Climate Changes and the Role of Virtues

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/2965-1557.036.e202431752

Abstract

The central aim of this paper is to reflect on individual moral responsibility with the current environmental crisis, proposing certain ecological virtues to deal with this problem. To this end, I begin by defending virtue ethics as a superior approach to utilitarian and deontological ethical models for dealing with environmental issues. Afterwards, I explore the relevance of relying on certain private ecological virtues to face the problem, such as benevolence, humility and, especially, frugality. Next, I investigate the need to rely on certain public ecological virtues, such as sustainability and justice, in order to identify efficient public policies in this context. Finally, I point to the limits of virtue ethics, which, in general, is based on a robust teleology that bases virtues on the idea of a good/rational life, and this does not seem adequate to contemporary plurality. To address this limitation, I propose a contractualist procedure for choosing virtues that would be in accordance with diversity.

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Author Biography

Denis Coitinho, Programa de Pós-GRaduacão em Filosofia da UNISINOS.

Professor do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia da UNISINOS. Área de ética e filosofia política.

Published

2024-11-01

How to Cite

Coitinho, D. (2024). Climate Changes and the Role of Virtues. Revista De Filosofia Aurora, 36. https://doi.org/10.1590/2965-1557.036.e202431752

Issue

Section

Continuous Flow