Neves Presentation ‘Navigating Degrowth: Unpacking Three Challenges’

26 May, 2025. Catarina Neves presented her paper ‘Navigating Degrowth: Unpacking Three Challenges’ at the Utrecht University Seminar ‘Exploring Post-Growth across Disciplines’. The abstract of the paper is as follows:

Abstract: We are currently living in a context of ecological breakdown, having already exceeded six of the nine planetary boundaries due to anthropogenic activity (Richardson et al., 2023). A number of solutions have been proposed, namely degrowth (Jackson, 2009, 2021; Hickel, 2020; Schmelzer, 2022; Kallis et al., 2018, 2025). Degrowth argues for the downscaling of production and consumption to stay within planetary boundaries. While radical, it is not new, and is increasingly discussed, especially in some academic disciplines (i.e., ecological economics). But contrary to the early degrowth debates, recent work on philosophy has mostly stayed silent on the issue. In this paper, I wish to revert this trend. I unpack three challenges for degrowth, which can undermine its feasibility, but also raise questions about is desirability. I have stylized these challenges as (1) Scaling for Degrowth, a challenge borne out of the project’s global aims, but overwhelmingly nationally bounded policy proposals, and parallel endorsement of decentralized deliberate processes of decision-making; (2) Rallying for Degrowth, which discusses Degrowth’s view of deepening of democracy as yielding political choices congruent with the project’s aims, finally (3) Justifying Degrowth which examines the project’s justifications as a needed and/or desirable transition.

I do not intend to debunk the degrowth case, nor offer (yet) answers to the three challenges I raise. That would go beyond the scope of this paper. Instead, I wish to show that when proposing an alternative vision for socioeconomic transition, one needs to consider the normative assumptions that ground the project, including the values and principles which are prioritized and endorsed. This requires awareness of the normative trade-offs embodied in the project. Insofar this paper contributes to clarify the normative
assumptions of the degrowth debate, it might encourage proponents to specify their views, and understand its limitations