The commonwealth of life : economics for a flourishing earth / Peter G. Brown.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brown, Peter G.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economics--Moral and ethical aspects.

Economics.

Political ethics.

Environmental ethics.

Human rights.

International relations--Moral and ethical aspects.

International relations.

Physical Description:

xvi, 221 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Montréal ; New York : Black Rose Books, 2008.

Summary:

In the First Edition of this remarkable book, Peter G. Brown, through a series of careful arguments, identified three challenges that lay ahead of us: the first was to come up with an adequate account of our minimal obligations to each other, and to the rest of the natural order; the second was to redefine and reshape the institutions of economics, government, and civil society to reflect those obligations; and the third was to re-conceptualize and redirect relations between nations so as to foster those institutions and discharge those obligations.

In this his Second Edition, he revisits and expands on those original ideas and draws some new, and innovative, conclusions that will redirect what we do and give substance and direction to the institutions that must be adopted if life is to flourish. Finding our historical attitude of 'full-human-use' toward the environment unsatisfactory, Brown offers an alternative, namely, an 'all-species-use.' What he calls "the commonwealth of life," and the acceptance of this reasoning has some very important implications for all life that share this planet.

Contents:

Part I Progress and the Commonwealth of Life

Chapter 1 Duties Beyond Borders 9

Chapter 2 Duties Beyond the Present and Beyond Persons 30

Part II Fiduciary Institutions

Chapter 3 Stewardship Economics 61

Chapter 4 Government as Trustee 88

Chapter 5 Civil Society and the Commonwealth of Life 102

Part III Transparent Sovereignty

Chapter 6 Global Ethics and Fiduciary States 123

Chapter 7 The National and the World 138

Chapter 8 Are There any Natural Resources? 160.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781551643052

1551643057

9781551643045

1551643049

OCLC:

126084104