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Felix Ekardt in China

Felix Ekardt will hold six speeches on climate protection and constitutional theory in China, amongst others at the world congress of legal and social philosophers.

`Cool Down' out now

Since September, Felix Ekardt's new book `Cool Down: 50 Irrtümer über unsere Klima-Zukunft' is available in bookstores. Summary Cool Down

Radio Discussion `Democracy and Sustainability'

At the end of August, Felix Ekardt and Michael Kerbler discussed the financial crisis and climate change. The discussion was boradcast by the Austrian Radio Ö 1.

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Theory of Sustainability

Sustainability describes a form of economy and society that is lasting and can be lived on a global scale. The society-changing potential of the claim: `More justice between generations, more global justice – at the same time' faces the peril of getting out sight. Sustainability is just not the trivial general claim to take social, economic, and environmental policy serious independent of any relationship in time and space and to strike a sound balance between these aspects. And sustainability in the sense of the Rio Conference 1992 does not mean a `Three Column Conception' at least not in a separating or additive sense. From the stance of policy-making and social sciences (e. g. law, political sciences, social sciences, economics, theology, psychology, etc.) diverse working fields and problems are affected, namely

  1. a clear definition of the concept `sustainability' (level of definition);
  2. the – partly only scientific – descriptive analysis of how sustainable societies currently are if measured against this yardstick and which developments take place;
  3. the likewise descriptive question which external hindrances and motivations have so far obstructed the enforcement of sustainability; (level of causes)
  4. the normative question why sustainability be attractive and what, based on that assessment, its exact content is; (level of necessity)
  5. how much sustainability is required from a legal or moral point of view if it is balanced against competing interests, e. g. short-term economic growth, including the question which institutions have to resolve this issue and which margin of discretion they should enjoy in doing so; (level of balancing)
  6. which means can be employed to effectively attain the chosen goals, including possible obstructions, actors, strategies, etc. (level of enforcement)

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