Good news - if someone says global warming isn't a man-made problem, you can ignore them. Because THEY DON'T EXIST.
Let's take James Inhofe (said to be a Republican Senator from Oklahoma) as an example. Inhofe gets a lot of press for being a "global warming skeptic". But let's face it, have you ever seen him? Most people haven't. There simply isn't enough evidence to conclude there is such a person as James Inhofe. Plus that name is pretty unlikely.
Now say you're at a party and a guy you DO know makes the same claims. It's true that most of the people in the room will vouch for the guy's existence, including you. However, there are philosphers who insist that you can't prove that anything exists outside of your own head. The rest of the world, to them, could just be an elaborate construct of their own imagination. So while this guy has 99% of the room vouching for him (let's say someone at the party is passed out and isn't voting), that's hardly a concensus. And as any global warming denier will tell you, if there isn't a concensus then you should simply ignore it and walk away.
The great thing about this construct is that the only people who would buy it is the global warming skeptics. That is, if there were any.
Ah, I see phenomenology has reared it's ancient head in your argument. Claiming reality is an illusion is fun and all, but I wouldn't suggest prescribing to it if you're a habitual jaywalker.
ReplyDeleteBesides GOPers practice selective phenomenology: No such thing as Global Warming, but they do believe Money is an intrinsic, practically Platonic, substance.
I don't like to admit it, but I have a handful of jaywalkers I'd like to prescribe it to.
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