Volume 10 · Number 1 ·
Pages 120–129
On Climate Change Research, the Crisis of Science and Second-order Science
Philipp Aufenvenne, Heike Egner & Kirsten von Elverfeldt
Log in to download the full text for free
Abstract
Context: This conceptual paper tries to tackle the advantages and the limitations that might arise from including second-order science into global climate change sciences, a research area that traditionally focuses on first-order approaches and that is currently attracting a lot of media and public attention. Problem: The high profile of climate change research seems to provoke a certain dilemma for scientists: despite the slowly increasing realization within the sciences that our knowledge is temporary, tentative, uncertain, and far from stable, the public expectations towards science and scientific knowledge are still the opposite: that scientific results should prove to be objective, reliable, and authoritative. As a way to handle the uncertainty, scientists tend to produce “varieties of scenarios” instead of clear statements, as well as reports that articulate different scientific opinions about the causes and dynamics of change (e.g., the IPCC. This might leave the impression of vague and indecisive results. As a result, esteem for the sciences seems to be decreasing within public perception. Method: This paper applies second-order observation to climate change research in particular and the sciences in general. Results: Within most sciences, it is still quite unusual to disclose and discuss the epistemological foundations of the respective research questions, methods and ways to interpret data, as research proceeds mainly from some version of realistic epistemological positions. A shift towards self-reflexive second-order science might offer possibilities for a return to a “less polarized” scientific and public debate on climate change because it points to knowledge that is in principle tentative, uncertain and fragmented as well as to the theory- and observation-dependence of scientific work. Implications: The paper addresses the differences between first-order and second-order science as well as some challenges of science in general, which second-order science might address and disclose. Constructivist content: Second-order science used as observation praxis (second-order observation) for this specific field of research.
Key words: Second-order science, climate change research, observation theory, theory-dependency, causality, production of knowledge.
Citation
Aufenvenne P., Egner H. & Elverfeldt K. von (2014) On climate change research, the crisis of science and second-order science. Constructivist Foundations 10(1): 120–129. http://constructivist.info/10/1/120
Export article citation data: Plain Text · BibTex · EndNote · Reference Manager (RIS)
Similar articles
Aufenvenne P., Egner H. & Elverfeldt K. (2014) Authors’ Response: Communicating Second-Order Science
References
Archer D. & Rahmsdorf S. (2009) The climate crisis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Barkhordarian A., von Storch H. & Bhend J. (2013) The expectation of future precipitation change over the Mediterranean region is different from what we observe. Climate Dynamics 40: 225–244. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Beck S. (2012) Between tribalism and trust: The IPCC under the “public microscope.” Nature and Culture 7(2): 151–173 ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Beck U. & Bonß W. (2001) Die Modernisierung der Moderne. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Beck U. (2009) World at risk. Polity Press, Cambridge UK. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Beck U., Giddens A. & Lash S. (1996) Reflexive Modernisierung. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Becker E. & Jahn T. (2006) Soziale Ökologie. Campus, Frankfurt am Main. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Becker E. & Wehling P. (1993) Risiko Wissenschaft. Campus, Frankfurt am Main. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Bray D. & von Storch H. (1999) Climate science: An empirical example of postnormal science. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 80(3): 439–455. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Bray D. & von Storch H. (2014) A survey of the perceptions of climate scientists 2013. Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Geesthacht. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Brown A. C. (1975) Bodyguard of lies. Harper & Row, New York. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Caldwell R. (2000) The dappled world. Philosophy Now 28: 42–43. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Cartwright N. (1999) The dappled world. University Press, Cambridge. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Cook S. D. N. & Wagenaar H. (2011) Navigating the eternally unfolding present: toward an epistemology of practice. The American Review of Public Administration 10(5): 1–36. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Coombes P. & Barber K. (2005) Environmental determinism in Holocene research: Causality or coincidence? Area 37(3): 303–311. