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6 - Guilt and Responsibility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2019

Roger S. Gottlieb
Affiliation:
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts
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Summary

The poor and vulnerable are often are often simply victims of the environmental crisis, but countless others are agents as well as victims. This chapter focuses on the confusing moral position of we whose daily choices contribute to climate change, species extinction, and global pollution. What responsibility do we bear, especially when we have limited energy and other concerns (e.g., helping aging parents)? The chapter argues that we have obligations to examine each of our acts, even if they might make an infinitesimal contribution to environmental crisis, and to serious self-examination to assess what environmental commitments are possible for us. It concludes by exploring the mind-set of those who reap status, power, and wealth from their role in the environmental crisis and thus bear not only responsibility but also guilt, and seeks to understand the social madness embodied in their actions with analogies to the behavior of addicts.
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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  • Guilt and Responsibility
  • Roger S. Gottlieb, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts
  • Book: Morality and the Environmental Crisis
  • Online publication: 18 February 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316493083.007
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  • Guilt and Responsibility
  • Roger S. Gottlieb, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts
  • Book: Morality and the Environmental Crisis
  • Online publication: 18 February 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316493083.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Guilt and Responsibility
  • Roger S. Gottlieb, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts
  • Book: Morality and the Environmental Crisis
  • Online publication: 18 February 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316493083.007
Available formats
×