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Climate change and hybrid ethics:

a review of four ethical theories

Mihae Ahn

October 26, 2011

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Global Climate Change highlights

a basic issue of Human Rights.


Influential Moral Theories and Climate Change



Utilitarianism

Kantianism

Confucianism

Taoism


Why is climate change

a matter of ethics and justice?


Why is climate change a matter of ethics, a matter of justice?

• Disproportionate Contribution

the scarce resource: the atmospheric capacity to absorb greenhouse gases without altering climatic system



• Disproportionate Contribution

• Disproportionate Burdens

vulnerable populations in developing countries



• Disproportionate Responsibilities


• Intergenerational Issue

future generations and climate change impacts



• Disproportionate Responsibilities


• Intergenerational Issues


Climate Change is mostly viewed as:

• a danger to the natural environment in the North (developed countries)

• a threat to human well-being in the South (developing countries)



Utilitarianism

Kantianism

Confucianism

Taoism


Utilitarianism

Kantianism

Confucianism

Taoism

Commonality ~> Universality


Utilitarianism

• utility - crosses time and borders

•well-being of all human beings


Utilitarianism Kantianism

Differenceconsequences of

actionsmotivation for actions

duty to act

Similarity universalityuniversality


Taoism

• ecological world view

• the principle of coexistence


Taoism UtilitarianismKantianism

Differencerelationship between humans and nature

human relationship with each other

Similarity global conception of ethicsglobal conception of ethics


Confucianism

• self-cultivation

• cosmopolitan and ecological perspective

• mutuality, responsibility, obligation


The Theories and Climate Change

Taoism and Confucianism

• legal instruments and enforcement mechanisms

• Confucianism’s self-cultivation

• Taoism’s ecological worldview


The Theories and Climate Change

Utilitarianism

• the best consequences at the least cost

Kantianism

• the formula of universal law

• the formula of the end itself


Commonality

• universality

•caring for all other human beings



Utilitarianism

Kantianism

Confucianism

Taoism


References

Ahn, G. (1999). 문명사적 위기시대의 새로운 헤게모니로서 노자의 생태적 환경윤리 [Lao Tze’s ecological environmental ethics as a new hegemony for the era of crisis in the history of civilization]. 한국교육사회학연구 [Sociology of Education], 9(3), 173-193. Retrieved from www.kyobobook.co.kr

Barker, T., Scrieciu, S., & Taylor, D. (2008). Climate change, social justice and development. Development, 51(3), 317-324. doi: 10.1057/dev.2008.33

Beck, U. (2008). Climate change and globalization are reinforcing global inequalities: High time for a new social democratic era. Globalizations, 5(1), 78-80. doi: 10.1080/14747730701610413

Choi, J. (2000). 도가의 자연관과 생태문제: 노자를 중심으로 [A view of nature in Taoism and ecological crisis: focusing on Lao Tze]. 오늘의 동양사상 [Today’s Asian Ideology], 13, 73-89. Retrieved from www.kyobobook.co.kr

Dower, N. (2007). World Ethics: the new agenda (2nd ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Gardiner, S. M. (2006). A Perfect Moral Storm: Climate change, intergenerational ethics and problem of moral corruption. Environmental Values, 15(3), 397-413.

Garvey, J. (2008). The ethics of climate change: right and wrong in a warming world. London; New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.


http://www.kyobobook.co.kr




References (continued)

Grasso, M. (2007). A normative ethical framework in climate change. Climatic Change, 81, 223-246. doi: 10.1007/s10584-006-9158-7

Hourdequin, M. (2010). Climate, collective action and individual ethical obligations. Environmental Values, 19(4), 443-464. doi: 10.3197/096327110X531552

Hurka, T. (1993). Ethical principles. In H. G. Coward, & T. Hurka (Eds.), Ethics & climate change: The greenhouse effect (pp. 23-38). Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press for the Calgary Institute for the Humanities.

Kamminga, M. R. (2008). The ethics of climate politics: Four modes of moral discourse. Environmental Politics, 17(4), 673-692. doi: 10.1080/09644010802193799

Paavola, J. (2005). Seeking justice: International environmental governance and climate change. Globalizations, 2(3), 309-322. doi: 10.1080/14747730500367850

Pohl, K. (2009). Ethics of Cosmopolitanism: The Confucian Tradition. Retrieved from http://www.uni-trier.de/fileadmin/fb2/SIN/Pohl_Publikation/Ethics_of_cosmopolitanism.pdf

Sachs, W. (2008). Climate change and human rights. Development, 51(3), 332-337. doi: 10.1057/dev.2008.35

Singer, P. (2006). Ethics and climate change: A commentary on MacCracken, Toman and Gardiner. Environmental Values, 15(3), 415-422.


http://www.uni-trier.de/fileadmin/fb2/SIN/Pohl_Publikation/Ethics_of_cosmopolitanism.pdf




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