A Framework for Evaluation of Normative Solutions to Environmental Problems

Abstract

AbstractThis article deals with the question of how normative solutions to environmental problems can be evaluated. Terms like ‘challenges’, ‘problems’, or ‘solutions’ can (normally) only be understood against a normative-evaluative background. We identify environmental problems and challenges, such as the threat to ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity, through evaluations. If we want to overcome environmental problems and challenges, we must act. In order to coordinate and guide our actions, we must commit ourselves to general norms. So, rules (laws, standards, etc.) are important means of overcoming certain environmental challenges. The use of rules can be justified by showing their quality. However, specific hurdles arise in the evaluation of (good) rules. In order to overcome some obstacles, the components of the presupposed evaluations need to be made explicit, and one needs a conceptually and substantively convincing evaluation framework. The article has two aims. The first goal is to develop a framework for the evaluation of rules or rule systems and to present the corresponding evaluation components. Furthermore, it is shown at which points normative-evaluative decisions are to be made, when argumentative reasoning is to be given, and that we have to distinguish between different types of arguments. Furthermore, I will analyse which evidence is needed in these different arguments and which obstacles one has to deal with in getting the required evidence. The second concern of the article is to illustrate how some moral criteria for the evaluation of rules can be specified and how the moral quality of environmental rule systems can be examined. For this, the theory of strong sustainability, as developed by Konrad Ott and Ralf Döring, will be used as a yardstick for the moral evaluation of a set of rules. It will also be shown how argumentatively substantiated evaluative propositions can be obtained with the help of a moral theory.KeywordsEvaluationRule systemsSustainabilityMeans-endRules as toolsRules and rule usesCriteria pluralismEnvironmental problemsNormative discourse