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Dilworth C. (2009) Too smart for our own good: The ecological predicament of humankind. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Egner H. (2007) Überraschender Zufall oder gelungene wissenschaftliche Kommunikation: Wie kam der Klimawandel in die aktuelle Debatte? GAIA 16(4): 250–254. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Egner H. (2010) Theoretische Geographie. WBG, Darmstadt. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Ferguson J. (1994) The anti-politics machine. “Development,” depoliticization, and bureaucratic power in Lesotho. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Foerster H. von (1984) Observing systems. Intersystems Publications, Seaside CA. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Foerster H. von (2003) On constructing a reality. In: Foerster H. von, Understanding understanding: Essays on cybernetics and cognition. Springer, New York: 211–227. Originally published in 1973. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Foerster H. von (2006) Sicht und Einsicht. Carl-Auer, Heidelberg. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Fuchs P. (1992) Niklas Luhmann – beobachtet. Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Fuller S. (1999) The governance of science. Open University Press, Buckingham, Philadelphia. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Funtowicz S. O. & Ravetz J. R. (1990) Global environmental issues and the emergence of second-order science. Report EUR 12803 EN. Commission of the European Communities, Luxembourg. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Funtowicz S. O. & Ravetz J. R. (1993) Science for the post-normal age. Futures 25 (7): 739–755. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Gibbons M., Limoges C., Nowotny H., Schwartzman S., Scott P. & Trow M. (1994) The production of knowledge. Sage, London. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Grundmann R. (2012) The legacy of climategate: revitalizing or undermining climate science and policy? Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 3(3): 281–288. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Grundmann R., Rhomberg M. & Stehr S. (2012) Der Klimawandel und die Rolle der Sozialwissenschaften. In: Egner H. & Schmid M. (eds.) Jenseits traditioneller Wissenschaft. Oekom, München: 95–111. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Hacking I. (1983) Representing and intervening. Cambridge University Press, New York. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Hasselmann K. (1976) Stochastic climate models. Part I: Theory. Tellus 28: 473–485. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Hasselmann K. (1979) On the signal-to-noise problem in atmospheric response studies. In: Shaw B. D.(ed.) Meteorology over the tropical oceans. Royal Meteorological Society, Bracknell, Berkshire UK: 251–259. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Hegerl G., von Storch H., Hasselmann K., Santer B. D., Cubasch U. & Jones P. D. (1996) Detecting anthropogenic climate change with an optimal fingerprint method. Journal of Climate 9: 2281–2306. http://journals.ametsoc.org/toc/clim/9/10
Hoffman A. J. (2012) Climate science as culture war. Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall: 29–37. http://www.ssireview.org/pdf/Fall_2012_Climate_Science_as_Culture_War.pdf
Ison R. L. & Russell D. B. (2011) The worlds we create: designing learning systems for the underworld of extension practice. In Jennings J., Packham R. P. & Woodside D. (eds.) Shaping change: Natural resource management, agriculture and the role of extension. Australasia-Pacific Extension Network (APEN), Australia: 66–76. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Ison R. L. & Russell D. B. (eds.) (2000) Agricultural extension and rural development: breaking out of traditions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Ison R. L. (2008) Methodological challenges of trans-disciplinary research: Some systemic reflections. Natures Sciences Sociétés 16: 241–251. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Ison R. L. (2010) Systems practice: How to act in a climate-change world. Springer, London. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Ison R. L. (2015) What is systemic about innovation systems? The implications for policies, governance and institutionalisation. In: Francis J. & van Huis A. (eds.) Innovation systems: Towards effective strategies in support of smallholder farmers. CTA/WUR, Wageningen. In press. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Ison R. L., Blackmore C. P. & Iaquinto B. (2013) Towards systemic and adaptive governance: Exploring the revealing and concealing aspects of contemporary social-learning metaphors. Ecological Economics 87: 34–42. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Ison R. L., Carberry P., Davies J., Hall A., McMillan L., Maru Y., Pengelly B., Reichelt N., Stirzaker R., Wallis P., Watson I. & Webb S. (2014) Programs, projects and learning inquiries: Institutional mediation of innovation in research for development, Outlook on Agriculture 43(3): 165–172. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Keiler M. (2011) Geomorphology and complexity – inseparably connected? Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, Supplement Band 55(3): 233–257. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Krauß W. & von Storch H. (2012) Post-normal practices between regional climate services and local knowledge. Nature and Culture 7: 213–230. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Krauß W. (2015) Anthropology in the anthropocene: Sustainable development, climate change and interdisciplinary research. In: Greschke H. & Tischler J. (eds.) Grounding global climate change. Contributions from the social and cultural sciences. Springer, Berlin: 59–76. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Krauß W., Schäfer M. S. & von Storch H. (2012) Introduction: Post-normal climate science. Nature and Culture 7(2): 121–132. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Kwapien J. & Drozdz S. (2012) Physical approach to complex systems. Physics Reports-Review Section of Physics Letters 515 (3–4): 115–226. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Latour B. (2004) Why has critique run out of steam? From matters of fact to matters of concern. Critical Inquiry 30(2): 225–248. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Latour B. (2013) An inquiry into modes of existence. An anthropology of the moderns. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Lenton T. M., Held H., Kriegler E., Hall J. W., Lucht W., Rahmsdorf S. & Schellnhuber H. J. (2008) Tipping elements in the Earth’s climate system. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105: 1786–1793. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Leuschner A. (2012) Die Glaubwürdigkeit der Wissenschaft. Transcript, Bielefeld. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Luhmann N. (1992) Beobachtungen der Moderne. Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Luhmann N. (1992) Die Wissenschaft der Gesellschaft. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Luhmann N. (1993) “Was ist der Fall?” und “Was steckt dahinter?” Die zwei Soziologien und die Gesellschaftstheorie. Bielefelder Universitätsgespräche und Vorträge 3. StadtBlatt, Bielefeld. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Luhmann N. (1998) Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Mahony M. & Hulme M. (2012) Model migrations: Mobility and bopundary crossings in regional climate prediction. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 37(2): 197–211. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Mainzer K. (2003) Thinking in complexity. Springer, Berlin. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Mann M., Bradley R. S. & Hughes M. K. (1998) Global-scale Temperature patterns and climate forcing over the past six centuries. Nature 292(6678): 779–787. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
McGinniss J. (1969) The selling of the president. Penguin, New York. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
McGrail S. (2013) Climate change and futures epistemologies: Tensions, trends and possibilities in climate discourses epitomised by three prominent climate experts. Journal of Futures Studies 17(3): 21–40. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Medvedev Z. A. (1969) The rise and fall of T. D. Lysenko. Columbia University Press, New York. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Metcalf G. S. (ed.) (2014) Social systems and design. Springer, Tokyo. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Mitterer J. (2011) Das Jenseits der Philosophie. Velbrück Wissenschaft, Weilerswist. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Morgan G. (1983) Beyond method: Strategies for social research. Sage Publications, Beverly Hills CA. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Neverla I. & Schäfer M. S. (ed) (2012) Das Medien-Klima. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Nowotny H. (1999) The need for socially robust knowledge. TA-Datenbank-Nachrichten 8(3/4): 12–16. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Nowotny H., Scott P. & Gibbons M. (2001) Re-thinking science: Knowledge and the public in an age of uncertainty. Polity Press, Cambridge. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Nowotny H., Scott P. & Gibbons M. (2003) “Mode 2” revisited: The new production of knowledge. Minerva 41: 179–194. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Parry M. L., Canziani O. F., Palutikof J. P., van der Linden P. J. & Hanson C. E. (eds.) (2007) Climate Change 2007. Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Pielke R. A. (2007) The honest broker: Making sense of science in policy and politics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Poerksen B. (2004) The certainty of uncertainty. Dialogues introducing constructivism. Imprint Academic, Exeter. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Rathmann J. (2008) Kausalität in der Systemtheorie: Ein Problemaufriss. In: Egner H, Ratter B. M. W. & Dikau R. (eds.) Umwelt als System – System als Umwelt? Oekom, München: 55–71. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Ravetz J. R. (2004) The post-normal science of precaution. Futures 36(3): 347–357. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Ravetz J. R. (2011) “Climategate” and the maturing of post-normal science. Futures 43: 149–157. