Neopragmatic Reflections on Coastal Land Loss and Climate Change in Louisiana in Light of Popper’s Theory of Three Worlds

Abstract

This paper addresses the social resonances to the complex causes, effects, and feedback of land loss in southern Louisiana, particularly with respect to the region’s vulnerability to the impacts of anthropogenic climate change, especially against the backdrop of the consequences and side effects of the resident petrochemical industry. Using empirical findings from an online discussion about coastal land loss and talks to people in Louisiana, the different perceptions of coastal land loss of affected and not-affected people become apparent. As a result of the high complexity of the topic, a meta-theoretical framing by neopragmatism, as well as an analytical framing based on Popper’s theory of three worlds, is provided.