Climate change, fundamental interests, and global justice

Knight, C. (2016) Climate change, fundamental interests, and global justice. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 19(5), pp. 629-644. (doi: 10.1080/13698230.2016.1183755)

Abstract

Political philosophers commonly tackle the issue of climate change by focusing on fundamental interests as a basis for human rights. This approach struggles, however, in cases where one set of fundamental interests requires one course of action, and another set of fundamental interests requires a contradictory course of action. This article advances an alternative response to climate change based on an account of global justice that gives weight to utilitarian, prioritarian, and luck egalitarian considerations. A practical application of this pluralistic account is provided, which shows that it handles trade-offs between individuals’ interests in an appealing way and that it supports an aggressive policy of climate change mitigation. This account provides a more plausible justification for rights against the harms of climate change.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Knight, Dr Carl
• Authors: Knight, C.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• ISSN: 1369-8230
• ISSN (Online): 1743-8772
• Published Online: 03 June 2016
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 Taylor and Francis
• First Published: First published in Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 19(5): 629-644
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher