John will not permit the free exploration of these avenues. While morality may be our key, John's path seems to lead nowhere. No Doug, we cannot prove that there is anything more than subjectivism. Thus, the first untestable premise is that there is a physical reality. That premise is an axiom of science, John.
Axioms are self-evident, and untestable.
I'm not aware of any arguments here based on your second premise. Please expand and clarify. In fact, Daly says something else entirely. He says we need to integrate the specialties, even at their individual losses of integrity for the gain of the big picture. If you expect orthodox economics to stand unbending and have ecology pick what econ deems proper, we are NOT talking about ecological-economics.