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Philosophical Foundations for Sustainable Outcomes in Complex System Interventions

This paper by David Rousseau, PhD at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, explores the philosophical underpinnings necessary for sustainable outcomes in complex systemic interventions. It discusses diverse ecological and theological perspectives on environmentalism, value alignment, and the stewardship of creation. The work critically examines cognitive structures and their role in aligning human behavior with sustainable practices. Ultimately, it seeks to provide a framework for understanding values in natural and social systems, advocating for a scientific basis for objective value assessments.

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Philosophical Foundations for Sustainable Outcomes in Complex System Interventions

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  1. Philosophical Conditions for Sustainable Outcomes to Complex Systemic InterventionsDavid Rousseau PhD School of Theology, Religious Studies & Islamic Studies Centre for Systems Philosophy Centre for Systems Studies University of Wales Trinity Saint David www.trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk www.systemsphilosophy.org www.hull.ac.uk/hubs ISSS Viet Nam July 2013

  2. Value Alignment and Sustainability e.g.: Christian perspectives • “Environmentalism is a good thing” "We affirm that God-given dominion [over the earth] is a sacred responsibility to steward the earth and not a license to exploit or abuse the creation of which we are a part. We are not the owners of creation, but its stewards, summoned by God to 'watch over and care for it.'" "For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility." National Association of Evangelicals 2004 • “Environmentalism is a bad thing” “One of the greatest threats to society and the church today is the multifaceted environmentalist movement” ... [it promotes] “secular and pagan worldviews” and is a “false religion” that Christians “must avoid at all costs”. Dr. E. Calvin Beisner, founder and national spokesman, Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation (2006) • “Environmentalism is irrelevant” “I know who made the environment and he’s coming back and is going to burn it all up. So yes, I drive an SUV.” Pastor Mark Driscoll, speaking at Catalyst (a major Christian conference), 3 May 2013

  3. von Bertalanffy on Intuitions (1955) • Evolution selects for cognitive structures that produce isomorphies between experience and reality, thus leading to survival-benefitting behaviour in practice • Therefore our intuitions and native mental models are evolutionary adaptations that “are fitted to the real world” • However they represent without necessarily being fully comprehensive or fully accurate

  4. Academic Support for Realism • Arguments for Critical Realism • The success of science (Putnum, Brown, Psillos) • The predictive power of the “theoretical virtues” (Maxwell, van Fraasen) • The failure of Bell’s Theorem (Christian) • Presupposition of language use (Searle) • The incoherence of Idealism (Russell, Moore, Ewing, Searle, Stove) • However, note these arguments do not entail a new Reductive Physicalism • Need to account for “non-physical” phenomena e.g. knowledge, subjectivity, values (Nagel) • A “Broad Naturalism” is possible in principle (Chalmers) • The “new mechanists”: Organicism rather than Reductionism (Brennan) • The “new ontologists”: something other or more than Physicalism (Chalmers, Sider) • But so far it is unclear how to describe or discover this broad ontology

  5. Unity of Knowledge A spectrum of academically established views, differentiated by what is taken to be the ultimate existent(s) On what basis can be decide between them?

  6. Ervin Laszlo: GST and the Unity of Knowledge (1972)

  7. Ervin Laszlo: GST and the Unity of Knowledge (1972)

  8. Ervin Laszlo: GST and the Unity of Knowledge Not Physicalism!

  9. Unity of Knowledge and of Language

  10. Unity of Knowledge and of Language

  11. Unity of Knowledge and of Language

  12. Unity of Knowledge and of Language

  13. Towards a Systematic Semantics

  14. The Grounding of Values • Options for how values are grounded: • Divine Commands • Social Agreements • Evolutionary Strategies • nature of Nature • Assessment • Philosophical reasons against divine command theory (Aristotle, Leibniz, Russell, Cottingham) • Empirical evidence against comprehensive cultural conditioning (e.g. infant morality) • Empirical evidence against comprehensive evolutionary imperatives (e.g. interspecies altruism) • Empirical evidence in favour of some natural foundations (e.g. meditator effects) • Therefore objective basis for optimism that we can develop a scientific basis for some level of objectivity about values

  15. This enables the most effective leverage point…

  16. Worldview construction Four levels of systems thinking (Rousseau 2013) (Maani & Cavana 2007) 1 Events 2 Patterns 3 Knowledge Systemic structures 4 Mental models Natural systems Experiences Intuitions

  17. Worldview construction Five levels of systems thinking (Rousseau 2013) (extending Maani & Cavana 2007) 1 Events 2 Patterns 3 Knowledge Systemic structures 4 Mental models Natural systems Experiences Intuitions 5 Unified broad nat. ontological model Unifiedbroad naturalistic ontology

  18. Centre for Systems Philosophy THANK YOU David Rousseau www.systemsphilosophy.org david.rousseau@systemsphilosophy.org

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