Why, Exactly, Is Climate Change a Wicked Problem?

This contribution explores the assertion that climate change may be described as a "wicked problem." It notes that the term was introduced in the context of the management sciences where a managerial ethos prevailed and where moral connotations were excluded. Subsequent references to clima...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Conradie, Ernst M. 1962- (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Brill [2020]
Dans: Philosophia reformata
Année: 2020, Volume: 85, Numéro: 2, Pages: 226-242
Classifications IxTheo:NCG Éthique de la création; Éthique environnementale
Sujets non-standardisés:B Climate Change
B Melvin Webber
B Sin
B Ecotheology
B Horst Rittel
Accès en ligne: Volltext (Verlag)
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Résumé:This contribution explores the assertion that climate change may be described as a "wicked problem." It notes that the term was introduced in the context of the management sciences where a managerial ethos prevailed and where moral connotations were excluded. Subsequent references to climate change as a wicked problem maintained both these features. Yet, if climate change not only poses technological, economic, and political problems but also has moral and, indeed, spiritual challenges - as is widely maintained - then such moral connotations cannot be avoided. The description of a problem as wicked then becomes part of the problem. It is argued that the term is best understood as one used in jest, so that if we seek to define a problem’s wickedness in a conceptually precise way, we are missing the joke. The major moral dimensions of the challenges posed by climate changes should be taken seriously, but perhaps there is no need to take the term wicked problems all that seriously. What should not be laughed off is the managerial ethos that presumes that the challenges posed by climate changes can be addressed "exactly" through climate engineering or even social engineering.
ISSN:2352-8230
Contient:Enthalten in: Philosophia reformata
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/23528230-8502A003