109

PHIL 109: Final Exam (Fall Semester — 2022)
“Climate change, health, and discrimination: action towards racial justice”, The Lancet (Nov 4, 2022):
<https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59bc0e610abd04bd1e067ccc/t/6368d05db6f32f3e201f07bc/166781346
9480/Climate+change%2C+health+and+discrimination.pdf>. Read the PDF, & then upload a file answering all
20 questions below as your own personal response to completing the individual final exam course requirement.
Part I: The First Action of the Mind (Conceptualization)
1. Quote a sentence from the assigned essay in which a definition is given. Is your chosen example a real or
nominal definition? If it is real, then is it logical, causal, or descriptive? If it is logical, then distinguish both the
genus and the essential difference. If it is causal, then distinguish whether there are formal, final, material, or
efficient causes involved. If it is descriptive, then state whether it uses a property or an accident. [Review: see
Lessons 10–12]
Part II: The Second Action of the Mind (Judgment)
2. Quote a sentence from the assigned essay in which a universal affirmative Type A proposition is given.
Rewrite the proposition in your chosen example in standard form, distinguishing the subject term from the
predicate term by using single uppercase letters to define your terms. [Review: see Lessons 14–17]
3. For the Type A proposition in #2 above, state its contrary, its contradictory, and its subalternate (each in
standard form, distinguishing the subject term from the predicate term by using single uppercase letters to
define your terms, and labelling each proposition Type as A, E, I, or O). [Review: see Lesson 18]
4. If we assume the Type A proposition in #2 above is FALSE, then state whether its contrary is TRUE,
FALSE, or UNDETERMINED; state whether its contradictory is TRUE, FALSE, or UNDETERMINED; and
state whether its subalternate is TRUE, FALSE, or UNDETERMINED. [Review: see Lesson 18]
5. Quote a sentence from the assigned essay in which a universal negative Type E proposition is given.
Rewrite the proposition in your chosen example in standard form, distinguishing the subject term from the
predicate term by using single uppercase letters to define your terms. [Review: see Lessons 14–17]
6. For the Type E proposition in #5 above, state: its contrary; its contradictory; and its subalternate (each in
standard form, distinguishing the subject term from the predicate term by using single uppercase letters to
define your terms, and labelling each proposition Type as A, E, I, or O). [Review: see Lesson 18]
7. If we assume the Type E proposition in #5 above is FALSE, then state: whether its contrary is TRUE,
FALSE, or UNDETERMINED; state whether its contradictory is TRUE, FALSE, or UNDETERMINED; and
state whether its subalternate is TRUE, FALSE, or UNDETERMINED. [Review: see Lesson 18]
8. Quote a sentence from the assigned essay in which a particular affirmative Type I proposition is given.
Rewrite the proposition in your chosen example in standard form, distinguishing the subject term from the
predicate term by using single uppercase letters to define your terms. [Review: see Lessons 14–17]
9. For the Type I proposition in #8 above, state: its subcontrary; its contradictory; and its subimplicate (each in
standard form, distinguishing the subject term from the predicate term by using single uppercase letters to
define your terms, and labelling each proposition Type as A, E, I, or O). [Review: see Lesson 18]
10. If we assume the Type I proposition in #8 above is TRUE, then state: whether its subcontrary is TRUE,
FALSE, or UNDETERMINED; state whether its contradictory is TRUE, FALSE, or UNDETERMINED; and
state whether its subimplicate is TRUE, FALSE, or UNDETERMINED. [Review: see Lesson 18]
