Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society Winter term 2020/21

Environmental Studies Certificate Program Dr. Alexander Schulan

GLOBAL JUSTICE AND INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY

Online course
Mondays, 16:15 - 17:45 p.m.

Some people benefit from improved healthcare, increasing life expectancy, universal education, democratization
and might even live in affluence. In contrast to that, other persons have to live in extreme poverty and under
precarious circumstances. Similarly, injustices are often connected with environmental degradation. For example,
rich people cause climate change by their greenhouse gas intensive lifestyle, whereas poor people suffer from
the negative consequences like sea-level rise. These enormous inequalities in a divided world raises many
important moral questions. A global and public debate about justice is needed which should help us to figure
out how we should live together on this planet. Empirical phenomenons like globalization, migration, interna-
tional trade, climate change and pandemics urge humanity even more to deal with such questions of global justice.

In the seminar we will explore the linkages between complex global injustices on the one hand and the individual
person as agent on the other. For example, persons living in rich countries might doubt that global injustice is
a problem and that there should be something done to improve the situation for less advantaged persons. In
order to figure out the individual responsibility given global injustices, the contribution of the individual to the
injustice and her capacity to reduce the injustice are plausible starting points in the debate. Possibly, individuals
not taking account of their responsibility not to contribute to global injustice might also not comply with their
responsibility not to cause damage to the environment, which might be a direct consequence of the injustice. In
addition to that, we will apply moral accounts like cosmopolitanism and egalitarianism in the context of global
injustice. Cosmopolitanism is based on the idea of a cosmopolitan ethos, where individuals act responsibly as
citizens of the world. And, global relational egalitarianism is based on the idea that equality is a social and
interactional value that is realised by relationships between all members of the global community.

Furthermore, we will debate if individual acts matter to heal global injustices which might be best dealt with
collective action. Climate change is a paradigmatic example for the need for collective action. It is not one
isolated individual who will be able to stop climate change by reducing her emissions of greenhouse gases. In
contrast to that, global and coordinated measures are necessary to decrease the level of emissions to stop climate
change. We will also discuss moral overdemandingness, which arises if moral demands expect too much of
individuals and who accordingly fail to comply with their individual responsibility. And, in the open discussions
within the seminar, we will apply the concepts of justice and responsibility of the readings to moral wrongs like
climate change, environmental degradation and species extinction.

During the seminar we will read two recent books. Make sure to have both texts available to prepare the sessions:

• Chris Armstrong, 2019: Why Global Justice Matters, Moral Progress in a Divided World. Polity Press,
paperback.

• Jan-Christoph Heilinger, 2020: Cosmopolitan Responsibility, Global Injustice, Relational Equality and
Individual Agency. De Gruyter, open-access: https://www.degruyter.com/view/title/537914

An optional source for reading in philosophy and ethics in general is the excellent online reference
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (https://plato.stanford.edu/).

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READING LIST
02 Nov. Session 1: What is the problem?
Armstrong (2019), Preface and chapter 1.

09 Nov. Session 2: Why should you care?

Armstrong (2019), chapter 2.

16 Nov. Session 3: What can be done?

Armstrong (2019), chapter 3.

23 Nov. Session 4: Cosmopolitanism. Global injustice and the individual agent

Heilinger (2020), Introduction and sections 1.1 and 1.2.

30 Nov. Session 5: Cosmopolitanism, global justice and global ethics

Heilinger (2020), sections 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5.

07 Dec. Session 6: Equality. Towards global relational egalitarianism

Heilinger (2020), sections 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3

14 Dec. Session 7: Global relational equality, priority of relations and relevance of distributions
Heilinger (2020), sections 2.4, 2.5 and 2.6

21 Dec. Session 8: Pragmatism. Practice and the possibility of progress

Heilinger (2020), chapter 3.

11 Jan. Session 9: Impact. Do my acts matter?

Heilinger (2020), chapter 4.

18 Jan. Session 10: Impartiality. The fragmentation of morality

Heilinger (2020), chapter 5.

25 Jan. Session 11: Imperfection. Overdemandingness and the inevitability of moral failure
Heilinger (2020), chapter 6.

01 Feb. Session 12: Live discussion with PD Dr. Heilinger on the ethos of cosmopolitan responsibility
Heilinger (2020), Conclusion.

08 Feb. Session 13: Recap of the seminar + How to write a good philosophical essay
and discussion of possible research questions for your essays.

Zoom

The seminar will take place via Zoom:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://lmu-munich.zoom.us/j/92704387810?pwd=a2NzVWt6bWxMdjlhcnBjb2ZKRVFvUT09

Meeting ID: 927 0438 7810

Passcode: 577610

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