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dc.contributor.authorLavik, Trygve
dc.date.accessioned2016-07-05T06:31:39Z
dc.date.available2016-07-05T06:31:39Z
dc.date.issued2015
dc.PublishedEtikk i praksis 2015eng
dc.identifier.issn1890-4009
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1956/12244
dc.description.abstractIn this paper I claim that there are moral reasons for making climate denialism illegal . First I define climate denialism, and then I discuss its impact on society and its reception in the media. I build my philosophical arguments mainly on John Stuart Mill and Thomas M. Scanlon. According to Mill’s utilitarian justification of free speech, even untrue opinions are valuable in society’s pursuit of more truth. Consequently one might think that Mill’s philosophy would justify climate denialists’ right to free speech. A major section of the paper argues against that view. The main arguments are: Climate denialism is not beneficial because its main goal is to produce doubt, and not truth. Climate denialism is not sincerely meant, which is a necessary condition for Mill to accept utterances. Climate denialists bring harm, by blocking necessary action on climate change. Primarily they harm future generations and people in developing countries. Hence the case can be made in terms of global justice: Would future generations and people in developing countries support my claim? I think so, or so I argue. My argument from global justice is built on Scanlon’s distinction between the interests of participants, the interests of audiences, and the interests of bystanders. The climate denialists have participant interests ‘in being able to call something to the attention of a wide audience’. Audience interests consist in ‘having access to expressions that we wish to hear or read, and even in being exposed to some degree to expressions we have not chosen’. Future generations and people in poor countries are bystanders to the climate debate. If the debate postpones necessary actions, it is the bystanders who must pay the price. I argue that bystanders’ costs outweigh participants’ and audiences’ interests, and that this is an argument for a statutory ban on climate denialism.en_US
dc.language.isoengeng
dc.publisherProgramme for Applied Ethics, NTNUeng
dc.rightsAttribution CC BYeng
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0eng
dc.subjectclimate change denialeng
dc.subjectfreedom of speecheng
dc.subjectglobal justiceeng
dc.subjectutilitarianismeng
dc.subjectharm principleeng
dc.titleClimate change denial, freedom of speech and global justiceeng
dc.typePeer reviewed
dc.typeJournal article
dc.date.updated2016-04-11T06:02:25Z
dc.description.versionpublishedVersion
dc.rights.holderCopyright 2015 The Authorseng
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.5324/eip.v10i2.1923
dc.identifier.cristin1333653


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