11. Quote a sentence from the assigned essay in which a particular negative Type O proposition is given.
Rewrite the proposition in your chosen example in standard form, distinguishing the subject term from the
predicate term by using single uppercase letters to define your terms. [Review: see Lessons 14–17]
PHIL 109: Final Exam (Fall Semester — 2022)
12. For the Type O proposition in #11 above, state: its subcontrary; its contradictory; and its subimplicate
(each in standard form, distinguishing the subject term from the predicate term by using single uppercase
letters to define your terms, and labelling each proposition Type as A, E, I, or O). [Review: see Lesson 18]
13. If we assume the Type O proposition in #11 above is TRUE, then state: whether its subcontrary is TRUE,
FALSE, or UNDETERMINED; state whether its contradictory is TRUE, FALSE, or UNDETERMINED; and
state whether its subimplicate is TRUE, FALSE, or UNDETERMINED. [Review: see Lesson 18]
14. Write the inverse of the proposition in #2 above. Show all the steps involved in the inference. Write all
propositions in standard form, distinguishing the subject term from the predicate term by using single
uppercase letters to define your terms. [Review: see Lessons 19–20]
15. Write the inverse of the proposition in #5 above. Show all the steps involved in the inference. Write all
propositions in standard form, distinguishing the subject term from the predicate term by using single
uppercase letters to define your terms. [Review: see Lessons 19–20]
Part III: The Third Action of the Mind (Argument)
16. Quote a passage from the assigned essay in which you find a syllogism, an enthymeme, or an epicheirema.
Choose only one argument type. Rewrite each proposition in your chosen example in standard form,
distinguishing the conclusion’s subject term from the conclusion’s predicate term, as well as the middle
term(s), by using single uppercase letters to define your terms, and labelling each proposition Type as A, E, I,
or O. Use square brackets to enclose any unspoken premises assumed in enthymematic reasoning, if
applicable. [Review: see Lessons 24–28]
17. Analyze the argument in #16 above by checking it for validity and then stating whether it is VALID or
INVALID. Prove your answer by drawing a Venn diagram for the argument, labeling it according to your
analysis in #16 above. If the argument is INVALID, state each one of the four rules which the argument
violates. If the argument is VALID, state whether or not it is SOUND, and why. [Review: see Lessons 25–27]
18. Quote another passage from the assigned essay (different from your example in #16) in which you find a
syllogism, an enthymeme, or an epicheirema. Choose only one. Rewrite each proposition in your chosen
example in standard form, distinguishing the conclusion’s subject term from the conclusion’s predicate term,
as well as the middle term(s), by using single uppercase letters to define your terms, and labelling each
proposition Type as A, E, I, or O. Use square brackets to enclose any unspoken premises assumed in
enthymematic reasoning, if applicable. If you wish, instead of citing another passage, you can paraphrase
what you discern the main argument of the entire essay to be, by stating your interpretation as a syllogism,
enthymeme, or epicheirema, and then formalizing that argument according to the preceding symbolization
instructions for #18. [Review: see Lessons 24–28]
19. Analyze the argument in #18 above by checking it for validity and then stating whether it is VALID or
INVALID. Prove your answer by drawing a Venn diagram for the argument, labeling it according to your
analysis in #18 above. If the argument is INVALID, state each one of the four rules which the argument
violates. If the argument is VALID, state whether or not it is SOUND, and why. [Review: see Lessons 25–27]
20. Quote a passage from the assigned essay in which you find a modus ponens argument, a modus tollens
argument, a denying the antecedent fallacy, an affirming the consequent fallacy, a sorites, a hypothetical
syllogism, a conjunctive syllogism, a disjunctive syllogism, a constructive dilemma, a destructive dilemma, or
a reductio ad absurdum argument. Choose only one argument type. Symbolize your chosen argument by using
the techniques you learned in this course. State whether your chosen argument is VALID or INVALID. Is it
also SOUND? [Review: see Lessons 21–22, 30–31, and 33]
Comment
www.thelancet.com Published online November 4, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02182-1 1
Climate change, health, and discrimination: action towards
racial justice
The health impacts of climate change will affect
everyone. But the consequences are unevenly
distributed, falling much harder on some communities
than others. Although discourse on climate change
and health acknowledges principles of equity,1
little
attention is given to underlying structural discrimination and the need for racial justice. From vulnerable
communities in Puerto Rico coping with the effects of
hurricane Fiona, to excessive heat in racially segregated
neighbourhoods in the USA, to the tens of millions of
people who have been displaced by flooding in Pakistan
during 2022, minoritised populations2
bear the brunt
of the health impacts of climate change, despite being
least responsible for it. Racism kills,3
and climate change
kills.4
Together, racism and climate change interact and
have disproportionate effects on the lives of minoritised
people within countries and between the Global North
and the Global South.4,5
Structural discrimination and racism can be traced back
to colonialism, which is seldom mentioned in climate
discourse. Only in 2022 did the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recognise “historical
and ongoing patterns of inequity such as colonialism”
as a factor in vulnerability to climate change.6
As
Farhana Sultana observed: “colonialism haunts the
past, present, and future through climate”.7
Colonialism
has caused the decimation of land and resources, the
enslavement of people, and plundered the wealth of
colonised regions through continuing mechanisms of
extraction and appropriation. Histories of colonial and
neocolonial extraction have left low-income regions
more vulnerable to, and less able to adapt to, the
impacts of climate change.
