This Monday, Professor Peterson (Associate Professor in the Colby College Department of Philosophy) gave an insightful lecture discussing the relationship between classical German philosophy and environmentalism. Specifically, he used the deliberations of Kant to critique some of the a priori that are inhibiting us from dealing with climate change and global warming. A priori, as Peterson defined, is an intuition held prior to an experience. These, he claims, are paramount to understanding why there has been a certain lack of progress in the forethought and action needed to confront climate change in an appropriate way.
Peterson set forward an interesting idea early in his talk, stating that “Our brains are simply not wired to deal with climate change,” and then questioning this statement by asking openly if humanity can really be held accountable for this inaction or not? While other lectures have been more visceral with their discussions about ways in which change could be brought about to reverse (or aid in the slowing of) climate change, Peterson was to the point.
He noted that “Knowledge of risk is rarely sufficient to induce behavioral change in our societal transformation,” going on to explain that the reason behind this is likely due to human natures tendency to use supplies until they run out (as we have seen for thousands of years of world history). This was all in support of his notion that we must acknowledge the lack of desire for change and also accept that we are hard-wired against change in order to move forward and create distinct change. Personally, I found this one of the best messages we have received in this lecture series so far.
While there were limited suggestions on actual (hard science) ways to reverse the effects of climate change, this itself was seemingly not Peterson’s point and there seemed to be considerable respect for this being the case. I left the lecture in a positive light, feeling that while I did not know where I could add to the discussion on changing our approaches to climate change, there was certainly a way to enter this conversation if one leaves behind some of their “a priori”.
To conclude the discussion of this lecture, I think it is important to address the importance of philosophy in our modern day lives. This semester I have had the opportunity to take my first class in the philosophy department (unfortunately not with Professor Peterson), and I have to say that it has been incredibly fulfilling. In our fast-paced lives, we rarely step back to process our thoughts, let alone how we go about forming them. This process of reflection and deep thinking on the workings of life has certainly been transformative for many academics and the like before us, and I seem to think we might distance ourselves from it a bit too much in this modern age. Professor Peterson served as a great reminder to the audience that while philosophy may not seem the most applicable when talking about the hard sciences, it is important to take into consideration when thinking about how to build a more responsible humanity.