Verweij, Marco and Ney, Steven and Thompson, Michael (2022) Cultural Theory’s Contributions to Climate Science: Reply to Hansson. [Preprint]

Text Reply to Hansson_PrePrint.docx Download (88kB)

Abstract

In his article, ‘Social constructionism and climate science denial’, Hansson claims to present empirical evidence that the cultural theory developed by Dame Mary Douglas, Aaron Wildavsky and ourselves (among others) leads to (climate) science denial. In this reply, we show that there is no validity to these claims. First, we show that Hansson’s empirical evidence that cultural theory has led to climate science denial falls apart under closer inspection. Contrary to Hansson’s claims, cultural theory has made significant contributions to understanding and addressing climate change. Second, we discuss various features of Douglas’ cultural theory that differentiate it from other constructivist approaches and make it compatible with the scientific method. Thus, we also demonstrate that cultural theory cannot be accused of epistemic relativism.

---

Export/Citation:

EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL

Social Networking:

Share |

---

Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Verweij, Marco m.verweij@jacobs-university.de Ney, Steven steven.ney@hpi-academy.de Thompson, Michael thompson@iiasa.ac.at
Additional Information:	Accepted for publication in the European Journal for Philosophy of Science.
Keywords:	Mary Douglas; Aaron Wildavsky; cultural theory; Climate Change
Subjects:	General Issues > Evidence General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Science and Policy General Issues > Science vs. Pseudoscience General Issues > Social Epistemology of Science General Issues > Theory/Observation
Depositing User:	Prof. Marco Verweij
Date Deposited:	29 Apr 2022 03:41
Last Modified:	29 Apr 2022 03:41
Item ID:	20510
Subjects:	General Issues > Evidence General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Science and Policy General Issues > Science vs. Pseudoscience General Issues > Social Epistemology of Science General Issues > Theory/Observation
Date:	25 April 2022
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/20510

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item