I think it's primarily a question of scale. The underlying philosophical questions aren't new, but the scale at which the questions apply -- in terms of both time and geography -- is comparable to only a few other issues (most notably, nuclear weapons). There are few substantive issues that have this kind of (literally) planetary-level importance coupled with the condition of being direct human choices (as opposed to second-order consequences).
In other words, getting this wrong could screw over nearly everyone, potentially for multiple generations. -Jamais Cascio On Apr 6, 2012, at 2:27 PM, Ken Caldeira wrote: > Having but an undergraduate degree in Philosophy, you can forgive me for > asking stupid questions, but ... > > Does geoengineering raise any ethical issues not already considered by > historical figures such as Aristotle, Hume, Kant, and so on? > > Isn't the ethics of making decisions that affect others not involved in > making the decisions a problem as old as humanity? > > I just don't understand how there is anything new here for philosophy. > > Surely there are difficult decisions to be made with moral dimensions, but I > just can't imagine how geoengineering could pose fundamentally new > philosophic problems. > > Perhaps someone can compensate for my failure of imagination and tell me in > what way geoengineering poses fundamentally new philosophic problems not > previously addressed. > > > > > _______________ > Ken Caldeira > > Carnegie Institution Dept of Global Ecology > 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305 USA > +1 650 704 7212 [email protected] > http://dge.stanford.edu/labs/caldeiralab @kencaldeira > > Currently visiting Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) > and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Resarch (PIK) in Potsdam, Germany. > > > > On Fri, Apr 6, 2012 at 10:58 PM, Andrea Gammon <[email protected]> wrote: > The Mansfield Center for Ethics and Public Affairs at the University of > Montana (with support from the National Science Foundation) is pleased to > announce the launch of the Ethics of Geoengineering Online Resource Center. > > We have attempted to make this an exhaustive resource for materials, > organizations, and events related to geoengineering and ethics. We will > continue to work to make the site increasingly comprehensive, accessible, and > engaging. We welcome feedback and suggestions about significant resources > that are not yet included. Please bring to our attention any papers, events, > and other media you think may be missing. > > Visit the site at: http://www.umt.edu/ethics/resourcecenter/default.php > > Please email feedback or suggestions to [email protected] > > Thanks! > > Andrea Gammon > Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Philosophy > University of Montana, '13 > > Christopher Preston > Associate Professor of Philosophy and Fellow at the Program on Ethics and > Public Affairs > University of Montana > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "geoengineering" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "geoengineering" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
