The leading question: In situ structures of thought?

Abstract

Our habitual failure to take continuing account of our global environmental context in economic and social decision-making processes generates and sustains a fundamental error of logic in our depiction of our situation and its possibilities. With effort, this error is correctable. Its deliberate and conscious correction would have vast practical consequence for human decision-making and open extraordinary opportunities to persons and societies.

To illustrate how this thesis has been approached in practice in an organizational setting, a description is included (The Leading Question: A Paper Related to a Project on Economics and Environment of a project in which the author as a member of community was asked to assist an environmental department of government and its Minister to address the environment-economy relationship. In the course of the project, the illogic of the department’s present construction of the environment/economy relationship was identified and it was possible to develop policy options whereby the agency could strengthen its role within government by correcting its own approach, and play a major national and international role in helping to remedy our habitual failing to take the environmental context logically into account.