Integral ecology as critical principle of environmental sustainability in the agri-food chain: Epistemological and ethical inputs from Laudato si’

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Abstract

The encyclical letter Laudato si’ has drawn considerable attention beyond the traditional boundaries of religious communities and theological commentaries. In particular, the document articulates a concept of ‘integral ecology’ that seeks the convergence of epistemological, scientific, ethical, political, and theological considerations and has been frequently invoked as a significant critical principle for current sustainability studies and policies. In the article, we seek to highlight how three ideas articulated in the encyclical seem to consistently resonate with the latest developments of sustainability studies on the agri-food chain: the exercise of a plural rationality in academic debates, the adoption of a wide transdisciplinarity that includes the humanities, and the enlargement of peer communities involved in research and innovation practices.

Introduction

Issued in 2015 — a few months before the Agenda 2030 — Laudato si’ (LS) has surprised since the beginning both believers and non-believers of the newness of Pope Francis’ approach towards the «care for our common home». Despite the ecological concern not being new to the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, never before an encyclical had proposed the issue with such resolution and variety of themes.

Since, from a philosophical perspective the reception of an encyclical letter cannot be assessed within a short timeframe, this review will consider a few works issued before 2015, to illustrate the immediate context of reference, and after 2015, especially in the past two years, to capture the impact of the document.

The concept of sustainability does not appear to be paramount in Laudato si’, even though the idea of ‘sustainable’ or ‘unsustainable’ behaviors is present in many passages. It is nonetheless relevant to examine the impact of Francis' teaching on the academic discourse around sustainability since its main theme – an ‘integral ecology’ that seeks the convergence of epistemological, scientific, ethical, political, and theological considerations – has been frequently invoked as a significant critical principle for sustainability studies and policies [1,2]. In this sense, an encompassing understanding of the impact of Laudato si’ can underpin (and further inspire) research practices and lines of inquiry that are already present in the scientific community.

We focus our analysis on three ideas articulated in the encyclical that seem to consistently resonate with the latest developments of sustainability studies on the agri-food chain: a plural rationality, a proper transdisciplinarity, and the enlargement of the peer communities.

Section snippets

A home without cosmologies: a plural rationality

Contrary to expectations that may arise around a document on environmental issues written by a prominent religious leader, Laudato si’ does not present a cosmological vision. On the contrary, the second chapter of the encyclical, albeit being dedicated to « The Gospel of Creation», is introduced with an unexpected apology for proposing « faith convictions » to global attention. The possible tension between different cosmological models (e.g., creationists vs. evolutionists) is thus immediately

A fraternity of knowledge: proper transdisciplinarity

To promote the care of the common home, while appropriately taking into account the complexity of sustainability issues and the correlated methodological pluralism, a transdisciplinary approach is fundamental. As ‘everything is connected’, every knowledge is connected too. With surprising freedom, Laudato si’ is a call to action addressed to every branch of human knowledge. As some commentators noted, Francis not only appeals to science, economy, and politics, but even literature, poetry, and

Peripheries as source of knowledge and change: enlarging peer communities

The aim of social justice is not only the fight against hunger and poverty, but also the involvement of marginalized communities (defined by Francis with the recurring concept of peripheries) in decision-making. For researchers in the Agri-food system, this entails not only recognizing the urge to improve food security, but also the social consequences of the introduction of specific technologies, and the ability to involve local communities in the innovations that affect their lives. In this

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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