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Reflections on what an analytical philosopher can meaningfully contribute to debates on rectifying cultural loss due to climate displacement
Alexa Zellentin (University College Dublin)
Abstract: The ongoing climate crisis involves many different injustices and the ever-expanding literature on climate (in)justice is rich and multi-facetted. The climate crisis raises complex philosophical questions about intergenerational justice, global distributive justice, responsibility and liability, duties regarding animals and nature, risk imposition, balancing requirements of substantive justice with those of procedural justice, and many more. The emerging literature on these issues also raises questions about how to do political theory, linking in with methodological debates on ideal versus non-ideal theorising, realism in political theory, and applied versus engaged approaches to political philosophy. Over the last years I’ve been exploring how to theorise rectificatory duties addressing the cultural loss most likely to be suffered by people displaced when their traditional homeland becomes uninhabitable. As an analytical philosopher my first inclination was attempting to develop a theoretical framework that explains what about this kind of loss is normatively significant and then develop a corresponding account of rectificatory duties. However, the deeper I thought about this, the more I got entangled in the methodological questions about what kind of contribution I can make here. What is clear is that I cannot offer a precise account of specific duties for any of the different contexts where such losses might occur. These losses and thus any rectificatory measures are very context specific and I have neither the local knowledge nor the right to speak for the affected communities. In this presentation, I will explain why I see myself as not having the right to develop any specific account of rectificatory duties but nonetheless keep working on these issues. My aim still is to offer a way to theorise possible claims regarding cultural loss in a manner that allows incorporating them into the rights-based theories of justice still dominating normative political theory. However, as you will see my proposal will involve heavy concessions to theories of relational justice that prioritise the voices and perspectives of those affected over the more abstract understanding of general rights, duties, and fundamental interests.
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