Handbook of the Philosophy of Climate Change, 1st ed. 2023 Handbooks in Philosophy Series

This Handbook offers a broad yet unified treatment of many philosophical issues connected with climate change, ranging from foundational puzzles to detailed applications. It extends to many branches of philosophy that are relevant to the understanding of the premises and implications of the impacts of climate change on human and nonhuman life on Earth. More specifically, the handbook examines the scientific accounts of climate change as well as its causes. It explores the tools offered by social sciences and humanities to study the societal premises and impacts of climate change as well as delving deeper into the ethical and political issues connected with and resulting from climate change. By doing so, it puts it all in an ecological and historical context. In addition, the book offers solutions to some important philosophical puzzles and problems, and indicates paths of interaction between philosophy and other disciplines.

The handbook will be divided into sections, each with its own introduction, with driving questions leading to chapters on topics such as those listed below.

General Introduction

1)               Climate Change, Science and Philosophy: What’s the best scientific account of climate and climate change? What’s the best account of climate change causation? What’s the best instruments to predict future climate changes? Section editor: Wendy Parker

·        Introduction

·        Philosophical Issues of Climate Science: What are the main philosophical grounds and questions  underlying  climate  sciences  such  as  meteorology,  paleo-climatology,  chaos

physics, Earth sciences, ecology?

·        Philosophical Issues regarding the Anthropogenic Drivers of Climate Change: What’s the

best scientific reconstruction of the human and social causes of past, present and future climate changes?

·        Accounting for Past and Future Climate Changes: What are the main philosophical issues

2)  Climate Change, Social Sciences and Philosophy: What’s the best reconstruction of the impacts of climate changes on present societies? What’s the best account of the harms deriving from climate change? What are the tools that various social sciences can provide to the study of the societal impacts of climate change? Section editor: Marco Grasso

·        Introduction

·        A Philosophical Account of ‘Dangerous Anthropogenic Climate Change’: What’s the best definition  of  ‘Dangerous Anthropogenic  Climate  Change’?  What  are  the  philosophical

grounds of such a definition?

·        Denial and Communication of Climate Change: What’s the source and ground of climate

change skepticism? What’s the best pattern to communicate climate change?

·        Philosophical Issues about Climate Harms: How should harms deriving from climate change

be understood and measured? Is causation of climate harms different from causation of climate change?

·        Societal Impacts of Climate Change: What’s the best account of the impacts of climate

change on past, present and future societies?

·        The Economics of Climate Change: What are the impacts of climate change, and especially

mitigation and adaptation, on economics and the economy, that is on the study and the state of economic relations across the world?

·        Climate Change and Legal Theory: Does mitigation and adaptation policies change the

current workings and some basic conceptions of law? How is international law and the legal theory describing it affected by the enforcement of inter-state agreements aimed at imposing emissions cut?

·        Climate Change and Sociology: Does climate change’s impacts on society require new

·        Climate  Change  and  Political  Science:  What  are  the  best  account  of  mitigation  and

adaptation policies? Is climate politics a new theoretical object, requiring new styles of analysis for political scientists?

3)   Climate Change, Humanities and Philosophy: What are the tools that humanistic studies can provide to a fuller understanding of the human dimensions of climate change? How does climate change and climate science alter or influence central topics in the humanities? What’s the influence and relevance of climate change and climate science on humanities? Section editor: Ursula Heise

·        Introduction

·        Climate Change and Fiction: What are the main representations of climate change in contemporary fiction?

·        Climate Change, Literary Studies and Ecocriticism: How are contemporary literary studies

affected by the existential perspective of living under a changing climate? How did climate science and discussions of climate change influence the rising of ecocriticism?

·        Climate Change and Aesthetics: How does climate change changes the aesthetic appreciation of environment and environmental items by human  beings? Does climate change require a renovated aesthetics?

·        Climate Change and the Philosophy and History of Art: How does climate change affect our

views of the distinction between art and nature and the philosophy of art? Is it still possible to distinguish nature and art in a world deeply affected by anthropogenic climate change?

the traditional human history turn into Earth history? Must ecology became a historical discipline? Must it become environmental history?

