ABSTRACT

The debate over the compatibility of environmentalism and liberalism has primarily been defined by the challenge of bringing liberalism ‘up’ to the moral level required to deal with environmental issues. For instance, it is argued that liberalism must become ‘more liberal’ in order to enshrine hitherto unrecognised rights of non-human nature into the liberal order. I will argue, however, that those who reject the possibility of ‘greening’ liberalism have misinterpreted the phenomenon of actually-existing-liberalism, and uncritically accepted its propagandistic self-description. I show that the realistic compatibility of environmentalism with liberalism lies with the latter’s ability to act in ways generally considered illiberal, rather than with its ability to become more liberal, or come ‘up’ to the moral level of environmentalism. It can instead be a moral path ‘down’ by which liberalism can become ‘green’.

摘要

关于环保主义和自由主义相容性的辩论主要是由将自由主义“提升”到处理环境问题所需的道德水平的挑战来定义的。例如，有人认为自由主义必须变得“更加自由”，以便将迄今为止未被承认的非人性权利纳入自由秩序。然而，我将争辩说，那些拒绝“绿化”自由主义可能性的人误解了实际存在的自由主义现象，并且不加批判地接受了它的宣传自我描述。我表明，环保主义与自由主义的现实相容性在于后者以通常被认为不自由的方式行事的能力，而不是其变得更加自由或“达到”环保主义道德水平的能力。