Market Failure
Market Failure
This chapter analyzes the two inhibiting ideologies of the Western civilization: positivism and market fundamentalism. Twentieth-century scientists saw themselves as the descendants of an empirical tradition often referred to as positivism. This philosophy held that through experience, observation, and experiment, one could gather reliable knowledge about the natural world, and that this knowledge would empower its holder. A key attribute of the period was that power did not reside in the hands of those who understood the climate system, but rather in political, economic, and social institutions that had strong interest in maintaining the use of fossil fuels. Historians have labeled this system the carbon-combustion complex. Market fundamentalism was a two-pronged ideological system. The first prong held that societal needs were served most efficiently in a free market economic system, while the second maintained that free markets were the only manner of satisfying material wants.
Keywords: Western civilization, positivism, market fundamentalism, carbon-combustion complex, free market
Columbia Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
