Motivations of Indifference
The central concern of this Theme 1 SCI project is with people’s motivations when they act in ways that seem to reflect an indifference to the harm that they know they are doing to the sustainability of the environment. We aim to reach a clearer understanding of this kind of indifference by approaching it from two different directions: through the substantial philosophical work that has been done on the nature of practical reasoning, and on the relationship between reasons and motivations; and through the empirical work that has been done in this field, including research in social psychology and studies in social policy implications. We hope that this two-directional approach will not only inform the two areas of research, but that it will also have important policy implications for how the public should be persuaded to reduce their carbon footprints.
‘Motivations of indifference’ is a one-year project which is based in The University of Manchester’s Philosophy Disciple Area in the School of Social Sciences, and has as lead investigators Professor Peter Goldie and Dr Michael Scott, supported by postdoctoral research fellow Michuru Nagatsu.