Suchergebnisse

Argues that there have been 3 types of Marxist responses to the environmentalist challenge: Marxist dissidents, Marxist orthodoxy and wishful thinking. Accepts the bad blood between Marxists and ecologists and suggests a solution to it based on a conceptual reconstruction of Marx's analysis of the labour process. (SJK)

In the ninth century, Ḥiwi al-Balkhi challenged the fundamentals of Jewish belief with 200 questions and objections which became an important document of rationalist criticism in the intellectual history of Judaism. This chapter deals with Ḥiwi's criticism of Jewish tradition and its reception. It will be demonstrated that Ḥiwi's questions and arguments deny not only the authority of the Bible but also of rabbinic exegesis. Moreover, it will be argued that Ḥiwi's criticism became a crucial impetus for the reinterpretation of Jewish tradition undertaken by his main opponent, Saadia Gaon, in his Book of Beliefs and Opinions. In terms of reception, Ḥiwi's criticism of tradition in the end became part of Jewish tradition itself.

In their replies to our paper (Pearce et al., 2017), both Cook and Oreskes agree with our central point: that deliberating and mobilizing policy responses to climate change requires thinking beyond public belief in a scientific consensus. However, they both continue to defend consensus messaging, either because of 'the dangers of neglecting to communicate the scientific consensus' (Cook, 2017, p. 1) or because '"no consensus"…remains… a contrarian talking point' (Oreskes, 2017, p. 1). Both highlight previously conducted market research by fossil fuel companies which suggested that scientific uncertainty provided a political weapon in fighting regulation, concluding that incorrect public perceptions of the scientific consensus weaken support for policy action (Oreskes, 2017, p. 2).