The quality of sustainability science: a philosophical perspective

Abstract

Sustainability science does not fit easily with established criteria of the quality of science. Making explicit and justifying four features of sustainability science—normativity, inclusion of nonscientists, urgency, and cooperation of natural and social scientists—can promote deep and comprehensive questioning. In particular, because the inclusion of nonscientists into sustainability science has become a dogma, re-examining the epistemic, normative, and political reasons for inclusion is important for the quality of sustainability science. These reasons include providing a range of perspectives and helping to craft and implement policy in real-world social and ethical situations. To be included effectively, nonscientists must be understood within this demanding context rather than employed merely to satisfy a dogma. We situate our discussion in this article against a foundational controversy of sustainability science: the weak versus strong sustainability debate. According to our analysis, comprehensive consideration of the features of normativity, inclusion of nonscientists, urgency, and cooperation of natural and social scientists suggests a convincing case for strong sustainability.

Keywords

• sustainable development
• interdisciplinary research
• evaluation
• participatory planning
• culture (human)