Damn the Absolute! On pragmatism and climate change—w/ Jeffrey Howard, Erraticus: RCC podcast S2E48

The climate conversation is riddled with ideological battles. at that place are those who think climate change is the most pressing issue of our time pitted against those who don’t think it’s a big deal (if it’s even real). at that place are fights over ecological versus industrial forms of carbon removal. And at that place are those who believe that climate change can be reversed, patch others have little hope that humanity testament stick the landing. So, how do we move past these absolutist views and inspire action to solve the problem?

Jeffrey Howard is the Editor-in-Chief at Erraticus and the host of the Damn the Absolute! Podcast. Both platforms take a pragmatic approach to ideas, challenging dogma, fundamentalism and ideological hubris. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Jeffrey joins Ross to introduce the principles of pragmatism as a discrete philosophical school of thought, describing the intellectual context from which it emerged and how the philosophy seeks to reconcile the competing camps of Rationalism and Empiricism.

Jeffrey explores how a pragmatic approach might break logjams in the climate conversation, explaining how pragmatists balance building an inclusive community of inquirers with taking action to solve problems in the real world. Listen in to understand how a pragmatist thinks about a climate solution like carbon capture and learn how pragmatism addresses our lived challenges, encouraging us to hold our views with humility as we piece of work to improve life for all people.
 
Key Takeaways 
 
[1:38] The philosophy of Pragmatism popularized by William James
Hold gently to principles, exercise to guide actions
Open to revise beliefs based on experience
 
[5:19] The intellectual context from which pragmatism emerged
Descartes’ Rationalism
Locke and Hume’s Empiricism

[10:38] How James described the rationalists vs. the empiricists
Tender-minded rationalists = idealistic, hold pure dogmas
Tough-minded empiricists = focus on facts and pluralistic
 
[13:04] How Pragmatism reconciles opposing philosophies
Facts important but can’t ignore values that make us human
Explores how idea plays out in lived experience
 
[17:27] Why pragmatists are critical of academic philosophy
Sterile abstractions often detached from lived challenges
Come back to common ground of shared experience
 
[20:00] The pros and cons of bringing philosophy to the public
Much lost in watering down complex ideas
Philosophy meant to change world, solve problems
 
[24:40] How contemporary pragmatist thought views language
Power operates through language, neutrality = myth
exercise to influence and communicate to solve problems

[30:04] How Pragmatism might break logjams in the climate conversation
Return to common experience shared by all camps
Example in subsistence farmers (no one absolute view of world)

[35:04] A pragmatist’s approach to an idea like carbon capture
Look at impact on communities, equity, social justice, etc.
Include as many viewpoints as possible
Don’t let dogmas get in way of improving life for all

[37:32] What happens when 2 pragmatists disagree
Recognize individual considerations and generalizable patterns
Community of inquirers = more reliable idea of what works

[43:45] How Jeffrey thinks about pragmatic group decision-making
essay to be as inclusive as possible but connected to action
Encourage small experiments, coalescence of best ideas

[47:28] The politics of Pragmatism
Philosophy = tool to solve problems (may require different politics)
Historically pragmatists tend to have progressive bent

[50:46] A pragmatic approach to the Founding Fathers
Principles yielded useful results but world continues to change
Prioritize human needs over totalizing ideologies

#WilliamJames #WorldwidePragmatism #pragmatismclimatechange