Seminar Spring 2023

Philosophical issues in modeling climate change

Stefan Brönnimann, Ralf Hand, Vincent Lam, Mason Majszak.

Friday, 14:15-16:00, Room 002, GIUB, Hallerstrasse 12

• A: to be prepared with homework to be submitted
• B: recommended background reading, not mandatory

2023–03–03 Introduction & overview of climate modelling

A: Müller, P. (2010). Constructing Climate Knowledge With Computer Models. WIREs Climate Change, 1: 565–580. Full text

2023–03–17 Climate modelling: uncertainty and evaluation

A: Parker, W. (2010). Whose Probabilities? Predicting Climate Change with Ensembles of Models. Philosophy of Science 77: 985–999.Full text

A: Katzav, J. et al. (2021). On the appropriate and inappropriate uses of probability distributions in climate projections and some alternatives. Climatic Change, 169: 15. Full text

2023-03-24 Climate model tuning

A: Hourdin et al. (2017). The Art and Science of Climate Model Tuning. BAMS, 98: 598-602. Full text

A: Frisch, M. (2013). Predictivism and old evidence: a critical look at climate model tuning. European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 5: 171–190. Full text

2023–04–21 Values in climate science

A: Intemann, K. (2015) Distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate values in climate modeling. European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 5: 217–232. Full text

A: Pulkkinen, K. et al. (2022). The value of values in climate science. Nature Climate Change, 12: 4-6. Full text

2023–05-05 Climate data

A: Brönnimann, S. and Wintzer, J. (2018). Climate data empathy. WIREs Climate Change, 10: e559. Full text

A: Zumwald, M. et al. (2020), Understanding and assessing uncertainty of observational climate datasets for model evaluation using ensembles. WIREs Climate Change, 11: e654. Full text

2023-05-26 Tipping points in earth systems

A: Lam, V. and Majszak, M. (2022). Climate tipping points and expert judgement. WIREs Climate Change, 3:e805. Full text

A: Milkoreit, M. (2022). Social tipping points everywhere?—Patterns and risks of overuse. WIREs Climate Change, e813. Full text

B: Armstrong McKay et al. (2022). Exceeding 1.5°C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points. Science, 377: eabn7950. Full text

2023–06–02 Social responsibility of scientists and their role in policy making

A: Oreskes, N. (2020). What Is the Social Responsibility of Climate Scientists? Daedalus, 149: 33-45. Full text

A: Supran, G., Rahmstorf, N. and Oreskes, N. (2023). Assessing ExxonMobil’s global warming projections. Science, 379: eabk0063. Full text

Background readings

B: Frigg, R., Thompson, E. & Werndl, C. (2015). Philosophy of Climate Science Part I: Observing Climate Change. Philosophy Compass 10/12, 953–964. Full text

B: Frigg, R., Thompson, E. & Werndl, C. (2015). Philosophy of Climate Science Part II: Modelling Climate Change. Philosophy Compass 10/12, 965–977. Full text

B: Bradley R. & Steele K. (2015). Philosophy of Climate Science Part III: Making Climate Decisions. Philosophy Compass, 10/11, 799–810. Full text

B: Parker, W. (2018). Climate Science. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2018 Edition. Full text

B: Winsberg, E. (2018), Philosophy and Climate Science. Cambridge University Press. Full text