Facing the Anthropocene โ Attitudes towards Climate Change
In a review of a number of books about the Anthropocene, British sociologist Leslie Sklair wrote that: Three main narratives have emerged: (1) While posing problems, the Anthropocene is a โgreat opportunityโ for business, science and technology, geoengineering, and so on. (2) The planet and humanity itself are in danger, we cannot ignore the warning signs but if we are clever enough we can save ourselves and the planet with technological fixes (as in 1). (3) We are in great danger, humanity cannot go on living and consuming as we do now, we must change our ways of life radically...
Fictionalism โ or: Vaihinger, Scheffler, and Kรผbler-Ross at the End of the World
In 1911 the now almost forgotten German philosopher Hans Vaihinger published Die Philosophie des Als Ob (The Philosophy of โAs ifโ) in which he argued for something approaching global fictionalism. In the preface to the second English edition of his book he wrote: The principle of Fictionalism . . . is as follows: โAn idea whose theoretical untruth or incorrectness, and therewith its falsity, is admitted, is not for that reason practically valueless and useless; for such an idea, in spite of its theoretical nullity may have great practical importance.โ Fictionalism is the view that claims in some area of...