The Philosophy Working Group (PWG) was launched in October 2024 during the workshop ‘My Climate meets Philosophy of Science’ at the University of Bern. The PWG is coordinated by Vincent Lam, a philosopher of science, and is constituted by climate scientists, social scientists and philosophers.
The PWG aims to explore the epistemic foundations of the MCR approach(es), providing a toolbox for critically addressing issues related to objectivity, causality, explanation, understanding, interdisciplinarity as well as the entanglement of value-laden/normative and epistemic dimensions at the heart of MCR. The PWG also works on establishing a common language on these issues among the various disciplines involved in MCR.
To this aim, the PWG organizes a regular reading group where topics are discussed from various disciplinary perspectives. The PWG reading group has met three times so far, on 2 December 2024, 12 February 2025, and 30 April 2025. The PWG reading group welcomes suggestions and collaborations, especially from the MCR hubs (the February meeting was co-organized with the Manila Hub). A number of fruitful synergies have started to emerge with the Education Working Group (EWG), and Vincent Lam has participated to the Transdisciplinarity and Colonialism in Climate Education webinar and workshop organized by the EWG on 12 March 2025.
