School of History, Philosophy and Religion

Dr. Barbara Muraca (PhD University of Greifswald) studied philosophy in Turin, Italy, and Greifswald, Germany. She completed her Ph.D. in Philosophy with a dissertation on the philosophical foundations of Strong Sustainability (book published with Alber Verlag in 2010 and awarded with the Karl Alber Award).
She specialized in Environmental Philosophy (Sustainability Theory & Degrowth-research), Social Philosophy, and Process Thought (Whitehead).
She has authored several articles on related topics including: "Décroissance: A Project for a Radical Transformation of Society", in: Environmental Values (2013), “Towards a fair degrowth-society: Justice and the right to a 'good life' beyond growth, in: Futures (2012),  “The Map of Moral Significance: a new matrix for environmental ethics, in: Environmental Values 20 (2011), and “Strong sustainability as a frame for sustainability communication (with Konrad Ott and Christian Baatz). In: Godemann, J., Michelsen, G. (Hg..): Sustainability Communication: Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoretical Foundations. Springer 2010.

Selected Publications in English:

• Muraca, B., Döring, R. (2017): "From (strong) Sustainability to Degrowth: A Philosophical and Historical Reconstruction". In: Caradonna, J.: Routledge Handbook of the History of Sustainability. London:Routledge, 339-361.
• Muraca, B. Neuber, F. (in press): "Viable and Convivial Technologies: Considerations on Climate Engineering from a Degrowth Perspective". In: Journal of Cleaner Production. Available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.04.159
• Muraca, B., Schmelzer, M. (2017): “Sustainable degrowth: historical roots of the search for alternatives to growth in three regions.” In: Borowy, I., Schmelzer, M.: History of the Future of Economic Growth - Historical roots of current debates on sustainable degrowth. London: Routledge, 174-196.
• Muraca, B. (2016): Re-appropriating the Ecosystem Services concept for a decolonization of 'nature', In Bannon, B.: Nature and Experience. Rowman & Littlefield, 143-156.
• Muraca, B. (2016): Relational Values: A Whiteheadian Alternative for Environmental Philosophy and Global Environmental Justice, Balkan Journal of Philosophy 8 (1), 19-38.
• Chan, Kai et al. (2016): Why protect nature? Rethinking values and the environment, PNAS 113 (6), 1462-1465 Available here: http://www.pnas.org/content/113/6/1462 
• Muraca, B. (2015): Care for our Common Home and the Degrowth Movement: A Message of Radical Transformation. In: Cobb, J. and Castuera, I.: For Our Common Home. Process-relational Responses to Laudato Si’. Anoka: Process Century Press, 139-149.
• Petridis, P.,Muraca, B. Kallis, G. (2015): Degrowth: between a scientific concept and a slogan for a social movement. In: Martinez-Alier, J., Muradian, R.: Handbook of Ecological Economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 176-200.
• Asara, V., Muraca B. (2015): Indignados (Occupy). In: D'Alisa, G., Demaria, F., Kallis, G. (ed.): Degrowth: a vocabulary for a new paradigm. Oxford: Routledge, 168-171.
• Muraca, B. (2014): Teleology and the life sciences: between limit concept and ontological necessity. in: Koutroufinis, S. (ed.). Life and Process. Towards a New Biophilosophy, Berlin: De Gruyter, 38-71.
• Muraca, B. (2013): Décroissance: A Project for a Radical Transformation of Society, Environmental Values 22 (2), 147-169. http://dx.doi.org/10.3197/096327113X13581561725112
• Jax, Kurt et al. (2013): Ecosystem services and ethics. Ecological Economics 93, 260–268. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.06.008
• Muraca, B. (2012): Towards a fair degrowth-society: Justice and the right to a ‘good life’ beyond growth, Futures 44 (6), 535–545 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2012.03.014
• Muraca, B. (2011): The Map of Moral Significance: a new matrix for environmental ethics, Environmental Values 20 (3), 375-396. http://dx.doi.org/10.3197/096327111X13077055166063
• Ott, K., Muraca, B., Baatz, C. (2011): Strong sustainability as a frame for sustainability communication. In: Godemann, J., Michelsen, G. (eds.): Sustainability Communication: Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoretical Foundations. Springer, 13-25. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-94-007-1697-1_2
• Muraca, B. (2008): Ecology between natural science and environmental ethics. Whitehead’s Philosophy of Organism and its contribution to an ecological worldview in: Weber, M. (ed.): Handbook of Whiteheadien Process Thought. Frankfurt, Lancaster: Ontos, 33-50
• Muraca, B. (2007): Getting Over “Nature”: Modern Bifurcations, Postmodern Possibilities, in: Keller, C.; Kearns, L. (eds.): Ecospirit. Religions and Philosophies for the Earth. New York: Fordham University Press, 156-177

Selected Publications in German:

• Muraca, B. (2017): Prozessphilosophie als Grundlage für die ökologische Ökonomik: Gemeinsamkeiten und Differenzen mit dem Critical Realism. In: Lindner, U., Mader, D.: Critical Realism meets Kritische Soziologie: Erklärung und Kritik in den Sozialwissenschaften. Bielefeld: Transcript (De Gruyter), 243-270.
• Muraca, B. (2017): Werte und Gutes Leben. In: Ott et al.: Handbuch der Umweltethik. Stuttgart: Metzler, 117-120.
• Bohmann, U., Muraca, B. (2016): Demokratische Transformation als Transformation der Demokratie: Postwachstum und radikale Demokratie. In: AK Postwachstum (Hg.): Wachstum-Krise und Kritik. Die Grenzen der kapitalistisch-industriellen Lebensweise. Frankfurt/ New York: Campus, 289-311.
• Muraca, B. (2015): Wider den Wachstumswahn: Degrowth als konkrete Utopie. In: Blätter für Deutsche und Internationale Politik 2 (2015), pp. 101-109. Republished in the volume: Blätter für deutsch und internationale Politik: ’Mehr geht nicht: Der Postwachstums-Reader’, Berlin: Edition Blätter, 199-208.
• Muraca, B. (2014): Gut Leben: Eine Gesellschaft jenseits des Wachstums. Berlin: Wagenbach, 98 pages.
• Muraca, B. (2010): Denken in Grenzgebiet: prozessphilosophische Grundlagen einer Theorie starker Nachhaltigkeit. Freiburg/München: Karl Alber Verlag, 442 pages
• Muraca, B., von Egen-Krieger, T., Vetter, A. (2013): Gutes Leben jenseits des Wachstums - Entwürfe und Kritik feministischer Ökonomik. In: Rudolf, C., Heide, D., Lemmle, J., Roßhart, J., Vetter, A. (Hg.): Schneewittchen rechnet ab. Feministische Ökonomie für anderes Leben, Arbeiten und Produzieren. Hamburg: VSA, 16-30
• Muraca, B. (Aug. 2013): Whiteheads Prozessphilosophie und die umweltethische Debatte. In: Vogt, M., Ostheimer, J., Uekötter, F. (Hg.): Wo steht die Umweltethik? Argumentationsmuster im Wandel. Marburg: Metropolis, 235-258.