Publication Details

Abstract

The author understands environmentalism as a stream of contemporary political philosophy based on the reflection of causes and possible effects of global environmental crisis as one of the most serious threats to current political system and global civilization as a whole. Considering the changes in social, technological and environmental starting conditions of the economic-political system – i.e. the consequences of the transition from the stable geologic-climate era of Holocene to the unstable era of Anthropocene – it is necessary to reconsider the basic premises, imperatives and conceptual frames of current economic-political system. The philosophical foundations of current economic-political system as well as the basic premises of environmentalism and concepts relevant to the reflection of current threats and risks were articulated in some of the writings of the founders of modern political thinking. The author’s focus is on the concept of civil and human rights, the concept of state of nature, and the concept of social contract, which could be of help in the examination of the crisis of current economic-political system as a whole and the environmentalism in particular. The author’s hypothesis is that the political philosophy of the 21 st century must reflect the environmental preconditions and limits of the existence and forms of any economic-political system while taking into account that all economic and social activities have their impact on the quality and sustainability of the environment.