Project Title: How much is enough?
Amount 300.000 Euro (NWO Aspasia Grant: 150.000 Euro , EUR Fellowship: 150.000 Euro)
Period of time: 4 years (2020-2024)
Funding agency: NWO and EUR
Short Summary: Global natural resources are depleting. A transition away from current economic systems is extremely urgent, but such transitions face a conflict between environmental policies and a core liberal value: non-interference in lifestyles. This is due to lacunae in contemporary liberal thought: preferences are a given, and the impact environmental constraints have on freedom is neglected. This project fills these lacunae through a moral framework for assessing new socio-economic systems; this allows accounting for the constraining effect current societal structures have on preferences, and comparing institutional changes in terms of resources that enhance freedom to pursue valuable life paths Neglected aspects of the capability framework will be developed by employing the literature on overall freedom and freedom-rankings in political philosophy and social choice theory (main applicant). The theoretical framework is then used in a deliberative poll to identify how far deliberation about sustainable lifestyles may lead to preference changes caused by the current lack of alternative less-resource-intensive lifestyles (PhD researcher).
You can find here the whole description of the project.