·        Climate Change and Cultural Geography: What are the consequences of the discussion about climate change and climate harms for the humanistic part of geography as a scientific discipline? Does climate change require new geographical ontologies?

·        Climate Change and Theology: What’s the theological significance of the impact of climate

change on human and animal life? Should theology consider the destiny of Earth and humankind as God’s creatures in a climate-change-dominated world? Can theology get rid of anthropocentric presuppositions?

·        Climate Change and Communication Studies: Are communication studies changed by the long debate between the so-called ‘warmists’ and ‘skeptics’? How is the analysis and the management of communication, and the nature of communication studies, to be understood in a climate change world?

·        Climate Change and Semiotics: What’s the working of the language used in describing,

discussing and communicating climate change, and what are its implications for the disciplines studying human languages and their uses (such as semiotics and philosophy of language)?

·        Climate Change, Post-Humanism and Critical Animal Studies: Is climate change a premise for a new anthropocentrism? Or is it a starting point to boost the current trend towards a non-anthropocentric, non-sentientist approach to the non-human natural world? Is climate change an opportunity to give a post-humanist account of human beings and non-human beings?

4)   Climate Change and Ethics: What are the main ethical issues connected with climate change impacts? What is the best ethical theory to deal with them? Section editor: Rob Lawlor

·        Introduction

·        Responsibility for Climate Harms: What is the notion of ‘responsibility’ relevant in climate change settings? Are individuals responsible for the harms deriving from climate change?

·        Climate Change and Consequentialism: Is a consequentialist normative theory the best

account of climate ethics?

·        Climate Change and Deontology: Is a deontological normative theory the best account of climate ethics?

·        Climate Change and the Virtues: How can the concept of ‘virtue’ be embedded in the ethics

of climate change?

climate change settings?

·        Mitigation Duties: What are the mitigation duties of individuals and/or collectives?

·        Adaptation Duties: What are the adaptation duties of individuals and/or collectives?

·        Climate Change and Population Ethics: What are the duties of present generations with

regard to the impacts of climate change on future generations?

connected to climate change? What is the best philosophical understanding of the nexus of climate ethics, animal ethics, and the ethics of conservation? What is the best philosophical understanding of the nexus of climate ethics, plant ethics, and the ethics of conservation? Which version of environmental ethics is most fitting to climate change settings?

·        Climate Change and Business Ethics: What are the business ethics issues connected to

climate change? How are the actions of global agents like energy multinationals to be evaluated when it comes to climate change? Is the theory of externalities a good adviser for climate policies and regulations? Can the issue of climate change be adequately understood without a thorough analysis of modern and contemporary capitalism?

·        Climate  Change  and  the  Ethics  of  Technology:  How  is  the  role  of  technology  to  be

conceptualized in climate change settings? What are the possible climatic implications of emerging technologies like the blockchain? How are climate adaptive technologies like food biotechnologies to be evaluated and best implemented?

·        Climate Change and the Ethics of Food and Agriculture: What are the agricultural premises

and implications of global climate change? Can our present food systems guarantee food security in the face of climate change and, if so, at what costs? Can food production and distribution be changed in ways that favor mitigation and/or adaptation? Should we all be vegetarians on climatic grounds? What are the promises of new forms of agriculture, from agro-ecology to data-driven precision agriculture?

·        The Ethics of Geoengineering: Is geoengineering an ethically sound path to deal with

climate harms? Is artificial management of solar radiation morally permissible?

5)   Climate Change and Political Philosophy: What are the main political issues connected with climate change? What is the best political theory to deal with them? Section editor: Aaron Maltais

·        Introduction

·        Climate Change and Democracy: What are the issues to be dealt with in order to provide a democratic  legitimation  of  climate  change  politics?  May  we  democratically  enforce

mitigation and adaptation policies?

·        Climate Change and Liberalism: Are mitigation and adaptation policies compatible with a

·        Climate Change and Rights: What is the connection between climate change and human,

social and group rights? Is climate change an issue of rights? Is a right-based politics the best account for climate politics?

