Theory of Uncertainty

Andreas Klinke is a political scientist and sociologist. He is Full Professor and the Director of the Environmental Policy Institute (EPI) at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada. In addition, he is an external member of the Center for International Development and Environmental Research at the University of Giessen in Germany. Prior to that, he worked at the ETH-domain in Zurich, Switzerland, at King’s College in London, as well as at the University of Stuttgart, the Center of Technology Assessment in Stuttgart, and at the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) in Germany.

• IntroductionChapter 1Entering Terra Incognita – A Metaphysical Approach1.1 Natural and Social Guises of Uncertainty1.2 Immanence and Genericity1.3 The Fundamental Premise of a Theory of Uncertainty1.3.1 At the Intersection of Philosophical and Social Science Disciplines1.3.2 Determinism versus Nondeterminism1.3.3 The Interpretive Structure and Dependence of UncertaintyChapter 2Ontological Uncertainty – World and Social Being in Disarray2.1 Constitutive and Differential Potential2.2 Holding Sway over Social Being2.3 Freedom and Self-Determination2.4 Cosmopolitan OntologyExcursus IHomo Homini Lupus Est – War, Terrorism, and Collective ViolenceChapter 3Epistemological Uncertainty – What We Know and Don’t Know about Non-Knowing3.1 Evidentiality and Reliability3.2 Knowable and Unknowable3.3 Techno-Scientific Paradigm of Uncertainty3.4 Discursive Epistemology3.4.1 Social Epistemology and Non-Knowing3.4.2 Epistemology of Epistemological Uncertainty3.5 Collective Agents of Knowledge and Epistemic Communities3.5.1 The Becoming Common of Distributed Cognitive Labor3.5.2 Relativism, Relative Truth, and Disagreement3.5.3 Influence of PowerExcursus IIThe Orwellian “Doublethink” of Post-FacticityChapter 4Linguistic-Communicative Uncertainty – The Twilight Zone of Language, Communication, and Discourse4.1 Linguistic Turns: Becoming Aware of Linguistic-Communicative Uncertainty4.2 Obscurity in Semantics: Meaning, Sense, and Reference4.2.1 Semantic Analysis4.2.2 Functional Validity Claims (in Semantics)4.3 Confusion through Linguistic Interpretation and Hermeneutical Conundrums4.4 Imponderabilia of Discourse and Communicative Rationality4.5 Anomalies of Linguistic-Communicative Uncertainty Revisited4.5.1 Lexical Vagueness and Ambiguity of Terms and Phrases4.5.2 Illogical Syntax and Compositionality4.5.3 Unclear and Obscure Referencing4.5.4 Delusive Contextualization4.5.5 Inadequate Linguistic Attitude and Intentionality4.5.6 Equivocal Interpretation4.5.7 Discursive ImponderabilityExcursus IIISpeaking out of Turn – The Viral Linguistic Power of Social MediaChapter 5Teleological Uncertainty – Journey into an Uncertain Future5.1 World in Process and Transition5.1.1 Uncertainty in Process5.1.2 The Coming About of Teleological Uncertainty5.2 Art and Science of Prescience5.2.1 Systematic Approaches to the Future5.2.2 A Vein of Modalism, Abstractionism, and Possibilism5.3 Logic of Teleological Uncertainty in Forward-Looking Constructions5.3.1 Conjecturing Teleological Uncertainty and Contingent Future5.3.2 Reasoning, Inference, and Plausibility5.3.3 Multifarious Logic of Teleological Uncertainty 5.3.4 The Role of Intuition5.3.5 Uncertain Encounters with Bifurcations, Tipping Points, and Points of No ReturnExcursus IVIdes of March – Rare Contretemps, Upheavals, and Radical TransformationsChapter 6Epilogue – Societal Domestication of Uncertainty6.1 Philosophication and Scientification of Uncertainty6.2 Rational Politicization of Uncertainty6.3 Postnormal Democratization of Uncertainty6.3.1 Mediatory Public Sphere6.3.2 Epistemic Authority6.3.3 Associational Authority6.3.4 General Public Authority6.3.5 RésuméBibliographyIndex