God's own value: intrinsic values and 'sacredness' as a language of valuation in ecological conflicts
Student name: Mr Nihar Gokhale
Guide: Dr Julien-Francois Gerber
Year of completion: 2015
Host Organisation: TERI University
Abstract:
The expansion of the commodity frontier as a result of the increasing global social
metabolism has caused ecological conflicts, commonly played out in regions
populated by indigenous communities. This is often in form of ‘sacredness’ of the
ecosystem. Such ‘languages of valuation’ are more than a mere multiplicity of
expressions; these languages also highlight the chasm between intrinsic and
instrumental values of nature and of a cultural divide between the notions of such
value.
Case studies on ecological distribution conflicts have also reflected cultural
distribution conflicts, which is in line with the notion that values themselves are
culturally constructed, and it is usually this interpretation of nature’s value that
determines how it is exploited.
While the possibility of there being an intrinsic value to nature has been debated in
the economics literature, it does not link this debate with expression of
‘sacredness’ as a value in ecological conflicts. But are the two independent? The
thesis uses cases of ecological conflicts in India to discuss the relationship between
the two using an approach that understands the ‘interior’ of self, spirituality,
collective and the environment, via understanding the worldviews underlying
sacred beliefs. Recognising the existence of interior and exterior reality helps to
expand the integral economics framework to discuss this relationship. Broad
connections are drawn between the role of the ‘inner world’, institutions and social
metabolism in context of sacredness.
Keywords- Intrinsic value; languages of valuation; sacredness; ecological distribution conflicts;
cultural distribution conflicts, Integral economics
