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Climate Activism and Harm to Innocents

Project description

Ethical arguments for climate activism

Political activists engaged in climate activism face numerous moral dilemmas as they need to balance the best interests of hundreds of millions of people with the need to adopt measures that could endanger innocents but yield desired results. The EU-funded ClimActiv project will assess the circumstances in which climate activism decisions are morally justified. The project will combine political philosophy methods like analogical reasoning, conceptual analysis, and proportionality assessments with climate science and political science studies to explore the effects of climate change and activism. It will disseminate the results within academic circles and beyond through international conferences, media, online opinion notes, a public conference, and a public library.

Objective

Climate change poses ethical challenges to political activists. On the one hand, climate change threatens hundreds of millions of human lives. On the other hand, activists who want to prevent such a catastrophe may need to resort, in despair, to political means that seriously harm innocents. This project will assess in what circumstances, if at all, harming innocents in climate activism is morally justified. The project uniquely combines political philosophy methods (analogical reasoning, conceptual analysis, and proportionality assessments) with insights from climate-science and political-science studies on the effects of climate change and activism.
The research outcomes will be disseminated to academic audiences (three articles; three international conferences and workshops; two online opinion notes) and the wider public (newspapers and online blog notes, a general public conference at a public library). LSE’s Department of Government provides optimal infrastructure (the world’s largest social sciences library, researchers working on closely related topics, dedicated staff for project management assistance). The supervisor is a leading expert in political activism. I have expertise in the key fields (political lesser evil, ideal/nonideal theory), a strong familiarity with the methods, experience in dissemination (international conference and workshop organisation, media appearances), and a network with researchers in influential institutions (UCL, Frankfurt University, Princeton University). With this Fellowship, I will expand my research network, acquire new research skills and knowledge from LSE researchers (in political activism, democratic theory, and human impacts from climate change), and publish articles in leading journals, increasing my chances of getting a permanent academic position in the European Research Area. I will transfer to the hosts knowledge (on global poverty, political lesser evil), as well as networking and conference organisation skills.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020

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Coordinator

LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 224 933,76
Address
Houghton Street 1
WC2A 2AE London
United Kingdom

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Region
London Inner London — West Westminster
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 224 933,76
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