The ethics of climate politics: four modes of moral discourse

Author: Kamminga, Menno

Source: Environmental Politics, Volume 17, Number 4, August 2008 , pp. 673-692(20)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

This article argues that James Gustafson's 'modes of moral discourse' framework is highly valuable for conceptualising the ethics of climate politics, or 'climate ethics'. The moral-philosophical task of developing principles of climate justice, or the issue of how the burdens (and benefits) of global climate change should be distributed between and within generations, is essential to climate ethics, but it is also insufficient. Climate ethics should avoid focusing too exclusively on '(technical-)ethical' discourse, but also incorporate insights from 'narrative', 'policy', and 'prophetic' discourses about or relevant to climate change politics. Climate ethics is to be conceived as pluralist: broad and interdisciplinary, but presumably conflictual and tragic as well.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09644010802193799

Affiliations: 1: Department of International Relations and International Organization, University of Groningen, the Netherlands

Publication date: 2008-08-01