Philosophy and climate change / edited by Mark Budolfson, Tristram McPherson, and David Plunkett.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Budolfson, Mark, editor.

McPherson, Tristram Colin, 1975- editor.

Plunkett, David, editor.

Series:

Engaging philosophy.

Engaging philosophy

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Climatic changes--Philosophy.

Climatic changes.

Climatic changes--Social aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxi, 402 pages) : illustrations (some color)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2021.

Summary:

This volume illustrates the diverse ways that philosophy can contribute to conversations around climate change, and explores the ways in which thinking about climate change can help to illuminate a range of topics of independent interest to philosophers.

Contents:

Cover

Philosophy and Climate Change

Copyright

Contents

Acknowledgments

List of Figures

List of Tables

List of Contributors

Abstracts of Chapters

Section I. Valuing Climate Change Impacts

1 A Convenient Truth? Climate Change and Quality of Life

2 Animals and Climate Change

3 Discounting under Risk: Utilitarianism vs. Prioritarianism

4 A Philosopher's Guide to Discounting

5 Does Climate Change Policy Depend Importantly on Population Ethics? Deflationary Responses to the Challenges of Population Ethics for Public Policy

Section II. Cognition, Emotions, and Climate Change

7 The Wages of Fear? Toward Fearing Well About Climate Change

8 Climate Change and Cultural Cognition

Section III. Climate Change and Individual Ethics

9 Climate Change and Individual Obligations: A Dilemma for the Expected Utility Approach, and the Need for an Imperfect View

10 The Puzzle of Inefficacy

11 On Individual and Shared Obligations: In Defense of the Activist's Perspective

12 How Much Harm Does Each of Us Do?

Section IV. Climate Change and Politics

13 How Quickly Should the World Reduce its Greenhouse Gas Emissions? Climate Change and the Structure of Intergenerational Justice

14 Political Realism, Feasibility Wedges, and Opportunities for Collective Action on Climate Change

15 Pareto Improvements and Feasible Climate Solutions

16 Climate Change, Liberalism, and the Public/Private Distinction

Introduction

Section I: Valuing Climate Change Impacts

Chapter 1: A Convenient Truth?: Climate Change and Quality of Life

1. Introduction

2. The Nature and Measure of Subjective Well-Being

3. Subjective Well-Beingand Its Correlates

4. Affect as Information and Guidance

5. Affect and Subjective Well-Being

6. A Recent Critique

7. Subjective Well-Beingand Climate

References.

Chapter 2: Animals and Climate Change

2. Farmed Animals, Climate Change, and a Duty to Resist

3. Wild Animals, Climate Change, and a Duty to Assist

4. Animals, Climate Change, and a Life Worth Living

5. Animals, Climate Change, and a Life Worth Creating

6. Conclusion

References

Chapter 3: Discounting under Risk: Utilitarianism vs. Prioritarianism

2. Choice of the Social Welfare Framework: Utilitarianism vs. Prioritarianism

2.1 Risk and Equity: Aggregation Issues

2.2 Social Welfare Function

3. Implications for Discounting

3.1 Preliminaries

3.2 Utilitarianism and the Ramsey Rule

3.3 Utilitarian Discounting and the Precautionary Effect

3.4 Discounting under Alternative Welfare Frameworks

4. Conclusions

Chapter 4: A Philosopher's Guide to Discounting

1. Introducing and Defending the Ramsey Rule

2. Why the Terms of Measurement Matter

3. Descriptivism and Prescriptivism in Discounting Methodology

4. The Role of Moral Experts in Parameter Assignments

5. Conclusion

Chapter 5: Does Climate Change Policy Depend Importantly on Population Ethics?: Deflationary Responses to the Challenges of Population Ethics for Public Policy

2. Population Axiology and the Repugnant Conclusion

3. First Deflationary Response: Axiologies May Agree about Climate Change

4. Second Deflationary Response: Bounded Population Principles

4.1 Axiology with Population Size Bounds

4.2 Possibility Proof for Escaping the Repugnant Conclusion while Satisfying Bounded Versions of Population Ethics Desiderata

