Climate Change, Individual Obligations and the Virtue of Justice: $hRyan Darr

Over the last decade, a number of climate ethicists have turned their attention to the question of individual moral obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Important problems face their efforts, especially what is called the problem of inconsequentialism. The problems, I argue, arise largely...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Studies in Christian ethics
Main Author: Darr, Ryan (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage [2018]
In: Studies in Christian ethics
IxTheo Classification:KAE Church history 900-1300; high Middle Ages
NCB Personal ethics
NCG Environmental ethics; Creation ethics
Further subjects:B climate justice
B Climate Change
B Environmental Ethics
B Thomas Aquinas
B virtue of justice
B inconsequentialism
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Summary:Over the last decade, a number of climate ethicists have turned their attention to the question of individual moral obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Important problems face their efforts, especially what is called the problem of inconsequentialism. The problems, I argue, arise largely from the failure to treat individual obligations as a matter of justice, a failure that stems from the common modern assumption that justice primarily concerns social institutions. I develop an alternative approach by appealing to the account of justice as a virtue in Thomas Aquinas. This approach allows us to talk about individual obligations to reduce emissions as obligations of justice, even in the current context of institutional failure. At the same time, I argue that approaching climate change in Thomistic terms requires an important modification of Aquinas's understanding of justice.
ISSN:0953-9468
Contains:Enthalten in: Studies in Christian ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0953946818820284