Ontology and Climate Change

• Main Author: Charles Bonner
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: permafrost
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1082.2191; http://forumonpublicpolicy.com/vol2012.no1/archive/bonner.pdf

Abstract This paper outlines an ontological approach to the climate change problematic, suggesting that what is at stake here has to be conceptualized in terms of our fundamental relation to being. The concept of ontology, as employed in this paper, includes the prevailing scientific understanding of "the ultimate nature of reality" as well as the form of computer-mediated knowledge that provides access to this reality. Also included is what the French philosopher Michel Foucault called "an ontology of ourselves"-that is, an assessment or a questioning of the ontological status of human existence within our overall conception of being. The three texts analyzed from this philosophical perspective are: a review article summarizing the present state of our knowledge of the global carbon cycle (and emphasizing the limits of such knowledge); a detailed history of the development of mathematical models of global climate, and the computer simulations which provide pictures of global climatological conditions projected decades into the future; and a recent survey of the empirical first indications of climate change as a palpable reality, documenting the onset of sea level rise, melting of permafrost and receding high altitude glaciers. These various approaches to different aspects of the climate change problematic lead to the recognition of the demand for the kind of ontological reflection suggested in the conclusion of the paper.