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Reichholf J. H. (2009) Wehret den Anfängen. Forschung & Lehre 16(3): 165. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Reitsma F. (2003) A response to simplifying complexity. Geoforum 34(1): 13–16. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Rittel H. W. J. (1972) On the planning crisis: Systems analysis of the first and second generations. Bedriftsokonomen 8: 390–96. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Rovelli C. (2012) The uselessness of certainty. In: Brockman J. (ed.) This will make you smarter. New scientific concepts to improve your thinking. Harper Perennial, New York: 102–104. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Russell B. (1912) On the notion of cause. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. New Series 13: 1–26. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Russell D. B. & Ison R. L. (1993) The research-development relationship in rangelands: An opportunity for contextual science. In: Gaston A., Kernick M. & Le Houerou H. (eds.) Proceedings of the Fourth International Rangeland Congress, Montpellier, 1991. Volume 3. Service Central d’Information Scientific et Technique, Montpellier: 1047–1054. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Russell D. B. & Ison R. L. (2000) The research-development relationship in rural communities: An opportunity for contextual science. In: Ison R. L. & Russell D. B. (eds.) Agricultural extension and rural development: Breaking out of traditions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK: 10–31. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Rybski D., Bunde A., Havlin S. & von Storch H. (2006) Long-term persistence in climate and the detection problem. Geophysical Research Letters 33: L06718. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Ryghaug M. & Skjølsvold T. M. (2010) The global warming of climate science: climategate and the construction of scientific facts. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 24(3): 287–307. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Saloranta P. M. (2001) Post-normal science and the global climate change issue. Climatic Change 50(4): 395–404. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Seelos C. & Mair J. (2012) Innovation is not the holy grail. Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall 2012: 45–49. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Solomon S., Qin D., Manning M., Chen Z., Marquis M., Averyt K. B., Tignor M. & Miller H. L. (eds.) (2007) Climate Change 2007. The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Sonne W. (2009) Ein Lob der Theorie. Forschung & Lehre 16(4): 272–273. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Spencer-Brown G. (1969) Laws of form. Allen & Unwin, London. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Stehr N. & von Storch H. (2009) Climate & Society. World Scientific Publishing, London. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Stern N. (2006) Stern review on the economics of climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
The International Ad Hoc Detection and Attribution Group (2005) Detecting and attributing external influences on the climate system. A review of recent advances. Journal of Climate 18: 1291–1314. http://journals.ametsoc.org/toc/clim/18/9
Umpleby S. A. (1990) The Scientific Revolution in Demography. Population and Environment, Spring 1990: 159–174. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Umpleby S. A. (2010) From complexity to reflexivity: Underlying logics used in science. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 1: 15–26. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
van der Sluijs J. P. (2012) Uncertainty and dissent in climate risk assessment: A post-normal perspective. Nature and Culture 7(2): 174–195. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Vaughan C. & Dessai S. (2014) Climate services for society: origins institutional arrangements, and design elements for an evaluation framework. WIREs Climate Change 74 (11). ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
von Storch H. & Krauß W. (2013) Die Klimafalle. Die gefährliche Nähe von Politik und Klimaforschung [The climate trap. The dangerous proximity of politics and climate research]. Hanser Verlag: Munich. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
von Storch H. (2009) Climate research and policy advice: Scientific and cultural constructions of knowledge. Environmental Science & Policy 12: 741–747. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
von Storch H., Meinke I., Stehr N., Ratter B. M. W., Krauß W., Pielke R. A., Grundmann R., Reckermann M. & Weisse R. (2011) Regional climate services illustrated from experiences from Northern Europe. Zeitschrift für Umweltpolitik & Umweltrecht 34(1): 1–15. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Weingart P., Engels A. & Pansegrau P. (2008) Von der Hypothese zur Katastrophe. Verlag Barbara Budrich, Opladen. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Comments: 0
To stay informed about comments to this publication and post comments yourself, please log in first.