Why Leave the Car at Home, If That Doesn't Save the Climate? A Consequence-Based Approach to an Altruistic Public Goods Problem

Mannino, Adriano (2020): Why Leave the Car at Home, If That Doesn't Save the Climate? A Consequence-Based Approach to an Altruistic Public Goods Problem. In: Grazer Philosophische Studien-International Journal for Analytic Philosophy, Vol. 97, No. 4: pp. 693-704

Abstract

Why take individual action against collectively caused evils such as climate change? Prima facie, one's individual contribution may seem to make a negligible difference at best. Consequentialists as well as consequence-sensitive nonconsequentialists should be interested in whether a consequence-based justification for taking individual climate action can be found nonetheless. The author argues that even though individual agents are able to make a non-zero difference in expectation, the altruistic expected value may be so small as to be insufficiently worthwhile, given the agents' opportunity cost. In this case, altruistic agents may face a Prisoner's Dilemma (PD), i.e. an altruistic public goods problem. Hence, the consequence-based account of why to leave one's car at home could be vindicated if the PD can be solved in a consequence-based way. The author offers tentative grounds for optimism about solving the PD in a consequence-based way, and for acting accordingly.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and Religious Science
• Subjects: 100 Philosophy and Psychology > 100 Philosophy
• ISSN: 0165-9227
• Language: English