The Problem of Methodological Pluralism in Ecological Economics

Alex Lo

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Methodological pluralism advocates balanced consideration of multiple research methods. The concept rests upon the necessity of choice in the absence of conclusive principles to guide the preference of method. Ecological economics, however, appears to be engaging in a different conception creating confusion as to the scope for intellectual openness. This paper offers clarifications for this concept and a critique. Ecological economics advances a coherent theory crafted along its biophysical worldview and moral commitments. These imperatives guide the choice of method and favour a reduced range of methodological possibilities to the exclusion of neoclassical economic options. If ecological economics is seen as an ideological opposite of neoclassical economics, it would need a selective methodological strategy rather than maintaining methodological diversity. Maintaining diversity may erode the basis of its heterodox criticisms by requiring openness to the orthodox alternatives. Ecological economics has shown difficulty in sustaining its long-standing pluralist commitments while increasingly seeking clear differentiation from its monolithic “enemy”.

Keywords: Methodological pluralism; methodological diversity; value pluralism; ecological economics; neoclassical economics. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B40 Q57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-01-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env, nep-hme, nep-hpe and nep-pke
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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