·        Climate  Change  and  Multiculturalism:  What  is  the  impact  of  climate  politics  –  and

specifically mitigation and adaptation policies – on cultural minorities? Is a multiculturalist regime compatible with mitigation and adaptation policies?

·        Climate Change and Feminism: What is the impact of climate change on women? Are mitigation and adaptation policies disproportionately burdensome for women?

·        Climate Change and Post-Colonialism: What is the connection between climate change

mitigation/adaptation and the rectification of colonial wrongs or domination? What’s the shape of a post-colonial climate politics?

·        Climate Change and Social Movements: What is the connection between climate change

politics and the rise of global social movements? Is a global environmental conscience helpful to climate change politics?

·        Climate Change and the Politics of Capitalism: What is the connection between climate

change mitigation/adaptation and the welfare State and the political regulation of capitalist economy?

·        Climate Change and International Relations: What is the connection between climate change

mitigation/adaptation and the analysis of international relations? What is the best philosophical account of world politics in so far as climate change politics is concerned?

·        Enforcement, Feasibility, Negotiations, and International Agreements: Climate politics in

non-ideal settings: What are the issues concerning the enforcement of  climate change mitigation/adaptation in our actual world? Which feasibility constraints should be met by an international agreement on climate change?

·        Climate Change and Urban Landscapes: Does climate change mitigation/adaptation impact

on the state and development of urban areas? Does climate change prevention require a new philosophy of urban landscapes? Are transnational city networks a more promising form of global agency than competing nation states? Is the building of sea-steading cities a viable adaptation strategy, who would be allowed in and on what grounds, and what jurisdictional regimes would apply to such cities?

·        Climate Change and Gardens: How, and with what consequences, are urban, peri-urban, and

non-urban garden areas affected by climate change? Can gardening, within and outside cities, be part of mitigation and adaptation policies?

·        Climate Change and Migration: Is climate change a trigger of migration? What are the

political issues concerning climate-related migrations?

·        Climate Change and Existential Risks: Is climate change a threat to human survival? Is an

approach to climate change focused on long-term and far existential risks viable?

6)  Climate Change and the Anthropocene: What’s the environmental and historical context in which climate change happens? Is the notion of ‘Anthropocene’ relevant to an understanding of the philosophy of climate change? Section editor: Clive Hamilton

·        Introduction

·        Anthropocene as a Concept: What’s the relevant definition and notion of ‘Anthropocene’? Is it (or should it be) a purely geological concept, or does it (should it) also havewider

connotations?

·        Narratives of the Anthropocene: What’s the best general account, the best wide narrative, of

Anthropocene?

·        Reactions   to   the  Anthropocene:   What’s   the  most   plausible   normative   attitude   to

·        The Anthropocene and Climate Change: Is climate change best understood as one among

the many features marking the Anthropocene? Or is the Anthropocene best thought of as “the time of (anthropogenic) climate change”?

General Conclusion

Gianfranco Pellegrino is an Associate Professor at LUISS Guido Carli Rome, where he teaches Political Philosophy. His interests are in the history of political thought (mainly Jeremy Bentham and Henry Sidgwick), distributive justice theories, migration, and environmental ethics. He wrote on global justice, the ethics of climate change and the Anthropocene. Among his publications: “Sidgwick and the Many Guises of the Good”, Philosophical Explorations, 2021; “Robust Responsibility for Climate Harms”, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 2018, “Climate Refugees: A Case for Protection”, in G. Pellegrino e M. Di Paola, eds, Canned Heat. Theoretical and Practical Challenges of Global Climate Change, London/Delhi: Routledge, 2014.

Marcello Di Paola is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Department of Humanities at the University of Palermo. He works in environmental philosophy, particularly climate change, the Anthropocene, and the philosophy of plants. He writes on ethics, aesthetics, political theory, and the history of philosophy. Among his publications are Ethics and Politics of the Built Environment. Gardens of the Anthropocene (Springer, 2017) and the co-edited volume Plant Ethics: Concepts and Applications (Routledge, 2018).  

Provides an essential starting point for any researcher in the field

Gives a comprehensive overview of the philosophy of climate change

Examines the scientific accounts of climate change as well as its causes