Earth Stewardship, Socioecosystems, the Need for a Transdisciplinary Approach and the Role of the International Long Term Ecological Research Network (ILTER) - Earth Stewardship: Linking Ecology and Ethics in Theory and Practice - page 218

expresses itself, in contrast to a strict Cartesian view, which starts from doubting the
existence of reality itself. As Sokolowski ( 2012 ) explains:
Phenomenology is the study of human experience and of the ways things present
themselves to us in and through such experience. (…) Phenomenology is a signifi cant
philosophical movement because it deals so well with the problem of appearances. (…) [I]
n its classical form, [it] insists that parts are only understood against the background of
appropriate wholes, that manifolds of appearance harbor identities, and that absences make
no sense except as played off against the presences that can be achieved through them.

Moreover, phenomenology, since its inception by Husserl ( 1913 ), has opened
what can be named a correlational view, in which any kind of reality or “world”
(a “noema” in phenomenological terms) can only be understood in its mutual rela-
tionship with subjective lived processes (“noesis” in phenomenological terms) in
which it is given or experienced. Thus, humans can only be understood against the
proper (socioeco)system in which they live, and correlatively, this socioecosystem
should be understood as a correlate of human life and intentions (Hopkins 2010 ).

14.3.2 Commitment

Sustainability originally was stated as a trans-generational issue, i.e., “how can we
develop, as a society, without putting at risk the development of future genera-
tions?” Therefore sustainability science has incorporated a commitment to future
generations. However, on the face of the magnitude of the problem and the urgency
of scientists to supply the solutions society is demanding to deal with global change,
science also is moving from just a “curiosity driven approach”, to a more “problem
oriented” and a more “result based” research. Still driven by curiosity; however, it
recognizes that curiosity alone is not enough to understand how the world works. It
is also necessary to promote the incorporation of this understanding into public
policy (Vaughan et al. 2007 ). And furthermore, it is important for policies we design
to be implementable and functional. This requires evaluating whether or not the
socioecosystem is really going in the direction it was expected and that damage to
the environmental life support system is being avoided. Frequently this can be done
following an “adaptive management” approach, when suitable options are available
(Holling 1978 ), but there are cases when it is not possible given that there are no
management options available that prevent serious damage to the environmental life
support system.

14.3.3 Scope

In our efforts to study and understand how socioecosystems are structured and
work, the extent and scope of our research approach has increased. Within the
reductionist approach, scientists interested in functional aspects tend to specialize