The Anthropocene concept as a wake-up call for reforming democracy

Human activity has reshaped all parts of the Earth system. For this reason, a vast majority of geologists at the 35th International Geological Congress in Cape Town (September 2016) spoke out in favor of changing the classification of geological epochs and of declaring a new world age – the Anthropocene. This chapter points at implications that the proclamation of the Anthropocene should have for the currently relevant concept of democracy. In particular, it is argued that the transition into a new phase of geology also necessitates a further advancement of our form of government. Democracy, as it has been conceived of and practiced until now, has to a large extent ignored the problem of ‘presentism’. This chapter suggests an extension of the 300-years-old separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial branch. It is argued that in order to make our political system more future-oriented, there is a need for a new (fourth) branch which ensures that the interests of future generations be taken into account within today's decision-making process. A newly-established ‘future council’ should have the right to introduce legislation, integrating the competences of this new institution with those of parliament. The chapter concludes with a discussion about the legitimacy of offices for future generations (OFGs) as the embodiment of the proposed future branch

Constitutions as Intergenerational Contracts: Flexible or fixed?

Constitutions enshrine the fundamental values of a people and build a framework for a state's public policy. With regard to intergenerational justice, their endurance gives rise to two concerns: the (forgone) welfare concern and the sovereignty concern. In this paper, I outline a procedure for constitution-amending that is intergenerationally just. In its line of reasoning, the paper debates ideas such as perpetual constitutions, sunset constitutions, constitutional reform commissions and constitutional conventions both historically and analytically. It arrives at the conclusion that recurrent constitutional reform commissions in fixed time intervals strike the best balance between the necessary rigidity and the necessary flexibility of constitutions

Review: Andreas Lienkamp: Klimawandel und Gerechtigkeit

No abstrac

Rezension: Peter Carnau: Nachhaltigkeitsethik: Normativer Gestaltungsansatz für eine global zukunftsfähige Entwicklung in Theorie und Praxis

Carnaus im Hampp-Verlag veröffentlichte Dissertation wurde 2010 am KIT in Karlsruhe im Fach Philosophie eingereicht. Der Autor ist von Hause aus Ingenieur und verfolgte mit seinem Projekt eine moralphilosophische Reflexion seiner Berufserfahrungen als Umweltexperte in der Papier- und Zellstoffindustrie. „Daher habe ich frühzeitig die Entscheidung getroffen, die Umsetzung des Nachhaltigkeitsleitbildes nicht auf der anwendungsbezogenen strategisch-operativen, sondern vorrangig auf der normativen Ebene der Moralphilosophie zu suchen.“ (Vorwort). Carnaus Grundmodell entspricht zunächst dem Drei-Säulen-Modell der Nachhaltigkeit, wird dann aber zu einem Tetraeder der Nachhaltigkeitsethik erweitert. Grafisch wird das in der Fläche, also in zwei Dimensionen darstellbare Nachhaltigkeitsdreieck um eine dritte Dimension erweitert. Der neue Pol dieses nun dreidimensionalen, räumlichen Gebildes wird mit ‚Ethik‘ beschriftet, seine Schenkel mit ‚Umweltethik‘, ‚Wirtschaftsethik‘ und ‚Sozialethik‘

Editorial

No abstract