JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL ASSOCIATION
The Role of Philosophers in Climate Change
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2022 EUGENE CHISLENKO
Some conceptions of the role of philosophers in climate change focus mainly on theoretical progress in philosophy, or on philosophers as individual citizens…
TOO BAD PETER SINGER DIDN'T MAKE THE CUT
However, focus on theoretical progress, citizenship, expertise, virtue, ability, social role, or power, rather than on skill, can allow for some of these contributions. But the skill view… promises to make us more effective in practice; and offers a compelling way to overcome our own lingering climate denial by integrating climate change into all aspects of philosophical activity:
CLIMATE PHILOSOPHY AND THE PLATONIC IDEAL
Classical authors variously maintained that Plato was the product of virgin birth, the grandson of Poseidon or the offspring of Apollo, and having been mistaken for a beehive as a small child he was raised on a diet of honey. This is known as the wisdom of the ancients, and would be pusillanimous to doubt that Socrates dreamt of him as a swan. Given this broad range of representative developmental pathways, it is apposite that Platonic and Pythagorian rather than Bayesian norms still prevail in the operational philosophy of climate modeling.
