Homo oecologicus
The Homo oecologicus [ ˈhɔmoː ɔe̯kɔˈlɔgɪkʊs ] ( lat. Hŏmō oecologicus , ecological person ) is the ideal typical human image of the perfectly ecologically thinking and acting person. The term was first introduced in 1989 by Hans Immler in his book "Vom Wert der Natur".
The term, like its counterpart, the so-called Homo oeconomicus, alludes to the biological taxon of anatomically modern humans ( Homo sapiens ), whereby the model of Homo oecologicus is seen as a complement to the type of Homo oeconomicus, which is guided by an economic concept.
If Homo oeconomicus is determined by the maximization of personal benefit on the basis of rational considerations, then the Homo oecologicus model requires its interaction with its (natural) environment and its orientation towards the highly interdisciplinary organized ecology, including interdisciplinary tasks.
Homo oecologicus as an image of man
During the homo economicus in economics only as a model and not a human image is described, Homo oecologicus is also described as a human image in which the demand of the environmental movement since the 1980s for "new values" and "new morality," yes to a “new image of man” should be taken up. Homo oecologicus was also seen as an alternative to Homo oeconomicus (understood as a human image). The fixation on this economic model has directly or indirectly evoked the ecological crisis.
However, the term Homo oeconomicus does not denote an image of man, but, on the contrary, the sum of certain basic conditions on which simple classical theories of economics are ideally based, in order to deal with special cases that illustrate certain facts - for didactic reasons in lectures in basic economics, for example. Economists are well aware of these simplifications. In economic theories that deal with ecology, Homo oeconomicus only plays a limited role. In this respect, the concept cannot be compared with Homo oecologicus and does not contradict it.
See also
literature
- Eckhard Meinberg: Homo oecologicus. The new image of man under the sign of the ecological crisis. Scientific Book Society (1995). ISBN 3534120655
Individual evidence
- ↑ Adelheid Biesecker, Stefan Kesting: Microeconomics: an introduction from a social-ecological perspective, 2003, ISBN 9783486273342 , p. 164, online