Appendix: A Smoothness Axiom and a New Argument for Total Utilitarianism

Section II: Cognition, Emotions, and Climate Change

Chapter 6: Way to Go, Me

1. Introduction.

2. Climate Change as a Creeping Environmental Problem

3. Different Orientations

4. Switching Between Orientations and Mindset M

5. Seeking Self-Praiseversus Avoiding Self-Blame

Chapter 7: The Wages of Fear?: Toward Fearing Well About Climate Change

1. The Promise of Fear

2. The Wages of Fear

3. The Possibility of Hope

4. The Perils of Hope

5. Civic Fear

Chapter 8: Climate Change and Cultural Cognition

2. Cultural Cognition

3. Values or Beliefs?

4. Cultural Cognition and Coincidence

5. Geoengineering

Section III: Climate Change and Individual Ethics

Chapter 9: Climate Change and Individual Obligations: A Dilemma for the Expected Utility Approach, and the Need for an Imperfect View

2. A Dilemma for the Expected Utility Approach

3. Diagnosis

4. The Imperfect Approach

5. Extension to Other Cases

Chapter 10: The Puzzle of Inefficacy

2. Introducing the Puzzle of Inefficacy

3. Ethical Structure and Social Structure

4. Contribution Ethics: A Sketch

5. Negligibility and Interaction

6. Conclusions

Chapter 11: On Individual and Shared Obligations: In Defense of the Activist's Perspective

1. The Activist's Perspective

2. Two Problems of Individual Incapability and Group Agency

3. Obligations

4. Irreducibly Shared Obligations

5. Collective Obligations in Spite of Individual Incapability

6. Remaining Problems of Collective Capability and Individual Incapability

Chapter 12: How Much Harm Does Each of Us Do?

1. Sorts of Harm and Their Quantity

2. New Data and Estimates

3. Lives for Money

4. The Consequences of Discounting

5. Conclusion and Why It Matters.

References

Section IV: Climate Change and Politics

Chapter 13: How Quickly Should the World Reduce its Greenhouse Gas Emissions?: Climate Change and the Structure of Intergenerational Justice

2. Reflections on the Dominant Approach

2.1 Basic Notions of Welfare Economics

2.2 Our Runaway Emissions Are Not in Fact Pareto-Inefficient

2.3 Kaldor-Hicks Efficiency Likewise Cannot Recommend Significantly Cutting Our Emissions

2.4 The Collapse of Climate Economics into a Narrow Form of Total Utilitarianism

2.5 Economic Analysis of Climate Policy Is Subject to the Repugnant Conclusion

2.6 The Need for Discounting Consumption Possibilities in the Future

2.7 Welfarism Is At Best a Class of Pro Tanto Reasons

2.8 We Do Not Owe It to Future People to Bring Them into Existence

3. Outline of a More Adequate Approach

3.1 The Real Puzzle of Intergenerational Justice

3.2 Understanding the Full Measure of the Problem

3.3 Elements of a Solution: Two Supporting Considerations

3.4 Elements of a Solution: Two Ideas Needed to Side-step the Non-Identity Problem

3.5 Extending the Reasoning Indefinitely Backwards and Forwards in Time

3.6 The Duty to Avoid Allowing Catastrophes to Take Place in the Distant Future

4. Conclusion

Chapter 14: Political Realism, Feasibility Wedges, and Opportunities for Collective Action on Climate Change

1. Overview

2. The Realist Argument and Efficiency Without Sacrifice

3. Posner, Weisbach, and Sunstein's Version of Efficiency Without Sacrifice: Intratemporal Transfers

4. Broome's Version of Efficiency Without Sacrifice: Intergenerational Transfers

5. Is Broome's Proposal Feasible? How Realistic Is It?

6. Why the Realist Argument for Efficiency Without Sacrifice Is Invalid.

7. Feasibility Wedges and a Meta-Architecture for Global Agreement

Chapter 15: Pareto Improvements and Feasible Climate Solutions

2. The Concept of 'Political Feasibility'

2.1 A Working Definition of 'Political Feasibility'

2.2 Feasibility and Self-Interest

3. International Paretianism and Climate Change

3.1 Prospects for IP Climate Treaties

3.1.1 Climate Change as a Coordination Game

3.1.2 Climate Change as a Prisoners' Dilemma

3.2 Does 'Self-Interest'Suffice?

4. The Feasibility of IP Climate Deals

Chapter 16: Climate Change, Liberalism, and the Public/Private Distinction

1. Climate Change and the Anthropocene

2. Liberalism and the Public/Private Distinction

3. The Distinction Under Pressure

4. Pressure Drop?

5. Concluding Remarks

Index.

Notes:

This edition also issued in print: 2021.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-19-251612-4

0-19-191893-8

0-19-251611-6

OCLC:

1243535850