Philosophy, climate change scepticism and the avant-garde intelligentsia

It is argued that climate change promoters, sometimes derisibly referred to as "warmists," have a social interest in propounding unjustified "scientific" claims. Science is inevitably a social enterprise and scientists rely on their publicly funded university positions and research grants in order to pursue their work. There exists a vast political machine that has not only captured the intellectual imagination but also the state, which seeks to foist left wing cultural and economic policies upon an unwitting public. By dispensing research grants to needy scientists this machine is able to control the science of climate change, which is being used in an attempt to trim the power of corporations.

This is a particular and narrow example of the elite theory in reverse that underpins much of late modern conservatism. Typically, conservatism has taken a positive disposition toward hierarchy and authority. Now conservatives, for the most, argue that they are defending the public from illegitimate elites.

One should note that there is nothing here that is not inconsistent with the picture of science that has been developed by our modish left wing intellectuals. They have been telling us for decades that science is not really objective. They have been telling us for decades that science does not really discover the truth. They have been telling us for decades that science is a social pursuit pursued for largely social interests. They have been telling us for decades that science is inherently political and that scientific consensus occurs after the successful waging of political battles by one faction within the scientific community.

Yet it is these same intellectuals that demand action to counter climate change. Presumably this is because climate change science has some claim to reasoned objectivity and empirical validity. But clearly climate change scepticism is consistent with their intellectual outlook, whereas the position that climate change reflects a genuine scientific consensus is not.

Though the scepticism of the avant-garde intelligentsia is deeper than that of the climate change sceptic, nonetheless in the debate on climate, one of humanity's more important, they should be firmly encamped, in comradely solidarity, behind the same barricades.