Radu Simion
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to present a theme situated within applied ethics studies,
the ethics of geoengineering. Research on this subject has gained a boost in the last few
years, when the inevitable debates concerning global warming have created a practical
scenario, applicable in the future, a daring and provocative scenario: climate engineering
through two types of technologies (solar radiation management and carbon dioxide
removal). The objective of this article is to briefly point out the main and problematic
paradigms in geoengineering. I will offer certain recommendations concerning the passage
from social opportunity to morality in geoengineering, based on these. First, I will offer a
working definition of geoengineering, as well as a short approach of the two types of climate
manipulation, to familiarize the reader with the specificity of this research domain. I will
then illustrate the research paradigms (reductionism and scientific instrumentalism)
which caracterise the process of laboratory development and practical implementation,
trying to refer in the end to the inconsistencies and the moral principles that may be
broken as a result of the introduction of such technologies in the natural world.
https://annalsphilosophy-ub.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Radu-Simion.pdf