Tag: TMT

Climate Change

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 โ€˜great 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...
Social Issues

The Stories We Believe in

We all believe in stories. Stories about ourselves, stories about the world around us, about the societies and communities we are part of, about our histories, and so forth. We tend not to think of these stories as โ€œstoriesโ€, however, because we hold them true โ€“ thatโ€™s what it means to believe something: to hold it true โ€“ and we tend to think of stories as untrue. But at least some of them are untrue. We donโ€™t all believe the same things, so at least some of us must be wrong. Furthermore, many of the stories we believe in โ€“...
Social Issues

Death, Masculinity, and Hegemony

โ€œAt the center of the symbolic order is the abhorrence of death,โ€ writes Odile Strik in the conclusion of her short essay The Symbolic Order of Life and Manhood. The โ€œsymbolic orderโ€ of the title connects death and masculinity, and (supposedly) structures the way most people understand reality. The essay is terse and almost poetic, and only presents a rough sketch of this symbolic order, but it deals with a number of important themes โ€“ such as masculinity, life and death, and cultural hegemony โ€“ and it deserves credit for bringing those themes together. This article is a (long) commentary...
Climate Change

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 โ€˜As 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: โ€œAn 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...
Social Issues

A Note on the Psychology of Radicalization and Terrorism

The best explanation of the psychological roots of radicalization and terrorism is given by Terror Management Theory (even if the word โ€œterrorโ€ in that name has nothing to do with terrorism). Western governments appear to be completely ignorant of this explanation, however, and as a consequence, much of their actions promote terrorism more than counter it. * * * There is no uncontroversial definition of โ€œterrorismโ€. To a large extent, calling something โ€œterrorismโ€ or someone a โ€œterroristโ€ is a political claim intended to de-legitimatize an opponent and to express disapproval of his or her actions and goals. Nevertheless, there are...