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6 - Quality of Life: On Values, Knowledge and Worldviews

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2013

Bert J. M. de Vries
Bert J. M. de Vries
Affiliation:
Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Summary

Introduction

The scientific worldview cannot give meaning in itself to our lives and it cannot resolve the ethical questions surrounding sustainability issues. The scientific ‘facts’ about the world, important and accurate as they may be, have to be complemented with what people value and believe. It is time to have a look at the more subjective, personal side of the quest for sustainable development. Are there empirical data and theoretical concepts about the subjective side of sustainability?

Previously I have stated that sustainable development is about quality of life. But what is quality of life – are we merely shifting the problem? Sustainable development is to act here and now in such a way that the conditions for a (decent/high) quality of life elsewhere and later are not eroded. But for whom and for how long? Throughout history, individuals have struggled to realise their idea of ‘the good life’, by exploiting environmental opportunities and cooperating with and oppressing others. Since the dawn of civilisation philosophers have reflected on what ‘the good life’ entails. What can we learn from them?

Type
Chapter
Information
Sustainability Science , pp. 146 - 178
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

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References

An excellent comprehensive introduction into the philosophical background to this chapter.
Tarnas, R. The Passion of the Western Mind – Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View. New York: Ballantine Book/Random House Publishers, 1991.
A description of and simulation experiments with a world model, exploring future pathways for the world depending on which worldview is dominant.
Rotmans, J., and Vries, B. de. Perspectives on Global Change – The TARGETS Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
de Vries, B., and Petersen, A. Conceptualizing sustainable development: An assessment methodology connecting values, knowledge, worldviews and scenarios. Ecological Economics 68 (2009) 1006–1019.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
A series of short articles with opposing views on 21 environmental issues in the United States.
Easton, T.Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Environmental Issues. 11th ed., Contemporary Learning Series. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006.Google Scholar
Thompson, M., Ellis, R., and Wildawsky, A.. Cultural Theory. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1990.Google Scholar
van Egmond, N., and de Vries, B.. Sustainability: the search for the integral worldview. Futures 43 (2011) 853–867.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
An example is a construction model of health indices across countries, in which functional limitations, self-reports of health, and a physical measure are interrelated to construct health indices (Meijer et al. 2011)
The story on Himalayan villagers is taken from Thompson in de Vries et al. (2002)

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