Henrik Thoren
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Dr. Henrik Thorén is a researcher at the department of philosophy at Lund University in Lund, Sweden. He is a philosopher of science with an interest in the sciences of climate, sustainability, and the environment, and the role these sciences—and science at large—can and should play in democratic societies. He has written on the methodology of inter- and transdisciplinarity often focusing on emerging (inter-)disciplines such as sustainability science, the functions of various ‘bridging concepts’ in aforementioned disciplines such as e.g., resilience, ecosystem services, and values, as well as uncertainty management and ‘domestication’ in model based science-for-policy. Currently he is leading a project on normative assumptions in climate economics and is also involved in a number of other research projects on topics ranging from local knowledge integration in scientific assessments of biodiversity, the concept of resilience, and the use of modelling to support planning and decision making during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Research Interets
Values in science, science-for-policy, the concept of resilience, uncertainty and risk, the value of nature, inter- and transdisciplinarity
Metamorphoses of Law(s)? A critical exploration of planetary boundaries and their meaning for the law relating to the environment
(Collaborative project, awarded a NetIAS Constructive Advanced Thinking grant, 2021-2024)
The consequences of climate change necessitate a transition to sustainability. In the age of the Anthropocene, Earth system scientists identified in 2009 one influential way of thinking about what sustainability means in more practical terms thanks to the “planetary boundaries”. The concept refers to 9 inter-acting biophysical thresholds, considered true boundaries that must not be crossed to avoid abrupt, non-linear, potentially catastrophic, and largely unpredictable changes in the environment and on the planet. However, 7 planetary boundaries have already been transgressed. The scientists proposed a shift away from the essentially sectoral analyses of limits to growth aimed at minimizing negative externalities, toward the estimation of a “safe operating space” for human development. But how can this concept of planetary boundaries be operationalised in social sciences and law?
To explore the potential of the concept in social sciences and law, the team aims to highlight three key areas: Biodiversity & Climate Interactions, Health & the Environment, and Technologies & Science. For each issue, three critical reading grids of the law(s) relating to the environment, meaning different fields of international and national law that protect the environment, human rights law, economic law, etc., are applied, articulating the items: identification of actors, participation process and emergence of solutions. The proposed interdisciplinary project (law and social sciences) is motivated by a sense of urgency to react across all disciplines.
Key publications
- Thorén, H., Persson, J., & Olsson, L. (2021). A pluralist approach to epistemic dilemmas in event attribution science. Climatic Change, 169(1), 1-17.
- Thorén, H., Soininen, N., & Kotamäki, N. (2021). Scientific models in legal judgements: The relationship between law and environmental science as problem-feeding. Environmental Science & Policy, 124, 478-484.
- Thorén, H. & Olsson, L. (2017) Is resilience a normative concept? Resilience: policies, practices and discourses
- Thorén, H. (2014). Resilience as a Unifying Concept. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 28, 303-324. Taylor and Francis.
 Online workshop organized by the "Constructive Advanced Thinking" Research Group led by Marion Lemoine-Schonne, 2023-2024 Paris IAS Fellow |
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