Climate thinking: Science, Decisions, and the Public

It also presents some economic and ethical aspects of responses to climate change. Finally, it discusses the issue of trust in, and resistance to, (climate) science, from both epistemological and psychological perspectives.

The course consists of the following blocks:

• Introduction to climate science
• Climate and philosophy of science
• Climate decisions
• Climate and public (dis-)trust

Topics discussed during the course are:

• Processes controlling the Earth’s climate. Global climate and Earth System models. Past and future climate change. Attribution science.
• Scientific theory and empirical testing; truth and viability in science; probabilistic assessment of scientific theories and hypotheses; reductionism and its limits
• Models in climate science; climate projection vs. prediction; idealization and simplification in climate models; robustness analysis; butterfly/hawkmoth effects
• Uncertainty and decision-making; uncertainty in and about climate models; extreme climate outcomes; precaution
• Ethics of emissions; justice and climate change; evaluating the harms of climate change; responsibility for climate mitigation and adaptation
• Climate economics and economic models of the climate change; carbon taxes and other mitigation policies; talking about climate change
• Knowledge resistance; epistemic and psychological dimensions of resistance; political polarization; the detection and rationality of knowledge resistance
• Science denial; trust in experts; mechanisms of doubt and distrust; conspiracy theories