Phenomenology, Habit, and Environmental Inaction. Issue 2 (4th May 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bruzzone, Victor; Mulvihill, Peter R.
• Is Part Of: Ethics, policy & environment. Volume 25:Issue 2(2022)
• Page Start: 178
• Page End: 193
• Publication Date: 2022-05-04
• Subjects: Environment -- inaction -- phenomenology -- Merleau-Ponty -- habit; Environmental ethics -- Periodicals; Environmental policy -- Periodicals; 179.1
• DOI: 10.1080/21550085.2021.1940448
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2155-0085

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Despite a growing literature on environmental inaction, it remains poorly understood. This article examines much of this literature including environmental ethics, policy studies, disaster theory, and psychology. Among the many existing explanations, we examine shifting values, rational incentives, and psychological barriers to action. Ultimately, we show how most of these explanations rely on simplistic assumptions about subjectivity. To address this, we apply the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty to show how an understanding of habit informed by Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology reveals the deeper conditions of both action and inaction.