Current Epistemological Perceptions of Sustainability and Its Application in the Study and Practice of Cattle Production: A Review

Cisneros-Saguilán, Pedro; Gallardo López, Felipe; Ortíz, Silvia López; Ruiz Rosado, Octavio; Herrera-Haro, José G.; Hernández-Castro, Elías

Current Epistemological Perceptions of Sustainability and Its Application in the Study and Practice of Cattle Production: A Review

2015

For the socioeconomic and environmental importance of cattle production worldwide, we identify the origin, evolution, and epistemological perspectives of sustainability and its application in livestock agroecosystems. In this context, the concept has been empirically addressed using four themes, which are not exclusive but we consider they are relevant to agricultural sustainability: neo-economical, ecological–environmental, socio-anthropological, and technical–biological, which have been influenced by two strong scientific traditions, Aristotelian and Galilean. We conclude that although academic disciplines seek to adopt systemic approaches in their studies of sustainability, they are driven by reductionist and epistemological influences. In this sense, we consider the technical–biological perspective, which operates with an agroecological approach, as the best perspective that will contribute to the design and the development of sustainable livestock agroecosystems and, in addition, when its studies transcend to its application on plot or field to an agroecosystem or food system scale.

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