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Chapter 4. Cognitive science and the controversy of anthropogenic climate change

  • Annette Hohenberger
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Controversies and Interdisciplinarity
This chapter is in the book Controversies and Interdisciplinarity

Abstract

This paper takes a cognitive science perspective on the controversy of anthropogenic climate change (ACC) between deniers and advocates. It argues that cognitive science is a suitable framework due to its interdisciplinarity, experience with controversies, and appeal to meta-principles of cognition. From a Bayesian perspective, deniers seem to reason irrationally (belief polarization) and from an epistemic virtue ethics perspective act viciously. Yet, their behavior can be modelled as rational when taking the factor “worldview” into account and become virtuous in terms of “mandevillian intelligence” at the collective level. Insofar as deniers’ conservatism aims at stability but advocates’ liberalism at change, they jointly resolve the “stability-plasticity dilemma”. A number of outstanding questions are addressed at the end of the paper.

Abstract

This paper takes a cognitive science perspective on the controversy of anthropogenic climate change (ACC) between deniers and advocates. It argues that cognitive science is a suitable framework due to its interdisciplinarity, experience with controversies, and appeal to meta-principles of cognition. From a Bayesian perspective, deniers seem to reason irrationally (belief polarization) and from an epistemic virtue ethics perspective act viciously. Yet, their behavior can be modelled as rational when taking the factor “worldview” into account and become virtuous in terms of “mandevillian intelligence” at the collective level. Insofar as deniers’ conservatism aims at stability but advocates’ liberalism at change, they jointly resolve the “stability-plasticity dilemma”. A number of outstanding questions are addressed at the end of the paper.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction. Crossing borderlines 1
  4. Chapter 1. Controversies in public and private on-line communication 5
  5. Chapter 2. The Paks Pact 29
  6. Chapter 3. Particularist understanding of CSR marketing visual arguments 53
  7. Chapter 4. Cognitive science and the controversy of anthropogenic climate change 75
  8. Chapter 5. ELEna 95
  9. Chapter 6. What is the meaning of biodiversity? 115
  10. Chapter 7. Human evolution 133
  11. Chapter 8. A historical controversy about politeness and public argument 155
  12. Chapter 9. Husserl’s phenomenology of inner time-consciousness and enactivism 177
  13. Chapter 10. Controversial images 199
  14. Chapter 11. The role and the impact of interdisciplinarity on the relational models of intervention in the doctor-patient communication 217
  15. Chapter 12. The pointer finger and the pilgrim shell 235
  16. Chapter 13. Science and democracy 255
  17. About the contributors 269
  18. Index 277
https://doi.org/10.1075/cvs.16.04hoh

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction. Crossing borderlines 1
  4. Chapter 1. Controversies in public and private on-line communication 5
  5. Chapter 2. The Paks Pact 29
  6. Chapter 3. Particularist understanding of CSR marketing visual arguments 53
  7. Chapter 4. Cognitive science and the controversy of anthropogenic climate change 75
  8. Chapter 5. ELEna 95
  9. Chapter 6. What is the meaning of biodiversity? 115
  10. Chapter 7. Human evolution 133
  11. Chapter 8. A historical controversy about politeness and public argument 155
  12. Chapter 9. Husserl’s phenomenology of inner time-consciousness and enactivism 177
  13. Chapter 10. Controversial images 199
  14. Chapter 11. The role and the impact of interdisciplinarity on the relational models of intervention in the doctor-patient communication 217
  15. Chapter 12. The pointer finger and the pilgrim shell 235
  16. Chapter 13. Science and democracy 255
  17. About the contributors 269
  18. Index 277
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