On the dominant economic approach to environmental policy, environmental goods are conceptualised as forms of capital that provide services for human well-being. These services are assigned a monetary value to be weighed against the values of other goods and services. David Wiggins has offered a set of arguments against central assumptions about the nature of well-being, practical reason and ethical deliberation that underpin this dominant economic approach. In this paper I outline these arguments and consider their implications for understanding ethical demands across generations. The paper focuses, in particular, on their implications for understanding the nature and requirements of sustainability.

在环境政策的主要经济方法中，环境商品被概念化为为人类福祉提供服务的资本形式。这些服务被分配了一个货币价值，以与其他商品和服务的价值进行权衡。大卫威金斯提出了一系列论据，反对支持这种主导经济方法的关于幸福本质、实践理性和伦理思考的核心假设。在本文中，我概述了这些论点，并考虑了它们对理解几代人的道德要求的影响。本文特别关注它们对理解可持续性的性质和要求的影响。