Climate Justice in the Anthropocene and Its Relationship with Science and Technology: The Importance of Ethics of Responsibility

Climate change is a global phenomenon. Therefore, globalization is the necessary hermeneutical horizon to develop an analysis of the metamorphosis climate change could cause at a political, social, and economic level. Within this horizon, this Article shows how the relationship between the concept of the Anthropocene epoch and the request for justice allows for framing a climate-justice and intergenerational equity–focused political interpretation of the effects of climate change. In order to avoid reducing such an interpretation to merely an ideological critique of capitalism, the conception of climate justice needs to be grounded in a rational, ethical model. This Article proposes that the ethics of responsibility, inspired by Hans Jonas’s well-known philosophy, could work as a promising rational foundation for climate justice. The ethics of responsibility also align with the principles established by the study and analysis of the relationships between science, technology, and society