Home Justificatory Moral Pluralism in Climate Change
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Justificatory Moral Pluralism in Climate Change

  • Sofia Guedes Vaz ORCID logo EMAIL logo and Andre Santos Campos ORCID logo
Published/Copyright: July 6, 2022
SATS
From the journal SATS Volume 23 Issue 1

Abstract

This paper adopts justificatory moral pluralism (JMP) – a multilevel framework for justifying the choice by different agents of the most appropriate norms and values to guide their decisions and actions – to climate change. Its main objective is to investigate how ethics may effectively help achieve a better result in deciding how to mitigate, adapt, or compensate by enhancing the moral acceptability of the available policies or actions that are most likely to counter the effects of climate change. JMP presents agents – individuals, nonstate, and state – with a thorough yet flexible process of matching policies and actions with ethical theories, raising the robustness of moral reasons for politically efficient and individually motivating courses of action against climate change. JMP triggers climate responsibility and sensibility in agents, engaging them in discussing and finding out individually and collectively the most acceptable paths for the decarbonisation transition that is fast approaching.

Keywords: moral reasoning; moral pluralism; climate change; pragmatism; ethics
Corresponding author: Sofia Guedes Vaz, Nova University of Lisbon, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Campolide, Lisboa 1069-061, Portugal, E-mail:

Funding source: Fundação Ciência e Tecnologia

Award Identifier / Grant number: PTDC/FER-FIL/6088/2020

  1. Research funding: This is work was supported by the Fundação Ciência e Tecnologia (grant number PTDC/FER-FIL/6088/2020).

References

Adger, W. N., C. Butler, and K. Walker-Springett. 2017. “Moral Reasoning in Adaptation to Climate Change.” Environmental Politics 26 (3): 371–90. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2017.1287624.Search in Google Scholar

Baatz, B., and Voget-Kleschin. 2019. “Individuals’ Contributions to Harmful Climate Change: The Fair Share Argument Restated.” Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 32: 569–90. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-019-09791-2.Search in Google Scholar

Barry, J., A. P. J. Mol, and A. R. Zito. 2013. “Climate Change Ethics, Rights, and Policies: an Introduction.” Environmental Politics 22 (3): 361–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2013.788861.Search in Google Scholar

Bell, D., J. Swaffield, and W. Peeters. 2019. “Climate Ethics with an Ethnographic Sensibility.” Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 32: 611–32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-019-09794-z.Search in Google Scholar

Bernauer, T. 2013. “Climate Change Politics.” Annual Review of Political Science 16 (1): 421–48. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-062011-154926.Search in Google Scholar

Broome, J. 2012. Climate Matters: Ethics in a Warming World. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.Search in Google Scholar

Broome, J. 2019a. “Philosophy in the IPCC.” In Philosophy for the Real World: An Introduction to Field Philosophy with Case Studies and Practical Strategies, edited by Brister, E. and Frodeman, R., 95–110. Routledge.10.4324/9781351169080-7Search in Google Scholar

Broome, J. 2019b. “Against Denialism.” The Monist 102: 111–29. https://doi.org/10.1093/monist/ony024.Search in Google Scholar

Budolfson, M. B., D. Anthoff, F. Dennig, R. Errickson, K. Kuruc, D. Spears, and N. K. Dubash. 2021. “Utilitarian Benchmarks for Emissions and Pledges Promote Equity, Climate and Development.” Nature Climate Change 11: 827–33, doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01130-6.Search in Google Scholar

Byskov, M. F., K. Hyams, P. Satyal, I. Anguelovski, L. Benjamin, S. Blackburn, M. Borie, S. Caney, E. Chu, G. Edwards, K. Fourie, A. Fraser, C. Heyward, H. Jeans, C. McQuistan, J. Paavola, E. Page, M. Pelling, S. Priest, K. Swiderska, M. Tarazona, T. Thornton, J. Twigg, and A. Venn. 2019. “An Agenda for Ethics and Justice in Adaptation to Climate Change.” Journal of Climate and Development 13 (1): 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2019.1700774.Search in Google Scholar

Callison, C. 2014. How Climate Change Comes to Matter. Duke University Press.10.2307/j.ctv29g2hrnSearch in Google Scholar

Campos, A. S., and S. G. Vaz. 2021. “Justificatory Moral Pluralism: A Novel Form of Environmental Pragmatism.” Environmental Values 30 (6): 737–58. https://doi.org/10.3197/096327121x16141642287601.Search in Google Scholar

Caney, S. 2014. “Two Kinds of Justice: Avoiding Harm and Sharing Burdens.” The Journal of Political Philosophy 22 (2): 125–49. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopp.12030.Search in Google Scholar

Castree, N. 2016. “Broaden Research on the Human Dimensions of Climate Change.” Nature Climate Change 6: 731. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3078.Search in Google Scholar

Corner, A., E. Markowitz, and N. Pidgeon. 2014. “Public Engagement with Climate Change: the Role of Human Values.” WIREs Climate Change 5: 411–22. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.269.Search in Google Scholar

Cripps, E. 2013. Climate Change and the Moral Agent: Individual Duties in an Interdependent World. Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199665655.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Demski, C., C. Butler, K. A. Parkhill, A. Spence, and N. F. Pidgeon. 2015. “Public Values for Energy System Change.” Global Environmental Change 34: 59–69.10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.06.014Search in Google Scholar

Dewulf, A., N. Klenk, C. Wyborn, and M. C. Lemos. 2020. “Useable Environmental Knowledge from the Perspective of Decision-Making: the Logics of Consequentiality, Appropriateness, and Meaningfulness.” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 42: 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2019.10.003.Search in Google Scholar

Dietz, S., and G. B. Asheim. 2012. “Climate Policy under Sustainable Discounted Utilitarianism.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 63: 321–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2012.01.003.Search in Google Scholar

Eckersley, R. 2002. “Environmental Pragmatism.” In Democracy and the Claims of Nature, edited by B. A. Minteer, and B. P. Taylor. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.Search in Google Scholar

Fragnière, A. 2018. “How Demanding Is Our Climate Duty? An Application of the No-Harm Principle to Individual Emissions.” Environmental Values 27 (6): 645–63. https://doi.org/10.3197/096327118x15343388356365.Search in Google Scholar

Gardiner, S. M. 2011. A Perfect Moral Storm. The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change. Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195379440.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Godoy, E. S. 2017. “What’s the Harm in Climate Change?” Ethics, Policy & Environment 20 (1): 103–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/21550085.2017.1291828.Search in Google Scholar

Hale, T. 2016. “‘All Hands on Deck’: The Paris Agreement and Nonstate Climate Action.” Global Environmental Politics 16 (3): 12–22. https://doi.org/10.1162/glep_a_00362.Search in Google Scholar

Hardin, G. 1968. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science 162 (3859): 1243–8, doi:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.162.3859.1243.Search in Google Scholar

Heede, R. 2014. “Tracing Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide and Methane Emissions to Fossil Fuel and Cement Producers.” 1854–2010. Climatic Change 122: 229–41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-013-0986-y.Search in Google Scholar

Hermwille, L. 2018. “Making Initiatives Resonate: How Can Non-state Initiatives Advance National Contributions under the UNFCCC?” International Environmental Agreements 18: 447–66. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-018-9398-9.Search in Google Scholar

Heyward, C., and D. Roser. 2016. Climate Justice in a Non-ideal World. Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198744047.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Hormio, S. 2017. “Can Corporations Have (Moral) Responsibility Regarding Climate Change Mitigation.” Ethics, Policy & Environment 20 (3): 314–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/21550085.2017.1374015.Search in Google Scholar

Hourdequin, M. 2010. “Climate, Collective Action and Individual Ethical Obligations.” Environmental Values 19 (4): 443–64. https://doi.org/10.3197/096327110x531552.Search in Google Scholar

Hulme, M. 2011. “Meet the Humanities.” Nature Climate Change 1: 177–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1150.Search in Google Scholar

Hursthouse, R. 1999. On Virtue Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

IPCC. 2021. Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis, the Working Group I Contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report. Retrieved 18.04.2022 from https://www.ipcc.ch/.Search in Google Scholar

IPCC. 2022a. Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Working Group III Contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report. Retrieved 18.04.2022 from https://www.ipcc.ch/.Search in Google Scholar

IPCC. 2022b. Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Working Group II Contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report. Retrieved 18.04.2022 from https://www.ipcc.ch/.Search in Google Scholar

Jamieson, D. 1992. “Ethics, Public Policy and Global Warming.” Science, Technology & Human Values 17: 139–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/016224399201700201.Search in Google Scholar

Jensen, K. K., and T. B. Flanagan. 2013. “Climate Change and Compensation.” Public Reason 5 (2): 21–32.Search in Google Scholar

Johnson, B. 2003. “Ethical Obligations in a Tragedy of the Commons.” Environmental Values 12: 271–87. https://doi.org/10.3197/096327103129341324.Search in Google Scholar

Kingston, E., and Sinnott-Armstrong. 2018. “What’s Wrong with Joyguzzling?” Ethical Theory & Moral Practice 21: 169–86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-017-9859-1.Search in Google Scholar

Knights, P. 2019. “Inconsequential Contributions to Global Environmental Problems: A Virtue Ethics Account.” Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 32 (4): 527–45. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-019-09796-x.Search in Google Scholar

Light, A. 2004. “Methodological Pragmatism, Animal Welfare, and Hunting.” In Animal Pragmatism: Rethinking Human-Nonhuman Relationships, edited by E. McKenna, and A. Light, 119–39. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Light, A. and E Katz, eds. 1996. In Environmental Pragmatism. Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Light, A. 2002. “Contemporary Environmental Ethics. From Metaethics to Public Philosophy.” Metaphilosophy 33 (4): 426–49. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9973.00238.Search in Google Scholar

Lowe, B. S. 2019. “Ethics in the Anthropocene: Moral Responses to the Climate Crisis.” Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 32: 479–85. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-019-09786-z.Search in Google Scholar

Lyon, C. 2018. “Complexity Ethics and UNFCCC Practices for 1.5°C Climate Change.” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 31: 38–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2017.12.008.Search in Google Scholar

Mace, M. J., and R. Verheyen. 2016. “Loss, Damage and Responsibility after COP21: All Options Open for the Paris Agreement.” RECIEL 25 (2): 197–214. https://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12172.Search in Google Scholar

MacLean, D. 2019. “Climate Complicity and Individual Accountability.” The Monist 102 (1): 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1093/monist/ony019.Search in Google Scholar

Midgley, M. 1996. “Sustainability and Moral Pluralism.” Ethics and the Environment 1 (1): 41–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0733-8635(05)70323-5.Search in Google Scholar

Milkoreit, M. 2015. “Hot Deontology and Cold Consequentialism – an Empirical Exploration of Ethical Reasoning Among Climate Change Negotiators.” Climatic Change 130: 397–409. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1170-8.Search in Google Scholar

Minteer, B. 2012. Refounding Environmental Ethics: Pragmatism, Principle, and Practice. Temple University Press.10.2307/j.ctt14btd94Search in Google Scholar

Murdoch, I. 1956. Vision and Choice in Morality, Vol. XXX. Aristotelian Society.Search in Google Scholar

Nasiritousi, N., M. Hjerpe, and B. Linnér. 2016. “The Roles of Non-State Actors in Climate Change Governance: Understanding Agency through Governance Profiles.” International Environmental Agreements 16: 109–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-014-9243-8.Search in Google Scholar

Neuteleers, S. 2019. “Why Be Cautious with Advocating Private Environmental Duties? towards a Cooperative Ethos and Expressive Reasons.” Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 32: 547–68. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-019-09790-3.Search in Google Scholar

Nordhaus, W. D. 2008. A Question of Balance: Weighing the Options on Global Warming Policies. New Haven: Yale University Press.10.2307/j.ctt1npzkhSearch in Google Scholar

O´Brien, K. 2015. “Political Agency: the Key to Tackling Climate Change.” Science 350 (6265): 1170–1.10.1126/science.aad0267Search in Google Scholar

O’Brien, K., and L. Sygna. 2013. “Responding to Climate Change: the Three Spheres of Transformation.” In Proceedings of Transformation in a Changing Climate, 16–23. University of Oslo.Search in Google Scholar

O’Brien, K. 2018. “Is the 1.5°C Target Possible? Exploring the Three Spheres of Transformation.” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 31: 153–60.10.1016/j.cosust.2018.04.010Search in Google Scholar

Palmer, C. 2014. “Contested Frameworks in Environmental Ethics.” In Linking Ecology and Ethics for a Changing World: Values, Philosophy and Action, edited by R. Rozzi, S. Pickett, C. Palmer, J. Armesto, and J. B. Callicott, 191–206. Springer.10.1007/978-94-007-7470-4_16Search in Google Scholar

Paterson, B., and A. Charles. 2019. “Community-based Responses to Climate Hazards: Typology and Global Analysis.” Climatic Change 152: 327–43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-018-2345-5.Search in Google Scholar

Peeters, W., L. Diependaele, and S. Sterckx. 2019. “Moral Disengagement and the Motivational Gap in Climate Change.” Ethical Theory & Moral Practice 22: 425–47. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-019-09995-5.Search in Google Scholar

Pierrehumbert, R. 2019. “There Is No Plan B for Dealing with the Climate Crisis.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 75 (5): 215–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/00963402.2019.1654255.Search in Google Scholar

Ripple, W. J., C. Wolf, T. M. Newsome, P. Barnard, and W. R. Moomaw. 2020. “World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency.” BioScience 70 (1): 8–12, doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biz152.Search in Google Scholar

Roy, J., and C. Pal. 2009. “Lifestyles and Climate Change: Link Awaiting Activation.” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 1: 192–200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2009.10.009.Search in Google Scholar

Salkever, S. G. “Virtue, Obligation and Politics.” American Political Science Review 68 (1): 78–92.10.2307/1959743Search in Google Scholar

