PH1001 Introduction to Philosophy

“An Introduction to Climate Ethics” (Dr. Kian Mintz-Woo) The impacts of the greenhouse gas emissions we produce today will be felt around the world and over long periods of time. For these reasons, they make current injustices worse: those countries which are already poorer will face greater harms and many who did not produce the emissions will face their impacts. This situation presents moral and political philosophers with a variety of questions, such as how we should divide the burdens of addressing climate change. What principles should guide the costs and benefits of decreasing our emissions or addressing climate risks? How should we estimate the harms of these risks, especially difficult comparisons such as those which involve birth and death? We can also think about this at an individual level; what contribution can individuals make and should those contributions be in terms of changing our behaviour or in terms of social or political action? Besides principles, we can also use the moral theories philosophy provides, such as deontology, utilitarianism and virtue ethics. These different theories draw attention to different aspects of the challenge that are morally relevant. At the end of this section, you should be able to describe the strengths and weaknesses of different theories and principles and see how they can be applied to the important challenge of climate change. The main readings will be provided via Canvas.