Just as the health impacts of climate change are
unequally distributed, so too is responsibility for
causing the climate crisis. Countries of the Global
North represent 14% of the world’s population but
are responsible for 92% of historical carbon dioxide
emissions in excess of the safe planetary boundary.8
These nations have colonised the atmospheric
commons for their own enrichment through forms of
industrialisation and growth that have relied on colonial
patterns of appropriation.9
Even within rich countries,
responsibility lies primarily with the affluent and ruling
classes, due to their higher levels of emissions10 and
disproportionate control over energy systems and
national legislation.
An example of these dynamics can be seen in the Niger
Delta. Before Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the oil
company Shell began oil exploration in the Niger Delta,
asserting corporate colonial control over the land.11
The region was at the heart of Nigeria’s agricultural
economy. Since then, due to the degradation of the land
through oil spills and contamination and subsequent
militancy in the region during the 1990s and 2000s,
people in the Niger Delta experience high levels of
poverty and unemployment, and therefore poor mental
and physical health.12 Shell and other transnational oil
companies continue to extract oil from the region for
global markets.
These legacies of profit and power are also present in
contemporary medical systems and influence unequal
life outcomes of minoritised generations. For example,
health-care workers in the UK are told to question
people’s migratory status upfront, and migrants who are
ineligible can be charged for or denied care.13 The failure
to equitably distribute COVID-19 vaccines globally has
revealed power dynamics whereby patents prevent
some countries from producing their own vaccines.14
Such events reflect racial capitalism, an economic
system where capital accumulation in the core areas
Panel: Values to guide research and action on climate
change, health, and structural discrimination
• Pursue research that acknowledges and repairs
structural discrimination
• Measures of success in research, policy, and action should lie
with accountability to the most affected people and areas
• Justice and equity need to be the starting point, not
afterthoughts
• Centre the voices and solutions of the most affected
people and areas in research, policy making, education,
advocacy, and action
• Support initiatives that foster healing and repair,
including calls for reparations
• Take a solidarity-driven approach, bringing intersecting
issues together such as migrant and racial justice
Published Online
November 4, 2022
https://doi.org/10.1016/
S0140-6736(22)02182-1
Comment
2 www.thelancet.com Published online November 4, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02182-1
of wealth, and among elites, relies on leveraging racial
ideology to dehumanise and justify the exploitation of
racially minoritised people in various peripheries.15
What can the health community do? It is crucial
that all those who work on climate change and health
pay attention to these histories and inequalities. As
Araceli Carmago highlighted: “as planetary dysregulation
continues so will discrimination and oppressions”.16
Minoritised people are disproportionately exposed to the
social, political, and commercial determinants of health
that are underwritten by unfair systems and maintained
by oppressive structures and hierarchies.17 For example,
white supremacy enables environmental racism—ie,
racial discrimination in environmental policy making,
the targeting of communities of colour in exposure to
polluting industries, and the under-representation of
minoritised people in environmental decision making and
movements.18,19 The health community must adopt an
expansive vision of climate change and health, bringing
power analyses of colonial, white supremacist, patriarchal,
and other oppressive structures into its work.20
With this kind of vision, there will be increased
opportunities for research on climate change, health, and
structural discrimination. Although some national-level
studies have monitored the unequal health impacts of
climate change,21,22 data on health outcomes for people
who are minoritised due to caste, skin colour, ethnicity,
race, Indigeneity, migratory status, and religion are
largely underexamined, especially in the Global South. It
is crucial to work towards more data granularity to expose
inequalities within countries, rather than homogenising
entire national populations. Such an exercise could help
guide policy actions that address loss and damage in
accordance with treaties such as the Paris Agreement,
and establish reparations owed to communities for
health harms related to colonial legacies and ongoing
damage.23 Alongside quantitative research, inequalities
must be highlighted using qualitative approaches such
as testimonies and case studies that centre the voices
and lived expertise of the most affected people and
areas (MAPA) and young people. Beyond research,
embedding anti-discrimination in climate change and
health discourse can be done through education, policy,
advocacy, art, public engagement, and more. The panel
highlights values to guide evolving work in this field.
