Climate justice : philosophical issues

Enseignants :

Pierre André ; Axel Gosseries

Langue d’enseignement :

Anglais,  facilités pour suivre le cours en français.

Contenu :

Climate change and climate policies raise tremendous issues of justice, unprecedented in scale and in nature. In particular, climate change confronts us with difficult questions of global, intergenerational and environmental justice such as “How should we balance the interests of future generations with those of the current poor, whose satisfaction relies on fossil fuels?”, “Do rich countries have an ecological debt to pay to poor countries due to their earlier industrialization?” or “Do individuals bear a moral responsibility for their greenhouse gas emissions even if their impact seems insignificant?”. In this seminar, we will draw on the climate justice literature to see how philosophical theories can inform climate policies. In doing so, we will pay particular attention to methodological issues such as the problem of isolationism (local justice). Our special guest for the seminar will be Prof. Simon Caney (University of Warwick).

PhD students and master students are welcome. Students have to attend the talks and discussions in class. They must also write a short paper (1500 words) on a philosophical question related to the topics discussed in class.

Programme :

• Jeudi 29 février, 14h00-17h00 : Introduction to climate justice: Pierre André & Axel Gosseries
• Lundi 4 mars, 14h00-17h00 : Climate justice and the political: Simon Caney "Political Responsibilities and Climate Change" and "Climate Justice, Power and Political Feasibility"
• Mardi 5 mars, 12h45-14h00 : Mardi Intime de la Chaire Hoover: Simon Caney, “Against the Fragmentation of Global Justice”
• Mercredi 6 mars, 9h30-12h30: Debating climate justice: avec Simon Caney, Fausto Corvino et d'autres intervenants
• Jeudi 18 avril, 14h00-17h00 : Présentations orales des étudiants

Les séances se dérouleront au D305 (salle Vivès).

Bibliographie :

Caney, Simon. 2005. ‘Cosmopolitan Justice, Responsibility, and Global Climate Change’. Leiden Journal of International Law 18 (4): 747–75.
Caney, Simon. 2010. ‘Climate Change, Human Rights, and Moral Thresholds’. Climate Ethics: Essential Readings, 163–77.
Caney, Simon. 2018. ‘Climate Change’. In Oxford Handbook of Distributive Justice, edited by Serena Olsaretti, 664–87. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gardiner, Stephen M. 2006. ‘A Perfect Moral Storm. Climate Change, Intergenerational Ethics and the Problem of Moral Corruption’. Environmental Values, no. 15: 397–413.
Gosseries, Axel. 2004. ‘Historical Emissions and Free-Riding’. Ethical Perspectives 11 (1): 36–60.
Gosseries, Axel. 2014. ‘Nations, Generations and Climate Justice’. Global Policy 5 (1): 96–102.