Lockwood in this book review highlights central arguments on what motivates us to action for, in particular, the environment.
By Matthew Lockwood (excerpt).
Michael Sandel's recent book, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?. Sandel...gave the prestigious Reith Lectures in 2009, and his argument for a 'politics of the common good' has hit a chord among politicians like Ed Miliband....
[W]anting to cut your emissions because it is the right thing to do (as opposed to feeling good about yourself, or even because it will benefit others) is a consistent moral position. So why don't more people do it? Why, for example, don't more people give up eating meat, which would cut emissions but requires no major action by governments? When Nick Stern suggested this last year he was ridiculed.
This is where Sandel's political argument comes in. He is saying that politics (especially Democratic politics in the US and by extension New Labour politics in the UK) has in the past relied too much on utilitarian or liberal arguments. The Left needs to learn from the Right, which since the 1970s has grounded politics in morality (it is interesting that there are even some on the Right who urge climate action on moral grounds, usually expressed in terms of religious morality).
Source: AlertNet[W]anting to cut your emissions because it is the right thing to do (as opposed to feeling good about yourself, or even because it will benefit others) is a consistent moral position. So why don't more people do it? Why, for example, don't more people give up eating meat, which would cut emissions but requires no major action by governments? When Nick Stern suggested this last year he was ridiculed.
This is where Sandel's political argument comes in. He is saying that politics (especially Democratic politics in the US and by extension New Labour politics in the UK) has in the past relied too much on utilitarian or liberal arguments. The Left needs to learn from the Right, which since the 1970s has grounded politics in morality (it is interesting that there are even some on the Right who urge climate action on moral grounds, usually expressed in terms of religious morality).
Dictum: The gift of understanding
Know thou that, according to what thy Lord, the Lord of all men, hath decreed in His Book, the favors vouchsafed by Him unto mankind have been, and will ever remain, limitless in their range. First and foremost among these favors, which the Almighty hath conferred upon man, is the gift of understanding. His purpose in conferring such a gift is none other except to enable His creature to know and recognize the one true God—exalted be His glory. This gift giveth man the power to discern the truth in all things, leadeth him to that which is right, and helpeth him to discover the secrets of creation.
Photo source is here.
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