Chapter 9 Climate anxiety, fatalism and the capacity to act

This chapter begins with the problem of ‘climate anxiety’, a psychological and cultural response to collapsing ecological systems marked by depression, trauma and helplessness. While a reasonable response to an existential threat, climate anxiety impedes our capacity to act where it leads to apathy,...

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Váldodahkki: Taylor, Dan
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Almmustuhtton: Taylor & Francis 2022
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author Taylor, Dan
author_browse Taylor, Dan
author_facet Taylor, Dan
author_sort Taylor, Dan
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description This chapter begins with the problem of ‘climate anxiety’, a psychological and cultural response to collapsing ecological systems marked by depression, trauma and helplessness. While a reasonable response to an existential threat, climate anxiety impedes our capacity to act where it leads to apathy, indecision or fatalism. The paper considers Jem Bendell’s argument that accepting and ‘grieving’ for inevitable civilisational collapse is a precondition to clear-sighted adaptation. This response is insufficient for the problem of motivation necessary for the capacity to act. It considers Martha Nussbaum’s 2018 claim that fear hinders reciprocity, amplifies infantile narcissism and endangers democracy. While salient, developing a countervailing ‘capacity for concern’ requires not merely a therapeutic relationship or the uncritical restitution of faltering liberal public institutions. Via Spinoza, an effective capacity to act against fear is conceived as interrelational and affective, founded on cooperation, friendship and the cultivation of causal knowledge. A common autonomy, one not merely of individual choice or identitarian self-expression.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-944742025-08-13T13:41:53Z Chapter 9 Climate anxiety, fatalism and the capacity to act Taylor, Dan Autonomy, philospohy, politics, language, Pharmacology, climate thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBF Social and ethical issues::JBFA Social discrimination and social justice thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBF Social and ethical issues::JBFA Social discrimination and social justice This chapter begins with the problem of ‘climate anxiety’, a psychological and cultural response to collapsing ecological systems marked by depression, trauma and helplessness. While a reasonable response to an existential threat, climate anxiety impedes our capacity to act where it leads to apathy, indecision or fatalism. The paper considers Jem Bendell’s argument that accepting and ‘grieving’ for inevitable civilisational collapse is a precondition to clear-sighted adaptation. This response is insufficient for the problem of motivation necessary for the capacity to act. It considers Martha Nussbaum’s 2018 claim that fear hinders reciprocity, amplifies infantile narcissism and endangers democracy. While salient, developing a countervailing ‘capacity for concern’ requires not merely a therapeutic relationship or the uncritical restitution of faltering liberal public institutions. Via Spinoza, an effective capacity to act against fear is conceived as interrelational and affective, founded on cooperation, friendship and the cultivation of causal knowledge. A common autonomy, one not merely of individual choice or identitarian self-expression. 2022-12-06T04:04:29Z 2022-12-06T04:04:29Z 2022-12-05T13:42:50Z 2023 chapter https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/59827 9781032364070 9781032364094 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/94474 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/59827/1/9781003331780_10.4324_9781003331780-13.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/59827/1/9781003331780_10.4324_9781003331780-13.pdf Taylor & Francis Routledge 10.4324/ 9781003331780-13 10.4324/ 9781003331780-13 fa69b019-f4ee-4979-8d42-c6b6c476b5f0 New Interdisciplinary Perspectives On and Beyond Autonomy Open University 46165047-dd95-4cd7-ab7c-b4a4ecf21c81 9781032364070 9781032364094 Routledge 16 open access
spellingShingle Autonomy, philospohy, politics, language, Pharmacology, climate
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBF Social and ethical issues::JBFA Social discrimination and social justice
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBF Social and ethical issues::JBFA Social discrimination and social justice
Taylor, Dan
Chapter 9 Climate anxiety, fatalism and the capacity to act
title Chapter 9 Climate anxiety, fatalism and the capacity to act
title_full Chapter 9 Climate anxiety, fatalism and the capacity to act
title_fullStr Chapter 9 Climate anxiety, fatalism and the capacity to act
title_full_unstemmed Chapter 9 Climate anxiety, fatalism and the capacity to act
title_short Chapter 9 Climate anxiety, fatalism and the capacity to act
title_sort chapter 9 climate anxiety fatalism and the capacity to act
topic Autonomy, philospohy, politics, language, Pharmacology, climate
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBF Social and ethical issues::JBFA Social discrimination and social justice
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBF Social and ethical issues::JBFA Social discrimination and social justice
topic_facet Autonomy, philospohy, politics, language, Pharmacology, climate
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBF Social and ethical issues::JBFA Social discrimination and social justice
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBF Social and ethical issues::JBFA Social discrimination and social justice
url https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/59827
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