Skip to main content

Climate Change and Moral Philosophy

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Climate Change and the Humanities
  • 660 Accesses

Abstract

Drawing on the author’s 2011 book Ethics for a Broken World, this chapter asks whether Rawlsian political liberalism could adapt to a broken world where resources are insufficient to meet everyone’s basic needs and our affluent way of life is no longer an option. This credible future lacks three presumptions of recent moral and political thought: future people are worse-off than present people; the interests of different generations conflict sharply; and Rawlsian favourable conditions have been lost. The chapter explores the moral impact of these differences through a lecture from an imaginary philosopher in the broken future who seeks to adapt Rawls to her world.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Dreben, B. On Rawls and political liberalism, in Freeman, S., ed. (2003), The Cambridge Companion to Rawls, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haidt, J. (2012), The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, Penguin: Great Britain.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulgan, T. (2007), Understanding Utilitarianism, Acumen: Durham.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulgan, T. (2011), Ethics for a broken world: reimagining philosophy after catastrophe, Acumen: Durham.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulgan, T. (2015a), Theory and intuition in a broken world, in T. Chappell (ed.), Intuition, theory, and anti-theory, Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 151–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulgan, T. (2015b), Utilitarianism for a Broken World, Utilitas, 27, pp. 92–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulgan, T. (2016a), Answering to Future People, The Journal of Applied Philosophy. Online early: doi:10.1111/japp.12222.

  • Mulgan, T. (2016b), Theorising about justice for a broken world, In K. Watene and J. Drydyk (eds.), Theorizing Justice: Critical Insights and Future Directions, London: Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 15–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulgan, T. (2017). How should utilitarians think about the future?, Canadian Journal of Philosophy 47 (2–3), 290–312.

    Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, R. (2010), American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, Simon and Schuster: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rawls, J. (1996), Political Liberalism, Columbia University Press: New York, expanded edition.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rawls, J. (1999a), A Theory of Justice, Harvard University Press: United States of America, revised edition.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rawls, J. (1999b), The Law of Peoples, Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tim Mulgan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Mulgan, T. (2017). Climate Change and Moral Philosophy. In: Elliott, A., Cullis, J., Damodaran, V. (eds) Climate Change and the Humanities. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55124-5_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55124-5_12

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-55123-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-55124-5

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics