Ecological limits: science, justice, policy, and the good life

Green, Fergus ORCID: 0000-0001-5317-6016 (2021) Ecological limits: science, justice, policy, and the good life. Philosophy Compass, 16 (6). ISSN 1747-9991

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Abstract

Recent years have witnessed a revival of scientific, political and philosophical discourse concerning the notion of ecological limits. This article provides a conceptual overview of descriptive ecological limit claims—i.e. claims that there are real, biophysical limits—and reviews work in political and social philosophy in which such claims form the basis of proposals for normative limits. The latter are classified in terms of three broad types of normative theorising: distributive justice, institutional/legal reform, and the good life. Within these three categories, the article reviews normative proposals for limits on both aggregate‐level and individual‐level ecological exploitation. It also considers the relevance of political and ideological facts to the normative analysis of ecological limits, raising methodological questions about how normative theorists should respond to a world facing escalating ecological challenges.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/17479991
Additional Information:	© 2021 The Author
Divisions:	Grantham Research Institute
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences
Date Deposited:	11 May 2021 13:39
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 02:31
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/110435

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