31 Questions
What is the main focus of the text?
The responses to climate change
Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a response to climate change in the text?
Acceptance and adaptation
What kind of crisis is the text referring to?
Planetary crisis of climate change or global warming
According to the text, what does climate change elicit from individuals, groups, and governments?
A variety of responses ranging from denial to engagement and activism
What constitutes our sense of the now, according to the text?
Responses to climate change
What is JSTOR's role as mentioned in the text?
Digitizing and preserving access to climate change information
What does Alan Weisman's thought experiment in 'The World without Us' aim to demonstrate?
The disconnect between the future and the past in the face of the current crisis
According to the text, how does Weisman's thought experiment affect our usual historical practices?
It throws them into a deep contradiction and confusion
What does the text suggest about Weisman's thought experiment in relation to our historical sense of the present?
It has become deeply destructive of our general sense of history
In 'The World without Us', what is the primary purpose of inserting ourselves into envisioning the future?
To be able to visualize a future 'without us'
How does the text describe Weisman's thought experiment in relation to contemporary moods of anxiety and concern?
As illustrating the historicist paradox that inhabits contemporary moods of anxiety and concern
What impact does the text suggest Weisman's thought experiment has on our general sense of history?
It becomes deeply destructive
According to the text, what is the purpose of Alan Weisman's thought experiment in 'The World without Us'?
To illuminate the disconnect between the future and the past in the face of the current crisis
How does Weisman's thought experiment affect our ability to picture the past and future?
It creates a deep contradiction and confusion in our historical practices
What is suggested about Weisman's thought experiment in relation to our contemporary sense of the present?
It has become deeply destructive of our general sense of history
The current planetary crisis discussed in the text is climate change or global warming.
True
According to the text, individuals, groups, and governments only respond to climate change with a spirit of engagement and activism.
False
JSTOR is a for-profit service.
False
The text suggests that Weisman's thought experiment in 'The World without Us' has no impact on our usual historical practices.
False
The main focus of the text is on the responses of individuals, groups, and governments to climate change.
False
According to the text, the purpose of Alan Weisman's thought experiment in 'The World without Us' is to demonstrate the impact of human absence on the world.
True
Alan Weisman's book 'The World without Us' proposes a thought experiment to imagine a world after human extinction.
True
The discipline of history assumes a continuity of human experience connecting the past, present, and future.
True
Weisman's thought experiment in 'The World without Us' illustrates the historicist paradox that pervades contemporary anxieties about the finitude of humanity.
True
According to the text, our usual historical practices for visualizing past and future times are not affected by Weisman's thought experiment.
False
The text suggests that Weisman's thought experiment has a constructive impact on our general sense of history.
False
Weisman's experiment indicates how confusion arises from our contemporary sense of the present, leading to concerns about our future.
True
Alan Weisman wrote the first version of this essay in Bengali for a journal in Calcutta.
True
The text implies that the exercise of historical understanding is not thrown into contradiction and confusion by Weisman's thought experiment.
False
According to the text, human extinction is depicted as a fait accompli in Alan Weisman's thought experiment.
True
Alan Weisman’s thought experiment aims to demonstrate the disconnect between our historical sense of the present and concerns about the future.
True
Study Notes
- Dipesh Chakrabarty's essay "The Climate of History: Four Theses" is published in Critical Inquiry, Winter 2009.
- The author is drawn to Alan Weisman's thought experiment in his book "The World without Us," which invites readers to imagine a world without humans.
- Weisman's experiment illustrates the historicist paradox that arises when people become anxious about the future and disconnected from the past.
- The discipline of history relies on the assumption of a continuity of human experience connecting the past, present, and future.
- Weisman's thought experiment requires imagining a future "without us," contradicting our usual historical practices and confusing the exercise of historical understanding.
- The essay is dedicated to the memory of Greg Dening and acknowledges the contributions of various scholars to the development of the essay.
- The author wrote the first version of the essay in Bengali for a Calcutta journal and thanks its editor, Asok Sen, for his encouragement.
- The essay explores the implications of the climate crisis on our sense of history and how our responses to the crisis can disconnect us from the past.
Test your knowledge of 'The Climate of History: Four Theses' by Dipesh Chakrabarty with this quiz. Explore the key concepts and arguments presented in the article.
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