In discussions about global warming and other environmental disasters that have arisen in the wake of industrialisation, the question of guilt and responsibility keeps coming up — a classic question for philosophy.

Are people born into wealthy societies just as blameless for the disaster as those born in poorer countries, or do they bear individual responsibility for a global situation? How great is our complicity in immense environmental crimes when we simply live "normally"? Can we be held personally responsible for this? And what, from a philosopher's perspective, should concretely be done?

Angela Kallhoff is a professor of ethics at the University of Vienna and has been engaging with this topic for some time. In a new book, she aims to develop fresh proposals for a consistent climate policy grounded in philosophical reasoning. The atmosphere is a collective good, she argues, and it is therefore everyone's duty to preserve it together.

Philipp Blom asks her about individual responsibility and collective action, about the connection between philosophy and politics, and about why responsibility for the climate catastrophe is repeatedly individualised.

Presenter: Philipp Blom.

Available to listen until 12 November at: oe1.orf.at