Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

IV. Ethics
change … brings together three major
Climate
to ethical action in a mutually reinforcing
challenges
The rst challenge stems from the fact that climate
way.
is a truly global phenomenon. Once emitted,
change
gas emissions can have climate eects
greenhouse
on the planet, regardless of their source.
anywhere
is often said to result in a prisoner’s dilemma or
This
of the commons structure played out between
tragedy
states: although collectively all countries would
nation
to limit global emissions so as to reduce the
prefer
of severe or catastrophic impacts, when acting
risk
each still prefers to continue emitting
individually,
At the same time, there are skewed
unimpeded.
at least in the short- to medium-term,
vulnerabilities:
of the most vulnerable countries and people
many
those who have emitted the least historically, and
are
emissions levels continue to be relatively low.
whose
appears to be seriously unfair and casts a notable
This
over both practical and theoretical eorts to
shadow
global cooperation.
secure
second challenge is that current emissions have
The
intergenerational eects. Emissions of
profoundly
most prominent greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide,
the
persist in the atmosphere for a long time,
typically
to the global and intertemporal
Responding
posed by the climate crisis could
challenges
an awareness and understanding of
require
different peoples, nations and cultures
how
about fairness, responsibility and
think
Some countries, such as Canada
cooperation.
even millennia. This too seems unfair, especially if
or
negative impacts are severe and cumulative.
future
addition, the temporal diusion of climate change
In
rise to an ethical collective action problem that
gives
even more challenging than the traditional tragedy
is
the commons both in its shape and because normal
of
of cooperation do not seem to be possible across
kinds
generations.
third challenge to ethical action is that our
The
tools are underdeveloped in many of
theoretical
relevant areas, such as international justice,
the
ethics, scientic uncertainty, and
intergenerational
appropriate relationship between humans and
the
rest of nature. For example, climate change raises
the
about the (moral) value of nonhuman
questions
such as whether we have obligations to protect
nature,
animals, unique places, or nature as a
nonhuman
and what form such obligations take if we do.
whole,
addition, the presence of scientic uncertainty and
In
potential for catastrophic outcomes put internal
the
on the standard economic approach to
pressure
problems, and play a role in arguments
environmental
a precautionary approach in environmental law and
for
that some see as an alternative.
policy
(Ricke et al 2018). Should rich and poor
change
contribute equally to reduce emissions,
nations
should rich nations compensate the poor
or
At every level, issues of knowledge
nations?
ethics are woven into the discourse on
and
warming and climate justice.
global
radical argument calls for compensation for less-developed countries, which have contributed
A
to the problem and yet are already being impacted by it, having been made vulnerable to it
little
1. What are the knowledge claims and assumptions implicitly and explicitly made in this
2. On what basis, using what assumptions, should decisions about possible compensation be
8
Climate justice: The perfect moral storm
(Gardiner, Hartzell-Nicholls 2012)
contributing to negative climate impacts for centuries,
and Russia, may well benefit from climate
For discussion
Who pays?
through colonization.
argument?
made?
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