The speaker for the  Philosophy Research Seminar on Wed. 7^th Nov.  will be  Prof. Stephen Gardiner (University of Washington). The title of his talk is  “Ethics and Intergenerational Climate Extortion.”

 The seminar will take place in Arthur Lewis Building, Boardroom  (ALB 2.016/7) from 3.15 to 5 pm.

Prof. Gardiner’s website:

Ethics and Intergenerational Climate Extortion 

 This paper argues (i) that extortion is a clear threat in intergenerational relations, (ii) that the threat is manifest in some existing proposals in climate policy, and (iii) that it is latent in some background tendencies in mainstream moral and political philosophy. It focuses on some troubling undercurrents to recent arguments in climate policy and climate ethics for “making the grandchildren pay” for climate action. It also makes the case that intergenerational extortion raises issues about the appropriate limits to the sway of central values such as welfare and distributive justice.