ANTHROPOGENIC

CLIMATE CHANGE
THEORY AND POST-
NORMAL SCIENCE

An Infographic by Group 7 of STS 1 WFR-1

Normal Science Post-Normal Science

Concept introduced by Thomas Kuhn in the 60s Developed by Funtowicz and Ravetz in the 90s
Insufficient management of uncertainties Includes plurality of different perspectives from
Science is 'value-free' the 'extended peer community'
Traditional 'inside' scientific peer community Methodological, epistemological and ethical
Excludes 'outside' groups or persons in problem uncertainty are as explicit and integral
solving process Enhances quality of information and reduces
Creates a communication gap that causes danger of misunderstanding
distrust

Combining Normal and

Post-Normal Science

Normal science's professional skills and

analytical rigour complemented with better
uncertainty management and extended peer
community from post-normal science

Anthropogenic Climate
Change

Climate change due to human activity

Increase in proportion of greenhouse gases
Industrial-rise
Human-induced activities
Massive energy use
Deforestation

Problems With Using Normal

Science in Solving Climate Change

In climate science, there is a lot of uncertainty,

the stakes are high, values are in dispute and
decision-making requires urgency
This has caused public distrust regarding the
methodology and practices of climate
scientists
There have been accusations of conspiracy and
fear-mongering by the media

How can we apply post-normal science in solving

climate change?

Representation Explore the Don’t be afraid of

“unexplorable” crazy ideas

Different fields have

different ideas Emphasize the uncertainty; it Not backed up by enough
Urgent issues (like climate shows the risk at stake data? Completely goes
change) affect everyone, against rules and
not only scientists. principles of your field? It
These issues need could still be a solution.
different perspectives.

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Krauss, W. & Schäfer, M. & Von Storch, H. 2012. “Introduction: Post-Normal Climate Science”. Nature and Culture. 7. 121-1332. 10.3167/nc.2012.070201.
Mahmoud, S. H., & Gan, T. Y., 2018. “Impact of anthropogenic climate change and human activities on environment and ecosystem services in arid regions.” Science of The Total Environment, 633, 1329–1344. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.290
Mason, M. “History of the Study of Climate Change in Field of Environmental Science”. https://www.environmentalscience.org/history-climate-change (Accessed on Sep 29, 2018).
Rahmstorf, S., 2007. “Anthropogenic Climate Change: Revisiting the Facts”. http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~stefan/Publications/Book_chapters/Rahmstorf_Zedillo_2008.pdf (Accessed on Oct 1, 2018)
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Vallejo, B., .“Postnormal Science and Filipinos at Risk.” Readings in Science, Technology and Society. University of the Philippines Diliman