books)

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The Economy of the Earth: Philosophy, Law, and the Environment (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Public Policy)
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This book addresses government social policy in relation to the environment, pollution, the workplace, and public safety and health. Professor Sagoff presents an analysis based on ethical, cultural, and political concerns, that reveals how environmental legislation can be sensitive to political reality and responsive to economic costs. The argument is developed to cover the relationship between liberalism and environmentalism, the place of values in environmental science, the importance of a "land ethic," the role of public interest groups, and efforts to reform environmental law.

ISBN-10

0521395666
ISBN-13

978-0521395663
Edition

First Edition
Publisher

Cambridge University Press
Publication date

September 28, 1990
Part of series

Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Public Policy
Language

English
Dimensions

6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
Print length

281 pages
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David Schorr

Critique of cost-benefit analysis for environmental matters

Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2000

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Prof. Sagoff demonstrates the problematic nature of an economic approach to environmental decisionmaking. Even granting that we could quantify environmental values in dollar terms, he raises the important question of why we would want to do such a thing. The author argues that questions of balancing environmental values against other "goods" should be decided in the public political arena, and not by reference to people's private willingness to pay. Somewhat puzzling is Sagoff's adherence to a utilitarian philosophy; I'm still waiting for someone to point out the obvious liberty and distributive-justice problems with cost-benefit analysis in the sphere of environmental regulation.

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economy of earth

Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2009

In The Economy of the Earth: Philosophy, Law, and the Environment (New York: Cambridge University Press, c. 1988), Mark Sagoff urges us to develop stronger ethical and legal norms os as to preserve the environment through social regulation. Taking issue with those who would reduce all environmental issues to economics and its concern for commodities and profit/loss data, he argues "that these problems are primarily moral, aesthetic, cultural, and political and that they must be ad¬dressed in those terms" (p. 6). Those who mindlessly espouse the notion that "you can't legislate morality" might as well close Sagoff's book at page six, for that's exactly what he thinks we must do! Central to his endeavor is the task of dislodging "cost-benefit analysis" from the center of policy-making, law-shaping endeavors. Surely there are goods and services, entities and experiences, which cannot be measured by or reduced to dollars and cents! And surely such things have intrinsic worth which transcends personal preferences. To establish moral and legal weight for intangibles such as community bonds or scenic beauties, and to discover objective criteria for allegedly subjective moral judgments, is Sagoff's task.
He does so, in part, because once "we accept the theory that values are subjective, that they are just 'wants,' we must also accept the idea that managers--whether they be therapists, lawyers, or cost-benefit analysts--are in the best position to handle them for us. We must also accept the idea that we all want the same thing, namely, the satisfaction of as many preferences as possible, taking their intensity into account" (p. 48). Sagoff rejects such utilitarianism because it so easily allows the welfare state to function with little regard for anything but physiological/economic concerns. "We cannot permit welfare economics to replace the moral function of public law. The antinomianism of cost-benefit analysis is not enough" (p. 49).
There is, in fact, an important difference between preferences and judgments. To reduce moral judgments to economic preferences renders one (whether as a person or as a society) incapable of making decisions in accord with what should be done, whether or not it gives me (or us) pleasure. Natural "resources" such as timber have too frequently been parceled out unwisely, satisfying certain persons' or corporations' desires but illustrating poor long-range judgment. Allowing the "bottom line" to dictate environmental policies, ignoring the fact that precious scenes or wildlife or pure water have worth and dignity which cannot be reduced to money, forces us to forego making genuinely moral judgments.
Conversely, when environmentalists champion wilderness preservation, they argue for its "cul¬tural importance and symbolic meaning," articulating "a conviction and not a desire" (p. 94). Sagoff strongly emphasizes the importance of this distinction. Some things are clearly right, other things clearly wrong. He cites a New Yorker car¬toon which shows Satan welcoming entrants to hell with these words: "You'll find there's no 'right' or 'wrong' here, just what works for you" (p. 99). What we must recover, if we're to stop earth's destruction, is a clear consciousness of absolutes--some things are simply wrong! Beliefs, convic¬tions, need neither be reduced to nor confused with subjective preferences.
In a chapter entitled "nature and the national idea," Sagoff reflects upon the nation's history. The Pilgrims and Puritans, with few exceptions, saw the wilderness as a foe, something to be conquered. In the words of Michael Wigglesworth, creation was a "Devil's den": "A waste and howling wilderness / Where none inhabited / / But hellish fiends and brutish men / That devils worshiped" (p. 125). Such comments prodded Perry Miller, the great historian, to say "'that the founders had no qualms about doing harm to nature by thrusting civiliza¬tion upon it.'" Indeed, "'They reasoned in terms of wealth, comfort, amenities, power, in terms which we may conveniently call, though they had not been derived from Bentham, "utilitarian"'" (p. 126).
Yet, alongside this utilitarian tradition has grown a quite different perspective, evident as early as Jonathan Edwards, who saw nature suffused with poetic symbols of God. Religious thinkers like Edwards, plus an assortment of literary figures, have espoused a "covenant" relationship with creation. In Sagoff's opinion: "The covenant we have made with nature, which is as much an obligation to use well our natural environment as to protect it--and, in any case, not to destroy it wantonly or in a wasteful manner--historically had religious rather than economic or even literary and artistic origins. Ever since Edwards in The Nature of True Virtue, published together with his Dissertation in 1755, defined true virtue as 'benevolence' or 'love for being in general' and distinguished it sharply from love or benevolence for the things that per¬tain to oneself, including beauty, family, country and the like, we have been found to recognize that our virtue as a people depends to a large extent on our benevolence toward our natural environment" (p. 141). Could we but make central, rather than peripheral, the "love for being in general" Edwards espoused, we could establish a basis for environmental ethics and law. At the moment, given the state of American jurisprudence, where everyone's "rights" must be given an equal hearing if not absolute protection, where "rights" reflect personal preferences rather than perspicacious judgments or prudence, there's little hope for environmental polic¬ies which elicit widespread, lasting support.
Though Sagoff writes clearly enough for non-philosophers and non-lawyers to follow his argument, The Economy of the Earth addresses more of a select, scholarly community than the public at large. The book is carefully argued, factually precise, full of references to important court decisions as well as philosophical argument. Those of us interested in social and political thought, those of us concerned with public policy, will share one reviewer's judgment: "His book serves as an outstanding example of how applied philosophy should be done, and it should be compulsory reading for every economist working in the field of public policy" (The Times Higher Education Supplement).
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Peter G. Stillman

Be careful

Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2009

Thompson is absolutely correct to be careful about different editions -- if you buy a used paperback, you need to be sure which edition it is. The property chapter cut from the 2nd edition is insightful, but the chapters added to the new edition keep it up with current environmental debates on ecosystem services and sciences. Be careful.

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