Colloquium Philosophicum: Antoinette Scherz előadása

Antoinette Scherz: The Legitimacy of International Climate Institutions: Trustees and Public Reason

Időpont: 2024. április 10., 18.00

Helyszín: ELTE BTK i épület, 113. (1088 Budapest, Múzeum krt. 4/i)

This paper addresses some foundational issues concerning expertise, authority and legitimacy, at the crossroads of the philosophy of science and political philosophy. We proceed by reflecting on global problems – such as climate change – that require national action and international collaboration. It is not clear under which circumstances international institutions, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), that aim to politically regulate climate change, enjoy the necessary legitimacy to demand compliance from individuals and states. Initially, some might think that their legitimacy is grounded in the epistemic authority of climate scientists, thereby supporting a belief-based account on the grounds of political legitimacy. However, the ubiquity of non-epistemic values in climate science challenges this view. Thus, an alternative source of legitimacy needs to be found. In this paper, we argue that will-based accounts, such as democratic or public reason approaches, are better suited to  properly integrate the technocratic role of climate scientists and democratic decision-making in grounding the legitimacy of international political climate institutions. Particularly, we argue that the grounds for the legitimacy of institutions such as the UNFCCC should rely on the appropriate role of climate scientists as trustees, who are subjected to accountability mechanisms governed by public reason.

Antoinette Scherz (PhD Zürich) is an Associate Professor in Practical Philosophy at Stockholm University and a Senior Researcher with ENROL “Enforcing the Rule of Law: What can the European Union do to prevent rule-of-law deterioration from within?” at ARENA, University of Oslo. Previsouly, she held fellowships and visiting positions at Princeton University, McGill University, and Goethe University Frankfurt. Her research is in international political theory at the intersection of political philosophy, international legal theory and international relations theory. It focuses on two main areas: the legitimacy of international institutions and transnational democracy.

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