A scientific and philosophical category error
Admiration goes to Cardinal Pell for his clear and courageous stand against the global warming hysteria.
He delivered a speech in London yesterday to the Global Warming Policy Forum. It is refreshingly concise and logical. It is a real challenge to those who are unable to think straight.
My appeal is to reason and evidence, and in my view the evidence is insufficient to achieve practical certainty on many of these scientific issues.
Recently Robert Manne, following fashionable opinion, wrote that “the science is truly settled” on the fundamental theory of climate change:
His appeal is to the “consensual view among qualified scientists”. This is a category error, scientifically and philosophically. In fact, it is also a cop-out, a way of avoiding the basic issues.
The basic issue is not whether the science is settled but whether the evidence and explanations are adequate in that paradigm.
I fear, too, that many politicians have never investigated the primary evidence.
November 1, 2011 at 01:45 |
Good on you ,excellency .Very well put ,thoughtful address ,enjoyed it .
from an old school friend ,Frank Quinlan ,all the best George