We must also recognise the rich body of work, led
especially by Indigenous Peoples and front-line MAPA
communities, to address structural discrimination and
climate change, while fostering relational ways of being
that respect planetary boundaries.24 For example, scholars
in New Zealand and Canada are working on Indigenous
Health Promotion—a process of healing rooted in
Indigenous peoples’ concerns including land-based
learning, health equity, environmental sustainability,
cultural integrity, and decolonisation.25 Decolonisation
requires the restoration of land and space for Indigenous
knowledge and practice.26 Calls for reparations must also
be supported23 to address the economic dominance of the
Global North, repair past colonial harms, and build just
futures.7
Voices that have been silenced and erased from
dominant discussions on health and climate change must
be restored and further oppression must not take place
while engaging in these efforts.
By remaining technocratic and apolitical, scientists
and the health community are complicit in perpetuating
discrimination in this field. Every interaction with a
person from a minoritised community is an interface
with these legacies. Each interaction therefore becomes
an opportunity for the health worker to acknowledge,
reflect, and act at the individual, community, and
systemic levels. Scientists and health workers must
interrogate the narratives and practices that perpetuate
the multiple intersecting forms of oppression that
give rise to the systems and industries that fuel climate
change and health inequalities. The health community
can offer scholarship, skills, and solidarity, maximise
its organising power, and be a strong voice for climate
and racial justice. Such efforts must be part of a wider
movement ecology for climate justice that is accountable
to front-line MAPA communities as it mobilises for
equitable climate and health action.
TAD, SS, PdMS, JB, SE, MH, RI, HM, HPN, CS, and DD report grants from the
Wellcome Trust (224687/Z/21/Z) paid to University College London and for which
DD is the principal investigator. The other authors declare no competing interests.
*Thilagawathi Abi Deivanayagam, Sujitha Selvarajah,
Jason Hickel, Renzo R Guinto, Priscila de Morais Sato,
Jon Bonifacio, Sonora English, Mita Huq, Rita Issa,
Hans Mulindwa, Heizal Patricia Nagginda, Chetna Sharma,
Delan Devakumar
[email protected]
Institute for Global Health, University College London, London WC1N 1EH, UK
(TAD, SS, SE, MH, RI, CS, DD); Lancaster Medical School, Faculty of Health and
Medicine, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK (TAD); Institute for Environmental
Science and Technology and Department of Anthropology, Autonomous
University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (JH); International Inequalities Institute,
London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK (JH); Planetary
and Global Health Program, St Luke’s Medical Center College of Medicine-William
Comment
www.thelancet.com Published online November 4, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02182-1 3
H Quasha Memorial, Quezon City, Philippines (RRG); Sunway Centre for Planetary
Health, Sunway University, Selangor, Malaysia (RRG); School of Public Health,
University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (PdMS); Youth Advocates for Climate
Action Philippines, Quezon City, Philippines (JB); Climate Operation Ltd, Kampala,
Uganda (HM, HPN)
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