| The Social
Context of Scientific Knowledge |
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The
History of Climate Science Since the 1950s -
Knowledge, Belief and Behavior |
Readings:
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| Spencer
Weart |
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In addition to the text in the book itself, please continue
to explore the relevant online support
material located at the American Institute of Physic's website.
Note that you may download the full support material in HTML
format or in PDF format, or you may oder the material on a CD. |
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| Timothy
C. Weiskel |
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1989 |
'"While
Angels Weep..." Doing Theology on A Small Planet.' The
Harvard Divinity Bulletin, XIX, 3 (1989). |
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| Timothy
C. Weiskel |
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1990 |
"The
Need for Miracles in the Age of Science," The
Harvard Divinity Bulletin, XX, 2, (Summer 1990). |
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Supplementary
Material
Graphic Representations
of Key Paleoclimate Data:
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Supplementary Material
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Bedtime Story:
Trial of the Century: Co-Conspirators
Convicted, 24 January 2005.
James Hansen* and
Makiko Sato, Greenhouse gas
growth rates, PNAS,November 16, 2004, vol. 101, no. 46, 16109–16114.
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Supplementary Material
on
Knowledge,
Belief and Behavior
Consider
the differing "worldviews" and belief systems reflected
in the following material. How do these belief systems
shape our "knowledge system?"
Consider the "worldvview" of some key players in the
corporate world:
Peter Robinson
- [What can we learn about "the culture"
of the oil business?]
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"The
Interview," BBC - The Interview, (16 February 2006).
This week
on The Interview, Mike Williams meets Peter Robertson -- a man
who sits at the top table in one of the most wealthy and powerful
industries.
As vice-chairman
of the American oil giant Chevron, he deals with projects from
Angola to Australia and last year oversaw profits of more than
14 billion dollars.
But his company
is facing up to the end of its life-blood. When the world's finite
oil reserves eventually run out, Chevron is starting to ask what
comes next. So does Peter Robertson have any answers? |
Compare
Peter Robertson's "worldview" with that of Lee Raymond,
Chair of Exxon MobilCorp, expressed almost two years ago...
What can we say about the content and the structure
of their respective belief systems?
How do these belief systems differ from the knowledge system of
the scientific community?
Exxon
Mobil's Lee Raymond - Interview
with Charlie Rose, 6 May 2004 |
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Lee
Raymond, chief executive officer of Exxon MobilCorp., talks
with Charlie Rose in New York about worldwide dependency on
oil from the Middle East, the effects of rising oil prices and
his position of the threat of global warming on the environment.
[Lee
Raymond retired from Exxon MobilCorp in August of 2005. What
about his "worldview"? did this disappear from the
corporation when he stepped down?]
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Compare
both Peter Robertson's and Lee Raymond's "worldviews"
with other "energy experts"
Daniel Yergin
and Lord Oxburgh
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What
are all the experts assuming collectively?
What are they failing to see collectively?
Is the "energy crisis" the same thing as
the "climate crisis?"
Or does it serve as a major distraction from what we
should devote our attention to most closely?
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