Hi Ken, John, and all, You are definitely right in part. Many of the issues raised by geoengineering are familiar issues in ethics involving questions of harm, risk, uncertainty, potential moral corruption, and participation.
Other issues are familiar but perhaps scaled up. These would be issues like the (alleged) moral hazard, the whole politics of geoengineering, a particularly challenging type of responsibility to future generations, and the question of whether this is a problem best suited to a technical fix. And then there are probably a couple of issues that are new(-ish) in this context. These might include the morality of intentional manipulation of earth systems at this level, what this does to the idea of 'natural', and questions about fairness in regards to climate manipulation. Broad discussions about hubris and the proper role of humans in the biosphere have also been cropping up in discussions of geoengineering by environmental ethicists. To John's suggestion that this should be treated as merely an engineering problem, one might note (with David Keith and others) that engineers design solutions for for particular clients/publics. What counts as a solution depends on the values people hold. This means that engineers are compelled to incorporate moral values in their work. And of course there is a whole literature is science studies (somewhat controversial) about the presence of values in much of science. On our end and in our work, we encourage those involved in the more technical aspects of geoengineering to entertain ethical questions in the discussion. Ethicists are going to be hovering around the periphery anyway, for instance, there is a panel on the ethics of geoengineering at the International Society for Environmental Ethics meeting in June. Numerous parties, from Crutzen to the Royal Society to the NSF, see ethics as a legitimate and essential part of the discussion. Best, Andrea and Christopher On Fri, Apr 6, 2012 at 5:27 PM, Ken Caldeira < [email protected]> 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)<http://www.iass-potsdam.de/> > > *and *Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Resarch > (PIK)<http://www.pik-potsdam.de/> > *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: >> <https://ch1prd0102.outlook.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=OWAMf8GxrUmH3DmLPhvEmRVCg4-F5s4Ia3rgDEllyFha_7YuC8CjtGrFU9mOVuqXWwDCLmctAsw.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.umt.edu%2fethics%2fresourcecenter%2fdefault.php> >> http://www.umt.edu/ethics/resourcecenter/default.php >> >> Please email feedback or suggestions to <[email protected]> >> [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. 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