scholarly journals The End of Reality

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul C Mocombe
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Human Subject ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
Surplus Value ◽  
The World ◽  
Resource Exhaustion ◽  
The One ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Capitalist Ideology

In this article, I argue that in the age of neoliberal (postindustrial) globalization human relations to the environment have been “enframed” by capitalist ideology leading to the end of reality and the rise of human worldviews and ethos based on overconsumption and resource exhaustion as the determinants of existence over and against the environment and nature. Identity politics, the reification and commodification of (serial) identity practices, cultures, and “all of the accoutrements of the economy of spectacle and the manufacturing of images and fetish desires,” on the one hand, and the continuous atomization of the human subject in (neo) liberalism on the other are mechanisms for creating surplus-value and continuing capitalism’s domination over the world in the era of climate change. These two dialectical practices represent two fascist attempts to perpetuate capitalist relations of production and accumulate surplus value amidst its deleterious effects on all life on earth due to climate change, resource exhaustion, and pollution. I conclude the work by calling for an antihumanist philosophy and psychology with emphasis on subsistence living and maintaining a balance between nature and the environment as keys to planetary and human survival in the age of climate change.

Deleuze and Italian Thought

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felice Cimatti
Keyword(s):  
Human Subject ◽  
Gilles Deleuze ◽  
The Political ◽  
The World ◽  
Giacomo Leopardi ◽  
The One

The tradition of Italian Thought – not the political one but the poetic and naturalistic one – finds in the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze a way to enter into the new century, the century of immanence and animality. In fact, Deleuze himself remained outside the main philosophical traditions of his own time (structuralism and phenomenology). The tradition to which Deleuze refers is the one that begins with Spinoza and ends with Nietzsche. It is an ontological tradition, which deals mainly with life and the world rather than with the human subject and knowledge. Finally, the text sketches a possible dialogue between Deleuze and the poet-philosopher Giacomo Leopardi, one of the most important (and still unknown) figures of Italian Thought.

Global Climate Change: Real or Myth?

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael H. Fox
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Greenhouse Gases ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
An Inconvenient Truth ◽  
The World ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Earth’S Climate ◽  
The One

We, the teeming billions of people on earth, are changing the earth’s climate at an unprecedented rate because we are spewing out greenhouse gases and are heading to a disaster, say most climate scientists. Not so, say the skeptics. We are just experiencing normal variations in earth’s climate and we should all take a big breath, settle down, and worry about something else. Which is it? A national debate has raged for the last several decades about whether anthropogenic (man-made) sources of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and other so-called “greenhouse gases“ (primarily methane and nitrous oxide) are causing the world to heat up. This phenomenon is usually called “global warming,” but it is more appropriate to call it “global climate change,” since it is not simply an increase in global temperatures but rather more complex changes to the overall climate. Al Gore is a prominent spokesman for the theory that humans are causing an increase in greenhouse gases leading to global climate change. His movie and book, An Inconvenient Truth, gave the message widespread awareness and resulted in a Nobel Peace Prize for him in 2008. However, the message also led to widespread criticism. On the one hand are a few scientists and a large segment of the general American public who believe that there is no connection between increased CO2 in the atmosphere and global climate change, or if there is, it is too expensive to do anything about it, anyway. On the other hand is an overwhelming consensus of climate scientists who have produced enormous numbers of research papers demonstrating that increased CO2 is changing the earth’s climate. The scientific consensus is expressed most clearly in the Fourth Assessment Report in 2007 by the United Nations–sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the fourth in a series of reports since 1990. The IPCC began as a group of scientists meeting in Geneva in November 1988 to discuss global climate issues under the auspices of the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program.

Intégration sociale, déchristianisation et pastorale

1960 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alain Birou
Keyword(s):  
Social Structures ◽  
Technical Society ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
Final Value ◽  
A Value ◽  
Intégration Sociale ◽  
The World ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
The One ◽  
Christian Society

A well-integrated society is a value, but not the final value of existence. There may be, from the Christian and human points of view, bad integra tions. It is therefore necessary to emphasize the dangers of technical civilization when it becomes man's highest value. This technical myth leads to materia lism for human relations which crystallize here into social structures are more and more dependent on material finalities. The man who is perfectly integra ted into this new universe is the one who is perfectly conditioned by technology. The « dechristianizing » force of this bad integration, which does away with the problem of God, cannot be underestimated. Is the pastoral reply within the aspiration toward a Christian society isolated from contemporary socie ty ? Or in a transformation of the technical society under evangelic ferment ? More emphasis must be given to the training of the Christian to be in the work without being of the world.

Demokratie im 21. Jahrhundert

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Political System ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
State And Society ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
The One

Whereas democracy still seemed to be triumphantly sweeping the world before the turn of the century, today it finds itself under immense pressure, not only as a viable political system, but also as a theoretical and normative concept. The coronavirus crisis has underlined and accelerated these developments. There are manifold reasons for this, above all the fundamental changes the state and society have undergone in the face of globalisation, digitalisation, migration, climate change and not least the current pandemic, to name the most significant of them. This volume analyses the changes to democracy in the 21st century and the crises it has experienced. In doing so, the book identifies where action is needed, on the one hand, and investigates appropriate, up-to-date reforms and the prospects for politics, political communication and political education, on the other. With contributions by Ulrich von Alemann, Bernd Becker, Frank Brettschneider, Frank Decker, Claudio Franzius, Georg Paul Hefty, Andreas Kalina, Helmut Klages, Uwe Kranenpohl, Pola Lehmann, Linus Leiten, Dirk Lüddecke, Thomas Metz, Ursula Münch, Ursula Alexandra Ohliger, Veronika Ohliger, Rainer-Olaf Schultze, Peter Seyferth, Hans Vorländer, Uwe Wagschal, Thomas Waldvogel and Samuel Weishaupt

Caring for the World

2011 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 164-185
Author(s):  
Vincent Blok ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Contemporary Philosophy ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Will ◽  
The One

In the twentieth century, the concept of the will appears in bad daylight. Martin Heideg-ger for instance criticizes the will as a movement of reducing otherness to sameness, dif-ference to identity. Since his diagnosis of the will, the releasement from a wilful manner of thinking and the exploration of the possibility of non-willing has become a prevalent issue in contemporary philosophy. This article questions whether this quietism is still possible in our times, were we are confronted with climate change and the future of mankind is fundamentally threatened. On the one hand, the human will to 'master‘ and 'exploit‘ the natural world can be seen as the root of the ecological crisis, as Heidegger observed. On the other hand, its current urgency forces us to evaluate the releasement of the will in contemporary philosophy. Because also Heidegger himself attempted to develop a proper concept of the will in the onset of the thirties, we start our inquiry with Heidegger‘s phenomenology of the will in the thirties. Although Heidegger was very critical about the concept of the will later on, we are not inclined to reject the concept of the will as he did eventually. In this article we show that Heidegger's criticism of the will is not phenomenologically motivated, and we will develop a proper post-Heideggerian concept of willing. Finally the question will be answerd whether this proper concept of willing can help us to find a solution for the ecological crisis.

scholarly journals Philosophy of Peace as a Developmental Alternative of Society

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Ferit Baça
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Economic Welfare ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
The World ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Practical Level

The knowledge of history, the knowledge for the lives of people of the world and especially the knowledge of our people, the knowledge of the viewpoints of philosophers, politicians and theoreticians about peace, as a spiritual and universal value, even today remains the orientation compass towards it. On the one hand, the aspiration of these people and nations creates the existential condition for a long lasting and a permanent peace. From the other hand, the existence of wars, regional and global conflicts in different times brings in the tables of philosophers, diplomats and statesmen the need of engagement in theoretical, political, juridical and practical level. The idea that “Peace is a concept that refers to the lack of a conflict, but at the same time represents a wider concept that refers to security in social relations or economic welfare, the equality and justice in political relations of a state, in lack of war or in lack of a conflict”, witnesses the complex nature of peace. Another definition of peace even refers to keeping balances in human relations, tolerance and solving problems through dialog and deals. But above all this rationalizing and paradigms, peace is a dominating element in democracy because it is related to honor and guarantee of freedom and basic human rights. The concept of peace, couldn’t escape from different interpretations, varying on the historic-cultural level of society. That’s why the topic “Philosophy of peace – developmental alternative of society” aims to bring into light the role and the importance of peace in the development of human society.

scholarly journals Chinese energy policy progress and challenges in the transition to low carbon development, 2006-2013

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (spe) ◽  
pp. 174-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larissa Basso ◽  
Eduardo Viola
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Energy Policy ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Global Energy ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
The World ◽  
Low Carbon Development ◽  
Life On Earth

If the world is not to jeopardize the chances for human life on Earth, climate change must be mitigated; therefore, achieving low carbon development is crucial. China is the world's greatest GHG emitter, energy producer and energy consumer; investigating its energy-climate policy developments and international positions are of utmost importance to understand and tackle current stumbling blocks of the global energy and climate governance.

Radical Pet Keeping: Crafts, Wilson, and Living with Others in the Anthropocene

2020 ◽  
pp. 116-146
Author(s):  
Michelle C. Neely
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ethic Of Care ◽  
Harriet Beecher Stowe ◽  
Black Feminism ◽  
Species Difference ◽  
Familial Relationships ◽  
David Walker ◽  
The World ◽  
Blacks And Whites ◽  
Life On Earth

Chapter four explores radical pet keeping, an unlikely environmentalism keyed to the strengths and the weaknesses of the Anthropocene proposal. The first part of the chapter examines how figures of the animal, beast, pet, and pet keeping typically feature in antislavery literature by authors ranging from David Walker to Harriet Beecher Stowe. The next section explores Hannah Crafts’s The Bondwoman’s Narrative (c. 1853–1861), which develops a disturbing vignette of pet and enslaved pet keeper murder that undermines the naturalness of oppression based upon racial and species difference. The last part of the chapter treats Harriet Wilson’s Our Nig (1859), which depicts an interspecies friendship between Frado and Frado’s pet dog, Fido. Frado’s transgressive sympathy allows her to imagine familial relationships between not only Blacks and whites, or servants and masters, but humans and animals, as well. The chapter argues the radical pet keeping imagined in these two novels rests upon an ethic of care that fosters interracial and interspecies solidarity not dependent on sameness. Radical pet keeping, like Black feminism, foregrounds interdependence across differences, making it a useful environmental paradigm in the Anthropocene, as climate change increasingly forces all life on Earth to live in the world Anthros has built.

scholarly journals The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity, REDD+ and climate change in mangrove ecosystems of Southeast Asia

2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Filiberto Pollisco ◽  
Dicky Simorangkir
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Mangrove Forests ◽  
Critical Function ◽  
Mangrove Ecosystems ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The One ◽  
Trees And Shrubs

Mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow in saline coastal habitats. They occupy large stretches of the sub-tropical and tropical coastlines around the world. They not only provide valuable goods such as timber, fish and medicinal plants but also vital ecological services, such as prevention of coastal erosion. They also help buffer coastal communities from storms and floods. During the ASEAN Conference on Biodiversity held in Singapore in 2009, Ellison reported that mangrove forests in South East Asia are among the highest biodiversity resources in the world, occupying an area of 60.9 x 102 km2. Unfortunately, the region also has the highest rates of mangrove loss in the world, losing 628 km2 per year in two decades. In many parts of the world, where mangrove forests have been cleared, there are now problems of erosion and siltation, and loss of life and property have occurred due to destructive hurricanes, storms and tsunamis. The complex relationship between climate change and mangrove ecosystems can be seen from two different angles. On the one hand, mangrove ecosystems have a critical function in combating climate change; on the other hand, they are affected by climate change. The values of ecosystems vary according to local biophysical and ecological circumstances and the social, economic and cultural context. Intangible values, which may be reflected in society’s willingness to pay to conserve particular species or landscapes, or to protect common resources, must be considered alongside more tangible values such as food or timber to provide a complete economic picture. This has important implications for mangrove conservation strategies and suggests that the preservation of contiguous areas is preferable to patches that are spatially dispersed.

Burning Planet

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew C. Scott
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Flowering Plants ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Animal Life ◽  
Early Hominids ◽  
The World ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Insight Into

Raging wildfires have devastated vast areas of California and Australia in recent years, and predictions are that we will see more of the same in coming years as a result of climate change. But this is nothing new. Since the dawn of life on land, large-scale fires have played their part in shaping life on Earth. Andrew C. Scott tells the whole story of fire's impact on our planet's atmosphere, climate, vegetation, ecology, and the evolution of plant and animal life. It has caused mass extinctions, and it has propelled the spread of flowering plants. The exciting evidence we can now draw on has been preserved in fossilized charcoal, found in rocks hundreds of millions of years old, from all over the world. These reveal incredibly fine details of prehistoric plants, and tell us about climates from deep in earth's history. They also give us insight into how early hominids and humans tamed fire and used it. Looking at the impact of wildfires in our own time, Scott also looks forward to how we might better manage them in future, as climate change has an increasing effect on our world.

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