COMMENTARY The human actor in ecological economics: Philosophical approach and research perspectives Christian Becker ⁎ University of Heidelberg, Alfred-Weber-Institute for Economics, Bergheimer Str. 20, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Received 10 August 2004 Received in revised form 9 December 2005 Accepted 21 December 2005 Available online 28 February 2006 This paper contributes to the discussion about an adequate understanding of the human actor in ecological economics. It provides a philosophical approach by defining three fundamental relations of the human being: its relation (i) with itself, (ii) the community and (iii) nature. I reflect on previous discussions within ecological economics and argue that especially the relevance of the third sphere has not fully been recognized, yet. For this reason, I present the concept of homo ecologicus, which describes the relation of the human being with nature as an inherent principle of human excellence and is not based on mere self-interest or the striving for biological survival. Homo ecologicus is characterized by (a) sympathy with and respect for nature, (b) an orientation of its own creativity upon the creativity found in nature, and (c) a relation with nature, which is especially based on personal experience and encounter with it. I draw conclusions of the relevance of this concept for ecological economics and finally, I suggest a sensible integration of a variety of concepts of the human actor in order to explore the different relationships and characteristics of human existence, which are all important for the subject area and the aims of ecological economics. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Ecological economics Homo biologicus Homo ecologicus Homo economicus Homo politicus Homo sustinens 1. Introduction Ecological economics examines the relationship between nature and the economic system in the broadest sense (Costanza, 1989; Proops, 1989; Faber et al., 1996: 1, Edwards- Jones et al., 2000: 3). It has already been recognized that this ambitious research task requires a reflection on the under- standing and the modeling of the human actor in ecological economics. Contributions to this discussion have been made by Faber et al. (1997), Söderbaum (1999), Siebenhüner (2000), Nyborg (2000), Jager/Janssen (2000), Gintis (2000) and Faber et al. (2002). This paper provides a systematic philosophical analysis of this issue. Existing contributions will be character- ized and attention drawn to aspects not previously examined. For an encompassing analysis of the understanding of the human actor in ecological economics, I refer to three funda- mental levels of the human relationship: (i) The relation of the human being with itself, (ii) the relation of the human being with other humans and (iii) the relation of the human being with nature. The relevance of these three spheres for ecological economics will be discussed in Sections 2–4. I will argue that, while the first and second sphere have been addressed by previous contributions, the importance of the third sphere – the relationship between humans and nature – ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS 60 (2006) 17 – 23 ⁎ Tel.: +49 6221 54 8017; fax: +49 6221 54 8020. E-mail address: cbecker@uni-hd.de. URL: www.eco-eco.uni-hd.de. 0921-8009/$ - see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2005.12.016 available at www.sciencedirect.com www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon