Kohut's statement has one thing which really requires conceptual analysis to even begin to understand. Kohut claims that the "economy" plays a large role in peoples perception of climate change, as he says is shown by the study. However, in Kohut's statement, the "economy" is not defined. This means that the reader cannot truly get a proper sense of what Kohut might be referring to. The word economy by definition means a multitude of vastly different things. While the reader might be able to assume what definition Kohut refers to, it clearly still needs analysis to understand how the economy could affect people's perception of global warming. Kohut does not specify why nor does he give any examples of how the "economy" could alter public perception and the term economy could refer to many different things and aspects of the economy. Kohut does not explain whether the economy refers to how much money the general public spent or whether it refers to the country's economic wealth and prosperity. This means the reader is allowed to and must make their own deductions about what "the economy" means. This lack of clarity may lead to a false and varied perception for each reader, which may not reflect Kohut's intentions.
The statement Kohut makes, aside from being rather vague and hard to define, requires the reader to use some sort of deduction of how much the economy might really affect the perception of the public. Kohut uses the words, "most likely". This means that even Kohut himself cannot make a clear cut statement that the economy will have an effect on the public perception. This suggests the reader has to try and determine how much the economy might actually affect perceptions.
The use of the word economy in Kohut's statement, while perhaps reflecting his true opinion, does not provide the reader with enough background knowledge to truly get a sense of what is implied by economy. Conceptual analysis is needed to try and shed some light on Kohut's true meaning and even still cannot clearly decipher Kohut's meaning.
References
"Attitudes About Climate Change Are Shifting. Is Yours?". blogs.kqed.org October 28, 2009. Accessed October 28, 2009. http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2009/10/28/attitudes-about-climate-change-are-shifting-is-yours/
The use of the word economy in Kohut's statement, while perhaps reflecting his true opinion, does not provide the reader with enough background knowledge to truly get a sense of what is implied by economy. Conceptual analysis is needed to try and shed some light on Kohut's true meaning and even still cannot clearly decipher Kohut's meaning.
References
"Attitudes About Climate Change Are Shifting. Is Yours?". blogs.kqed.org October 28, 2009. Accessed October 28, 2009. http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2009/10/28/attitudes-about-climate-change-are-shifting-is-yours/
Perhaps Kohut's statement means that the current economic recession is making people reconsider our affect on the planet. With an industrial output below that of previous years and most households cutting back, the overall amount of carbon emissions has surely fallen this year. This may lead people to reason that our impact upon the earth's climate is no longer as big a threat as it once was.
ReplyDeleteMy speculations aside, it would be interesting to see the questions asked that allow the Pew Research Center to make such inferences.
It is unfortunate that less people believe in global warming but I don’t see how the economy can have a significant impact. The recent recession has definitely put climate change at the bottom of many peoples and politicians priority list but I don’t see a connection in how it would influence people to stop believing that it is real. I would think that a main reason for convincing people global warming is false would be mainstream media. Media often has many articles and interviews of people who want to disprove climate change since it would bring in more attention even though these scientists are a very small minority.
ReplyDelete