Climate change ethics and narrativity: a new story (In search of a broader paradigm for a more inclusive, productive and critical climate debate)

Abstract

Both the scientific and ethical case for human-caused, environmentally destructive climate change have been made. That our daily lives and the world we live in will change dramatically seems inevitable. For the better or for the worse? That is a question of which people’s collective behaviour determines the answer. Yet, as it seems by now, although people seem to be aware of what is demanded from them, they do not act accordingly. In this thesis, I will argue that it is narration, rather than rational deliberation, that ultimately brings people into action. At the same time, I hold that a structural negation of the significance of narratives by our modern Western culture, has led to people losing their sense of historical urgency and agency, resulting in a lethargic and fatalistic attitude. The public debate seems to be short-circuited: only the experts are seen to be able to determine what the future will hold for the people and a fixed perspective dominated by a salvation in the form of science, remains. The need to start paying attention to what stories we tell ourselves is thus more urgent than ever. In the last part of this thesis, I will sketch the outlines of a ‘narrative paradigm’ as a framework that is more inclusive with regard to public deliberation and provides the means to critically assess the narratives that circulate in society. I will conclude by making recommendations to researchers in the fields of the social sciences and the humanities.