On Sustainability Research Without Sustainability

Markku Oksanen (University of Eastern Finland)

TEERC, CETE-P & UPCE PRESENT: EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENTAL PHILOSOPHY SERIES (EEPS)

Turku Environmental Ethics Research Centre, Center for Environmental and Technology Ethics Prague and University of Pardubice Centre for Ethics present a bi-semester online talk series on environmental philosophy. The talk series supports and promotes research and networks in European environmental philosophy. The series is accessible to all but represents a scholarly academic approach.

WELCOME TO OUR FIRST ONLINE TALK

March 27 1-2.30PM CET

ON SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH WITHOUT SUSTAINABILITY 

By Markku Oksanen Senior Lecturer, University of Eastern Finland

Abstract

"Ever since the emergence of sustainable development and sustainability discourses in the 1980s, some people have decided to swim upstream and commenced a search for alternative concepts and frameworks. Among the most cited authors within (philosophical) sustainability research are researchers who avoid using sustainability concept and/or who unequivocally reject it. These authors relate to a large variety of disciplines and approaches, from such major figures as Bruno Latour, Donna Haraway and Timothy Morton to many less known environmental philosophers. A secondary purpose of the paper is to present a typology of these researchers: there are “rejectionists”, “indifferent”, “originalists” and “revisionists”, to name some. The main purpose is to reflect whether their inclusion in the “canon” of the research (such as a textbook) can be justified. First, textbook-like works are highly selective and there is a continuous battle what/who to include/exclude and to what extent, it is necessary to cover the theoretical underpinnings. Of course, a textbook can gain theoretical credibility by covering at least some of the main sources of inspiration for self-identified sustainability researchers. The problem is then whom to exclude because concepts, values and inspiration tend to come from several, even contradictory sources. Second, there is a problem with writing a history of the field. With inclusion, is their anti-sustainability message being distorted or even tarnished (a sort of sustainability-washing)? Third, is it ethically sound to convert an anti-sustainability thinker into a full-blooded sustainability researcher? However, as the typology of different stances to sustainability conveys, a textbook without them lacks something; nevertheless, one should be cautious to not be guilty of “sustainability-washing.”

Sign up for the talk and get the zoom-link by messaging lamakou[at]utu.fi.