Sandler, R. 2004. “Towards an Adequate Environmental Virtue Ethic.” Environmental Values 13: 477–95. https://doi.org/10.3197/0963271042772596.Search in Google Scholar

Sandler, R. 2010. “Ethical Theory and the Problem of Inconsequentialism: Why Environmental Ethicists Should Be Virtue-Oriented Ethicists.” Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 23 (1): 167–83. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-009-9203-4.Search in Google Scholar

Scoones, I., A. Stirling, D. Abrol, J. Atela, L. Charli-Joseph, H. Eakin, A. Ely, P. Olsson, L. Pereira, R. Priya, P. van Zwanenberg, and L. Yang. 2020. “Transformations to Sustainability: Combining Structural, Systemic and Enabling Approaches.” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 42: 65–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2019.12.004.Search in Google Scholar

Sinnott-Armstrong, W. 2005. “It’s Not My Fault: Global Warming and Individual Moral Obligations.” In Perspectives on Climate Change: Science, Economics, Politics, Ethics. Advances in the Economics of Environmental Research, Vol. 5, edited by S.-A. Walter, and R. B. Howarth, 293–315. Elsevier.10.1093/oso/9780195399622.003.0029Search in Google Scholar

Smith, E. K., and A. Mayer. 2018. “A Social Trap for the Climate? Collective Action, Trust and Climate Change Risk Perception in 35 Countries.” Global Environmental Change 49: 140–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.02.014.Search in Google Scholar

Sovacool, B. K., M. Martiskainen, A. Hook, and L. Baker. 2019. “Decarbonization and its Discontents: a Critical Energy Justice Perspective on Four Low-Carbon Transitions.” Climatic Change 155: 581–619, doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-019-02521-7.Search in Google Scholar

Tyszczuk, R., and J. Smith. 2018. “Culture and Climate Change Scenarios: the Role and Potential of the Arts and Humanities in Responding to the “1,5 Degrees Target”.” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 31: 56–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2017.12.007.Search in Google Scholar

UNCCS United Nations Climate Change Secretariat “Marrakech Partnership, Global Climate Action Climate Change: Yearbook of Global Climate Action 2019.” In Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action. United Nations. Retrieved 18.04.2022 from https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/GCA_Yearbook2019.pdf.Search in Google Scholar

UNEP. 2018. Emissions Gap Report. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme. Retrieved 18.04.2022 from http://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/26895/EGR2018_FullReport_EN.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.Search in Google Scholar

Wallimann-Helmer, I., L. Meyer, K. Mintz-Woo, T. Schinko, and O. Serdeczny. 2019. “The Ethical Challenges in the Context of Climate Loss and Damage.” In Loss and Damage from Climate Change. Climate Risk Management, Policy and Governance, edited by R. Mechler, L. Bouwer, T. Schinko, S. Surminski, and J. Linnerooth-Bayer, 39–62. Cham: Springer.10.1007/978-3-319-72026-5_2Search in Google Scholar
Published Online: 2022-07-06
Published in Print: 2022-07-26

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Articles
  3. Environmental Ethics–Sats Special Issue
  4. The Appeal of Environmental Master Metrics
  5. Moomins and Complicity with Matter: Tove Jansson’s Moominpappa at Sea as an Intervention in Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things by Jane Bennett
  6. Weird Environmental Ethics: The Virtue of Wonder and the Rise of Eco-Anxiety
  7. Who Should Have Children? (Us?) When Should We Have Children? (Now?)
  8. Justificatory Moral Pluralism in Climate Change
  9. Concepts of Biodiversity, Pluralism, and Pragmatism: The Case of Walnut Forest Conservation in Central Asia
  10. Towards Anthropocentric Deep Ecology: Utilizing Esotericism within Ecophilosophy
https://doi.org/10.1515/sats-2021-0021
Keywords for this article
moral reasoning; moral pluralism; climate change; pragmatism; ethics

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Articles
  3. Environmental Ethics–Sats Special Issue
  4. The Appeal of Environmental Master Metrics
  5. Moomins and Complicity with Matter: Tove Jansson’s Moominpappa at Sea as an Intervention in Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things by Jane Bennett
  6. Weird Environmental Ethics: The Virtue of Wonder and the Rise of Eco-Anxiety
  7. Who Should Have Children? (Us?) When Should We Have Children? (Now?)
  8. Justificatory Moral Pluralism in Climate Change
  9. Concepts of Biodiversity, Pluralism, and Pragmatism: The Case of Walnut Forest Conservation in Central Asia
  10. Towards Anthropocentric Deep Ecology: Utilizing Esotericism within Ecophilosophy
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 16.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/sats-2021-0021/html
Scroll to top button