Rhetoric, epistemology and climate change economics

Geoffrey Poitras

Ecological Economics, 2021, vol. 184, issue C

Abstract: This paper explores the epistemological basis for economic prognostications of climate change activists arising from, arguably, the most important scientific problem confronting modern society: the facts, beliefs and theories associated with the measurement, causes, impact and mitigation of climate change. This facilitates identification of the role that rhetoric plays in activist claims associated with the economics of global warming and climate change. Following a rudimentary discussion of ancient views on rhetoric, the connection of rhetoric with anti-foundational epistemology and language is identified. Criteria for determining when language is rhetorical are specified. Exploiting this philosophical background, mitigation proposals of climate change activists derived from models of climate change economics are critiqued.

Keywords: Rhetoric; Foundationalism; Scientific method; Climate change; Relativism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800921000434
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:184:y:2021:i:c:s0921800921000434

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.106985

Access Statistics for this article

Ecological Economics is currently edited by C. J. Cleveland

More articles in Ecological Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().