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List of contents
Introduction. Chapter 1: The basic science. Chapter 2: What is climate change ethics? Chapter 3: Precautionary policy. Chapter 4: International justice. Chapter 5: Intergenerational justice. Chapter 6: Nature in the Anthropocene. Chapter 7: Individual duties. Chapter 8: Climate change denial. Chapter 9: Geoengineering. Glossary. Index.
About the author
Byron Williston is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada. He is the author of The Anthropocene Project: Virtue in the Age of Climate Change (2015).
Summary
The Ethics of Climate Change: An Introduction systematically and comprehensively examines the ethical issues surrounding arguably the greatest threat now facing humanity. Williston addresses important questions such as:
- Has humanity entered the Anthropocene?
- Is climate change primarily an ethical issue?
- Does climate change represent a moral wrong?
- What are the impacts of climate change?
- What are the main causes of political inaction?
- What is the argument for climate change denial?
- What are intragenerational justice and intergenerational justice?
- To what extent is climate change an economic problem?
- Is geoengineering an ethically appropriate response to climate change?
Featuring case studies throughout, this textbook provides a philosophical introduction to an immensely topical issue studied by students within the fields of applied ethics, global justice, sustainability, geography, and politics.
Additional text
"Williston's The Ethics of Climate Change persuasively shows how analytic philosophy can break free from the contemporary American Disenlightenment and contribute to the values and virtues of a sustainable future."Martin Schönfeld, University of South Florida, USA
"Williston has provided an admirably clear, concise, and well-informed introduction to climate ethics that does not shy away from taking positions. This is an excellent introduction to the subject, both for students and for anyone concerned with one of the most profound challenges of our time."Dale Jamieson, New York University, USA
"An exceptionally comprehensive and judicious exploration of an ominously important cluster of issues, embedding rigorous but lucid philosophical arguments in the non-ideal political realities of the fraught international negotiations. Williston probes insightfully and in a delightfully lively style– I know of nothing else this engaging for introductory or intermediate students."
Henry Shue, Merton College, University of Oxford, UK
