Facts and values in (de)growth economics

Abstract The role of values in scientific contexts has become a large topic of discussion in philosophy and elsewhere. Climate economics, like many sustainability sciences, experiences stark divergences between different scientific perspectives on what the future will look like and how to best manage that future. Starkest amongst these are tensions between growth and degrowth perspectives. In this paper we suggest that these tensions are entangled with political and other non-epistemic values, such that value entrenchment underlies much science in this domain. This creates significant problems for policy-makers and the public trying to rely on scientific information. As a result some have suggested that scientists should accept the role of values, be transparent with them and trust that scientific methods can serve to de-bias approaches. However, evidence from cognitive science and studies of scientific integrity suggests that the formation of isolated value-laden bubbles is an undesirable state of affairs which undermines the integrity of all the scientific approaches involved. Instead we see importance in ensuring that approaches are not isolated but rather compelled to interact through institutional imperatives, adversarial collaboration and the development of common ground. There does need to be active reflection on values and biases. We consider how these might operate in the case of green growth and degrowth theories. In effect we will emphasize the importance of interdisciplinarity as necessary to manage the risks generated by value-entrenchment.