In the autumn term 2025, Dr. Dominic Roser will offer a new course on the ethics of economic growth. The creation of this course was prompted by the conviction that we need a new and serious engagement with the growth question. In the 1970s, the Club of Rome initiated a large debate about this question.
After that, public attention for the topic has subsided significantly but has now recently gained steam again: on the skeptical side, degrowth and post-growth scholars have revitalized the debate and on the supportive side, progress studies scholars have transformed the pro-growth view from being a taken-for-granted position of the silent majority into a view that benefits from examination and dedicated defense.
Still, the current debate often proceeds in silos and treats the effects of growth on the environment, on poverty, on happiness, etc. separately from each other. Further, it omits certain effects of growth such as the impact on animal welfare or on the probability of human extinction. The new class aims to equip students to engage open-mindedly with literature from all sides.
