The Slow Strange Death of Economic Man

The Slow Strange Death of Economic Man explains how classical economics of the market place combined with the major ethical theories of western nations to produce an inevitable destruction of our environment. Locked in a system of thought that sees the maximisation of happiness as the key economic and moral goal, the three major problems of short-termism, injustice, and self-interest have consistently overridden attempts at carbon reduction. Indeed, no ethical theory that has emerged in the last three hundred years has provided protection from our greed and obsession with wealth creation, and the search for a theory of intrinsic environmental value includes an analysis of the writings of Aldo Leopold, James Lovelock and Paul Taylor. The author concludes that without a major shift towards justice as a key economic value, the future for the planet is bleak.