'Kantian Climate Justice'

Is there anything the individual ought to do in light of the climate catastrophe and insufficient political leadership in addressing it? I argue that we can find in Kant a collectivist conception of individual obligation that provides an answer: each of us, as an individual, has climate obligations, but the nature of these obligations is made determinate only with reference to the collective of which the individual is a part. I suggest that Kant’s collectivism sheds light on the relations between the individual and the collective and the ethical and political in the climate crisis.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
Apollo (University of Cambridge)
Published
2026-02-26
DOI
https://doi.org/10.17863/cam.127683
Primary Topic
Climate Change and Geoengineering
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

'Kantian Climate Justice'

Angela Breitenbach
Apollo (University of Cambridge)
Climate Change and Geoengineering
article

'Kantian Climate Justice'

Angela Breitenbach
article en

Abstract

Is there anything the individual ought to do in light of the climate catastrophe and insufficient political leadership in addressing it? I argue that we can find in Kant a collectivist conception of individual obligation that provides an answer: each of us, as an individual, has climate obligations, but the nature of these obligations is made determinate only with reference to the collective of which the individual is a part. I suggest that Kant’s collectivism sheds light on the relations between the individual and the collective and the ethical and political in the climate crisis.

Apollo (University of Cambridge)
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 51%
Climate Change and Geoengineering
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