Inefficacy and Expressive Value

Jan Willem Wieland (VU University Amsterdam)

The Collective Ethics Seminar: Online Presentation – 24 June 2024 – 15.15 – 16.45 CET / 09.15 – 10.45 EST.

Jan Willem Wieland (Free University of Amsterdam) - Inefficacy and Expressive Value

On Monday 24 June 2024, Jan Willem Wieland (Free University of Amsterdam) will give an online presentation at the Collective Ethics Seminar entitled ‘Inefficacy and Expressive Value’.

Abstract: Many problems today can only be solved collectively, and the question is what we should do individually. The climate crisis is a case in point. Why should we refrain from flying, for example, if our individual conduct is inefficacious and fails to make a relevant difference in solving this crisis? Philosophers have sought for a solution to this problem - the “inefficacy problem” - in various directions. Some have suggested that there could be expressive reasons for inefficacious actions. The basic idea would be that you want to make a symbolic statement - that you care about the climate crisis, and want to express your solidarity with climate victims - even when you can’t do anything to stop the problem itself. However, such an approach has been subjected to serious objections. Aren’t such statements just “empty gestures”? Why exactly should one refrain from flying in addition to sharing one’s statement? And doesn’t such an approach secretly smuggle in assumptions that already solve the problem on their own? In our paper, we aim to respond to these problems - forcefully raised by Julia Nefsky (2018, 2023) - by utilizing a variant of James Christensen’s (2020) concept of “expressed harms."

The online seminar is open for all to attend. The session starts at 15.15 CET / 09.15 EST. You can join the session via the following link: https://univienna.zoom.us/j/62736288881?pwd=SndEdTNoNlZtSzJqcmpabm5NaWIyUT09

For more information about the seminar and the schedule for 2024S, please see https://social.univie.ac.at/events/collective-ethics-seminar/.

We hope to see you at the seminar!

Kind regards,

Gunnar Björnsson (Stockholm University), Olle Blomberg (University of Gothenburg), and Niels de Haan (University of Vienna)