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4. Plurality of valuation languages
Plurality of valuation languages
Sustainability issues are characterised by a high level of complexity and uncertainty. Because each order of complexity cannot be reduced to another, and because the complexity of human systems (social, economic…) is related to their highly elaborated communication systems, sustainability assessment is necessarily confronted to the plurality of valuation languages.
Before discussing valuation languages, we must consider value, which the expression refers to. PhD student Tania Briceno reminds us that:
“In essence, a value measure indicates the degree to which an item contributes to achieving a desirable goal. However, the goal that each discipline is trying to achieve is a matter of debate. In principle, positive sciences should have no imposed goal or agenda. However, the notion of an environmental value is a normative one that refers to the goal of human wellbeing and gives something to measure in both disciplines (Polasky and Segerson, 2009).”
To summarise:
- Natural sciences are usually not focused on the issue of values – they are positioned as value-neutral. However environmental science is able to make judgments on the relationships between the state of environment and human wellbeing. This trend has taken a new form with the Millenium Ecosystems Assessment, published in 2005.
- Social sciences are confronted to the issue of values more straight-forwardly. Value has a meaning for economics science, from the reductionist view of utilitarism (value is what an individual is willing to pay), to more elaborated theories of contemporary and particularly non-orthodox trends of economics, such as ecological economics. In sociology and anthropology, it refers to the elements of higher meanings in a given culture (M. Mauss, D. Graeber, G. Balandier).
The lessons that can be taken from anthropology and sociology are that value systems depend deeply on cultures on the one hand, and individuals and their reference group(s) on the other. There is no unique acceptance of what values (or degree of desirability of objects, actions or state of being) are or should be in society.
Sciences are either concerned by value or study different aspects of values, as defined by economics and/or anthropology or not. However, philosophers have argued that even natural sciences are not totally value-free. They can be influenced or embedded in the dominant paradigm of a society or a period of history (T. Kuhn). Acceptance of what is legitimate as a discourse is also highly dependable on those elements: discourse produced by scientists, by practitioners, by priests, etc.
Sustainability assessment builds on the scientific analysis of value in those disciplines to accept the existence of a plurality of valuation languages and perspectives as an important element to be taken into account. This includes not only interdisciplinary collaboration, mentioned before, but also listening to discourse from “non-scientific” sources, which can also have their legitimacy: citizens, practitioners, etc.
A simple way to understand this plurality is to remember that sustainability means there are multiple perspectives on a given situation or on given issues. This means we can analyse them from different standpoints, and using different means and units of measuring.iven issues. This means we can analyse them from different standpoints, and using different means and units of measuring.