Systemic Ethics and Non-Anthropocentric Stewardship: Implications for Transdisciplinarity and Cosmopolitan Politics (Contemporary Systems Thinking) - Hardcover

This book makes a case for rights and responsibilities to be expressed through a cosmopolitan, non-anthropocentric praxis based on responsibility for others and the environment.                   Systemic Ethics and Non-Anthropocentric Stewardship: Implications for Transdisciplinarity and Cosmopolitan Politics is divided into seven chapters. Systemic ethical praxis strives to respond to the vexed challenge of how to bridge the false dualism of pitting the environment versus profit. The book begins by providing readers with an understanding of the way in which cosmopolitanism (like all social concepts) is shaped by diverse definitions and applied differently by theorists with different assumptions and values and by those who engage in transformative praxis.                                                         It develops an argument based on considering the consequences of social, economic and environmental policy decisions for current and future generations of life. The next chapter critiques anthropocentricism and explores how policy makers develop agreements on what constitutes and supports the wellbeing of the planet rather than merely addressing the GDP. It emphasizes the continuum of all life and that the survival of human beings is dependent on recognizing our reliance on all forms of life on a sustainable planet.                                                                         The book then explores the options for social democracy and ways to enhance an ethical approach to post national governance to protect the fabric of life. The following chapters reflect upon the author’s own participatory action research process and examine the transformations that can arise through critical systemic thinking and practice. Next the book makes the case for systemic ethical governance that is able to manage consumption, before concluding with a summary of the praxis based on critical heuristics. 

This is the companion book to Transformation from Wall Street to Wellbeing: Joining up the Dots through Participatory Democracy and Governance to Mitigate the Causes and Adapt to the Effects of Climate Change, also by the author. The two volumes comprise a series of essays that can be read separately and in any order or as chapters on a common theme, namely, “How should we live?”

Janet McIntyre-Mills is Associate Professor Flinders University, and Adjunct Professor University of Indonesia. Her books address social and environmental justice concerns and include, for example: ‘Global Citizenship and Social Movements’, Harwood, McMillan, ‘Critical Systemic Praxis for Social and Environmental Justice’, Springer; ‘Systemic Governance and Accountability: working and re-working the conceptual and spatial boundaries,’ published by Springer; ‘User Centric policy design to address complex need’s, Nova Science. Emergence has recently published ‘Identity, democracy and sustainability’. It proposes a new architecture for governance.

Her research addresses wellbeing, consciousness and cosmopolitan ethics associated with the design and transformation of governance and democracy. It focuses on excessive social, economic and environmental consumption and suggests ways to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change through protecting cultural ecosystems. She is a board member of several journals, including the Journal of Globalization Studies, Systems Research and Behavioural Science, for example. She is an elected board member of Research Committee 10 on Participation and Organizational Transformation of the International Sociological Association and has participated in Research Committee 51 of Socio-cybernetics. She is also a member of the International Systems Sciences and the Action Learning and Action Association.