UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

The Values of Nature

Identification

Public canonical key

openalex:w7207212916

Authors

Clive L. Spash · Tone Smith

Reported year

—

Reported language

en

Source type

preprint

First detected

2026-11-09T19:14:49.894909+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:14:49.894909+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Documentary abstract — original language

The values of Nature are today ever more contested in attempts to reduce them to a narrow economics calculus and financial metrics. The crisis of modernity is evident is that the concept of Nature itself has been subject to post-modern deconstruction as archaic Romanticism while simultaneously being made into a modernist capital form by economists, bankers and financiers. In this paper we start by defining the meaning of Nature before moving to its values, the two being inseparable. Nature is seen as combining three aspect: (i) being ‘other’ than human, (ii) a biophysical structure and (iii) a quality which humans commonly and intuitively reference but struggle to specify. When turning to the values of Nature we describe the three major meta-ethical systems of Western philosophy—utilitarianism, deontology and virtue ethics. The contestation especially between utilitarian and rights-based approaches is explored. The role of intrinsic value in these systems is outlined. Modern mainstream economic valuation is then placed in context of the forgoing discussion and critically reviewed as a misguided but hegemonic approach to valuing Nature. The terrain of debate is laid out, briefly covering recent developments of rights to Nature and Nature’s contribution to people. That Nature cannot be dismissed as a concept (something attempted by some post-modernists and strong constructionists), but remains importantly contested in terms of its values, is central to understanding the on-going social-ecological conflicts created by modern economies.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W7207212916

Documentary context

Documentary family

Working paper

Source-reported types

preprint

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• Document · https://www-sre.wu.ac.at/sre-disc/sre-disc-2021_03.pdf
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W7207212916

Documentary status

Relevance pending

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