A Framework for Evaluation of Normative
Solutions to Environmental Problems
Karl Christoph Reinmuth
Abstract This 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.
K. C. Reinmuth (*)
Department of Philosophy, University of Flensburg (EUF), Flensburg, Germany
e-mail: karl.reinmuth@uni-flensburg.de
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
C. Hobohm (ed.), Perspectives for Biodiversity and Ecosystems, Environmental
Challenges and Solutions, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57710-0_5
107
Solutions to Environmental Problems
Karl Christoph Reinmuth
Abstract This 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.
K. C. Reinmuth (*)
Department of Philosophy, University of Flensburg (EUF), Flensburg, Germany
e-mail: karl.reinmuth@uni-flensburg.de
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
C. Hobohm (ed.), Perspectives for Biodiversity and Ecosystems, Environmental
Challenges and Solutions, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57710-0_5
107