Twee politiek-filosofische uitdagingen van het ecologisme: radicale rechtvaardigheid en autonomie

The importance of the environmental issue contrasts with the attention this issue received in contemporary political philosophy. This article examines the challenges the ecological crisis evokes for political philosophy. Looking at the ensuing ecological debate, the ecological crisis creates new challenges in two major fields: justice and the good life. Because of the ecological crisis, justice needs to be radicalised in time (future generations) and in space (global). The radicalisation of justice seems difficult to realise without authoritarian policy measures. This conflict with democracy is less apparent in political ecology. This political doctrine finds its distinctive character in the concept of autonomy. The aim of autonomy as a political act is to allow people to realise their conception of the good life. If there is a connection with the natural environment in this conception, it can be the base of an ecological political theory.