Systemic Ethics and Non-Anthropocentric Stewardship

This book makes a case for rights and responsibilities to be expressed through a cosmopolitan, non-anthropocentric praxis based on responsibility for others and the environment.                   Systemic Ethics and Non-Anthropocentric Stewardship: Implications for Transdisciplinarity and Cosmopolitan Politics is divided into seven chapters. Systemic ethical praxis strives to respond to the vexed challenge of how to bridge the false dualism of pitting the environment versus profit. The book begins by providing readers with an understanding of the way in which cosmopolitanism (like all social concepts) is shaped by diverse definitions and applied differently by theorists with different assumptions and values and by those who engage in transformative praxis.                                                         It develops an argument based on considering the consequences of social, economic and environmental policy decisions for current and future generations of life. The next chapter critiques anthropocentricism and explores how policy makers develop agreements on what constitutes and supports the wellbeing of the planet rather than merely addressing the GDP. It emphasizes the continuum of all life and that the survival of human beings is dependent on recognizing our reliance on all forms of life on a sustainable planet.                                                                         The book then explores the options for social democracy and ways to enhance an ethical approach to post national governance to protect the fabric of life. The following chapters reflect upon the author’s own participatory action research process and examine the transformations that can arise through critical systemic thinking and practice. Next the book makes the case for systemic ethical governance that is able tomanage consumption, before concluding with a summary of the praxis based on critical heuristics. 

This is the companion book to Transformation from Wall Street to Wellbeing: Joining up the Dots through Participatory Democracy and Governance to Mitigate the Causes and Adapt to the Effects of Climate Change, also by the author. The two volumes comprise a series of essays that can be read separately and in any order or as chapters on a common theme, namely, “How should we live?”