engleski

Climate change concern, anthropocentric worldview and the technoscientific context of young researchers

This paper deals with the role of science and scientists in climate change debate from an angle not typically covered in existing literature on climate change. It does so through analysis of attitudes and values of younger scientists concerning climate change and in the context their preferences of their more transcendental, so-called ‘cosmological’ (Beckman, 1997) worldviews related to exploitation of nature. The results direct us towards one question: what does it mean in a practical sense if academic engineering scientists are the least concerned regarding climate change, compared to other scientists and (as some trends show) even compared to the general public? The results of this research shed light on the fact that scientists, both as individuals and as a group with a vital function in society, are under the influence of and share the cultural norms and values of society as a whole, and in particular those of the disciplinary background, culture and community they belong to. The problem that needs to be tackled seems to be changing of values of technical and biotechnical sciences by gradually making their culture more socially engaged. Intention of presented analyses will be to highlight climate change as a key problem in creating sustainable knowledge-based societies, whose development should be founded on sustainable uses of science and technology and on the promotion cohesion and equality within society.

climate change concern, disciplinarity, technoscientific contex, anthropocentric worldview

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